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Old 07-18-2017, 03:42 PM   #1
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Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: dallas
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Texas
Water pressure

Have a 2006 Dutchmen TT. I have water pressure issues in which I am not sure of the solution. I have weak pressure to all valves from city connect even though pressure from hose is good. (Around 60 psi) Have checked all screens etc. I suspect some type of internal backflow, pressure regulator or filter is causing my issue. The reason being is:

It use to be fine pressure with an external pressure regulator attached outside on city connection. When pressure started getting low in trailer, I removed the external regulator and that worked for a while but then became worse again and progressively continued to get worse. I cannot find any other filters or regulators in the system. The city connect comes into the wall and does a 90 bend into the floor so not sure if there is something else connected on it in the floor. There are a few valves under the kitchen sink connecting to the fresh water pump and tank. I have never used the fresh water tank or changed any of the valves and I am the second owner of the trailer.

This past weekend I pressurized the system with air to hopefully blow out the system and get rid of debris using a compressor on the city connection. I only opened the tub valves and the system held quite a bit of pressure, IE it took a long time for the air pressure on compressor to slowly drop, not what I was expecting once the water had been pushed through. After doing all of this the the water pressure was absolutely terrible and was just a small trickle now. So I reversed the pressure by rigging it to go into the bathroom sink valves. It would pressurize the pipes and never would make it to the outside hose that I disconnected. IE no water would pass out hose, only air coming back out faucet that I was pressurizing. Some mineral type deposits did come back out faucet with the pressure being released and the water pressure is somewhat back to normal (slightly better than it was but not back to what I would call fully normal). So I suspect there is some type of back flow valve in the system that may have gotten gummed up with deposits some where that I somewhat reset by putting reverse pressure on it.

I am afraid of damaging something so I don't think I should continue with putting pressure back into the system. Any suggestions on where the bottleneck is and how to correct?
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Old 07-18-2017, 05:08 PM   #2
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The first backflow preventer, and perhaps the easiest to get to, is right at the city water connection. It's purpose is to prevent the pressurized system from flowing out the city water inlet when the system is pressurized by the pump and fresh water tank. That sounds like a likely culprit. Other checkvalves in the system are at the water pump, and water heater. Neither of them are likely, given your description. I believe you are on to something with the calcium and crud. With the water heater isolated and bypassed (both hot and cold pipes are effectively cold water pipes at that point), I might try a gravity-fed source of CLR or Lime-Away, feeding the city water inlet, and run through each faucet and toilet. After soaking the lines for a while, then flush with city water. Good luck!
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Old 07-18-2017, 05:20 PM   #3
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Thanks for your input. I had actually considered doing something like you had described with either vinegar or CLR. I might do this the next time I shut it down for a week and see how it goes.

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Originally Posted by MartyG View Post
The first backflow preventer, and perhaps the easiest to get to, is right at the city water connection. It's purpose is to prevent the pressurized system from flowing out the city water inlet when the system is pressurized by the pump and fresh water tank. That sounds like a likely culprit. Other checkvalves in the system are at the water pump, and water heater. Neither of them are likely, given your description. I believe you are on to something with the calcium and crud. With the water heater isolated and bypassed (both hot and cold pipes are effectively cold water pipes at that point), I might try a gravity-fed source of CLR or Lime-Away, feeding the city water inlet, and run through each faucet and toilet. After soaking the lines for a while, then flush with city water. Good luck!
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Old 07-24-2017, 02:34 PM   #4
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My fix

Posting this info for others to learn by my mistakes and what ultimately was my solution.

After trying to gravity feed (and manually blow vinegar) thru the hose, and not having much luck, I found the wife turned on the hot water and not the cold in the tub. So the only open line was going through the hot water tank.
In her defense, the caps on the knobs were reversed. I never noticed this as H has always been on the left and don't really look at how they are marked. This explains her other complaint about not having hot water sometimes. lol

Anyway, the vinegar did nothing. I ended up having to take the city connection completely apart. I found the backflow assembly had come apart and the spring assembly was not doing it's job in not restricting the inflow. I suspect the good pressure we have in combination with poor/cheap design of the backflow device caused it to come apart. Once I reassembled and put everything back together I now have decent flow again. I really should replace the backflow assembly but I would have to cut the caulk from the exterior, dissemble/reassemble and recaulk it back onto the exterior. Not sure how much they charge for the part either. I might pick one up and have it ready for the next time as I suspect it will happen again...
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