city water vs. battery pump

DBS · 06-24-2015, 06:16 PM

I have a 1984 sunline T-1550. I bought it used this winter and have been working on it off and on since. I discovered when hooked up to city water, I have water at the kitchen sink and bathroom(sink, toilet and shower). When I hook it up to the brand new battery operated pump I just installed with the off road water tank, I only get water to the kitchen sink and no water to the bathroom. Is this normal? I have tracked down and followed most of the water lines. I can see about 95% of the water lines. I can not find a valve.

Gene · 06-24-2015, 06:52 PM

No, it is not normal.

The water pressure from the city water supply is higher (...usually..) than the pressure from the pump/water tank. Maybe a line is partly blocked and the higher city pressure can get by it.

I don't know of any valve that was part of the normal Sunline build that would cause that problem.

**JohnB** · 06-24-2015, 07:18 PM

H'mm, this is an odd one.

Have you tried going back to city water since using the pump and does everything now still work on city water?

Reasoning of my thought is "something" was partly clogged in the pump line. The clog was not an issue on city water originally. But now that you are pumping from the fresh tank that clog moved and plugged a path to the other water fixtures.

I know this is a long shot, but is about the only thing right now I can think of that would do this. That is if your piping is still all Sunline original. Technically someone can install check valves to do what is occurring, but why? would be a really good question.

Let us know what comes from this.

Hope this helps

John

DBS · 06-24-2015, 07:51 PM

First off thanks for all the help. I've have tried to figure this out myself before I asked this wonderful community for help. I have hooked it up to the city water and pump/tank several times and still the same result. The previous owner did cut the hot water supply line. He said the hot water tank leaked. The cold lines look all original. I can follow and track 95% of the line, there is a small percent behind the kitchen sink and in the bathroom wall I can not see. The trailer looks all original. No major mods. Somebody replaced the curtains and replaced the back bunk mattress with a futon mattress. I replaced the original shurflow pump with a flojet quad series pump. Again, thanks for any help.

mainah · 06-25-2015, 05:57 AM

Creative repair plumbing. The city water line "T's" into the discharge line from the pump and supplies water every where. When it is connected to the city supply there is a valve in the pump that stops the water from filling the water tank. When the pump is running there is a valve in the city hose connection that stops the water from running out on the ground. There has been an pipe added some where that by passes the "T" connection. Both the pump and the city water share the same pressure line.

OhhWell · 06-25-2015, 07:32 AM

I am trying to wrap my head around the bypass pipe Mainah is suggesting...

Which is closer to your water pump, the kitchen or bathroom and which is closer to the city water hose connection? It almost sounds like a check valve somewhere to stop water from going to the hot water tank who's line was cut...

mainah · 06-25-2015, 05:12 PM

What he seems to have right now is two different water systems going some thing is hooked up wrong. The sinks toilet and the water heater are feed from the same place the pump discharge and the city water are connected to the same line. If it was a hot water issue that could be a different problem but all the cold water feeds are connected together to both the city water and the pump discharge. Some where along the line they did some thing to the hot water tank cold feed. It would also help if you could tell us just where the water is coming from as far as the taps is it hot or cold or both. I am convinced they have some thing hook up wrong on the cold water side.