Roadtrek Low water pressure on city water

[Mike]

I tried searching the forum threads for low water pressure. I got no relevant hits, so if the answer to this is on here somewhere already, I apologize.
So,I decided to hook up my 2002 190 Popular to my house's outside tap to simulate a city water connection (something we haven't done yet) for practise. To the best of my knowledge I've got all the valves in summer mode, except the water heater which is bypassed, pending flushing and replacing the outside plug/anode.
I have the little red valve handle in the vertical position. I connected the white fresh water hose to the outside tap using a pressure regulator (which I later removed from the mix and nothing changed) fitting.
I turn on the water at the house. I turn on the tap in the galley sink and it comes out slightly better than a trickle. Increasing the "city" tap pressure does nothing to improve the sink flow rate. I also note the toilet bowl fills at the same slow rate when the water pedal is depressed. Other symptoms include no water coming out of the outside shower taps when opened. I can also feel a spring loaded "plug" inside the opening of the outside tap which you connect your city water hose to, which I assume is there to keep water from exiting the water system when the city water hose is removed, or the water is turned off. I can press it farther up into the outside hose connection below the red valve with my finger, and water then escapes past my finger and out of the system.

What am I missing? I don't have the pump on because it says on city water it's not needed. As I said I took the pressure regulator out of the mix and it didn't change my weak pressure at all.
Do I need to bleed air out of the system? There's no mention of it in the manuals (which, I've discovered, are painfully inadequate when it comes to helping the novice user).
I've checked the valves to enable water to the external shower taps and they are both set in line with the hose directions which I think means "open".
I was able to fill the fresh tank through this tap with no problems, before trying the city water thing. It filled, and the overflow spilled out the back door frame alternate fill hole when it was full.
Could there be crud from the water heater plugging the lines? I've blasted as much stuff out of the heater to clean it out and none of the stuff was large enough to plug a pex hose in my humble opinion. Should I run the water pump to help the water through the system for a while? Will this harm it?

Puzzled, and out of ideas,
Mike.

[VernM]

It could be something stuck in the water line. Manufacturers aren't exactly known for cleaning up after construction. Another place to look is to get a drawing of what the water system is supposed to look like, if you can. I know in the Itasca I had, there were check valves in a lot of places to prevent backflow. And they weren't exactly the top of the line. My first failed within weeks of buying the motor home new. It was on the outlet of the hot water heater, to prevent backflow into it. Without an understanding of your water system, ya just never know.

[markopolo]

Remove the sediment filter / aerator from the faucet to see if it improves. Check the city water / city fill valve to make sure it is fully in the city water position.

If you still have low pressure and assuming you had good pressure at the hose then your system is either leaking or it is blocked somewhere. If the water pump check valve is leaking that would give you low pressure because some of the water would be going to the water tank.

I would not run the pump when connected to city water.

Check your water heater to see if it was filling due to leaking bypass valve. That would reduce pressure at the faucet.

[Mike]

I'll check all those things asap.
The city water fill valve handle doesn't quite go 100% vertical, but I
think it's as far as it will go. I tried gentle pressure to turn it
to full vertical with channel locks, but it wouldn't go any farther and
I didn't want to damage it. When horizontal, it does fill the fresh tank ok.

I'm pretty sure the water heater is fully bypassed, but I'll check it again.
I had the plug out last week, and blasted it out with a garden hose so it
should be pretty empty. I may undo the bypass and see if it makes a difference.
I'm leaning towards gunk from it blocking lines in the system. I wish I'd checked
it sooner after we'd bought it, now. Since we weren't using the onboard water
systems I didn't see a need. My mistake.

Thanks for the ideas.

[Ron J. Moore]

You might unscrew the check-valve at the hose connection to the RT and see if it is moving freely. Another thought is to blow air thru the system like you were winterizing...might be a small blip in there holding it back. Surely have to agree with you on the Manual, that old adage of a picture is worth a thousand words....not so with that thing!!! We have annotated ours and have a file of supplemental info we have picked up along the way. Good luck, Ron

[Mike]

Hi Ron,
Is the check valve at the hose connection the little spring-loaded nipple I can feel when I stick my pinky up the
connection? If so it seems to be movable when I push on it. And water comes back out when I do. I'd need a wrench
to remove the end of the hose connection, yes? Might be a last resort effort for me. Is there a trick to getting that
check valve off/out of the connection? I tried twisting the bottom of the hose connection but it just keeps turning.
I'd thought about the air-blast thing. I still might have to try it, if nothing else works.
I started emptying and drying the water system after we got back from AZ last October, so it was
probably pretty dusty in the pipes, if you know what I mean. I wonder if something like sediment or
calcium got left in a low point in a line and needs a good soaking to get moving through. The whole system
is charged with water now, including the holding tanks. Plus 2 passengers and a full gas tank,
and we weigh just over 4,000 KG.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions,
Mike.

