Water