[Ron J. Moore]

Mike, what you feel moving is the check-valve. As for it free spinning, I believe you have to move up a little; I say this without having my RT nearby to verify. I am certain I had to use my channel loc pliers or something like that to get mine loose the first time. If by chance you go to blowing it out, keep that pressure down so as not to damage anything.
You might also want to ask the RT Owners Group at Yahoo, they have extensive background info - I've gained a wealth of knowledge and they helped sovlve some electrical problems I encountered early on.

Let us know how it goes.

Ron

[Mike]

Thanks, will do.

[Mike]

To all of you who figured it might be something plugging the lines, you
appear to be correct. I've let the system "sit" full of water for almost 2 weeks now
to see if there may have been hardened sediment in the system from winterizing it, but not thoroughly
pressure flushing it. I just pretty much drained it and added a bit of a-freeze to the sink and toilet.
I thought if there's water heater gunk in the low points, and it's dried and hardened, maybe soaking
it for 10 plus days might help. Seemed logical to me.
Today I reconnected the external hose, and pulled the aerator cover off of the sink tap. I also
opened the pass thru valves on the water heater, so it's now in the system and theoretically
water is flowing through it. I found a bit of gunk in the aerator assembly but also found a little
"plug" which I assume is the aerator itself, but when I put it back in and tried it, I lost flow
rate again. I've since removed it and just have the washer and screen installed in the sink tap now.
So, that seems to have been the problem there.
I have "normal" flow from the sink tap on city water pressure, and
the external shower tap also seems to be at full exit pressure when the dials are opened.
However, the water pressure in the toilet is still a trickle when I step on the water pedal.
Any ideas on how to clear the line to the toilet anyone? I'm thinking drain and refill the fresh tank,
and add a goodly portion of vinegar, and let it "soak" inside the lines for a few days, while trying
the toilet water pedal every so often under onboard water pump pressure.
I don't know if I'm skilled enough (I know I'm not) to try to disconnect lines from the toilet, even if
I knew how to get at them, if the vinegar doesn't work. Is there an easy way to get at the water supply
line to the toilet?
It's the part we'd like to use next trip out.
My usual question: Am I missing something, or is there any reason I shouldn't, or should, try this or anything
else?

Thanks guys, for your suggestions and thoughts.

[Ron J. Moore]

Hi Mike,

I am sitting here thinking that maybe you could disconnect water to commode and then see if anything comes thru the hose, or blowing air back thru the water outlet of the commode - you seem to have it going and just need to chase it out!! Keep us posted. Ron

[Mike]

If I knew which hose went to the commode from the water pump area under the driver's side
bed, I'd give the compressed air a try. I assume the toilet water supply originates somewhere
after the pump, as does the sink water supply? The black disky thing I took out of the aerator
is actually the aerator itself and all the little micro-holes (my eyesight isn't great anymore) are
plugged with hwh gunk I fear. I guess the toilet line is plugged up the same.
I have the pictures of the water pump area and the hoses from the owner's manual,
for the purpose of showing the valve positions for winter and summer mode.
Wonder which one goes to the loo???
Has anyone else with a 2002 190P Chevy ever had reason to trace the hoses?

Cheers Ron for the thoughts. I may try the reverse air blast to see what happens.

[Mike]

As a follow up, I added a bit of vinegar (maybe a pint) to a full tank of fresh water and over the
last 4 weeks the bowl pressure has slowly improved. I also suspect the pump may have been fouled
with gunk from the heater, and it also seems to be improving as well. I've run the pump and added water
to the bowl a few times now, and it's not exactly 30 psi, but it's better than the trickle it was
when I first posted up this issue. If you haven't used your water pump for a week, how long does it take
to start sucking/filling lines/flowing? I suspect about 30 seconds to a full minute. That's what I'm seeing.

Thanks marko, VernM, and Ron for your ideas and theories. Much appreciated.

And thanks to julievojo and others for the vinegar idea. Might be the game breaker.

[Mike]

See my "noisy water pump" thread for what was probably the cause of the low water pressure noted in this thread.
Just gunk/calcium from my local and other potable water supplies has been slowly plugging the pump.
Got it cleaned today, with a full lesson from the RV repair guy who realized that was the problem.
I honestly didn't know how or where to look for the pump filter, or that they even had one.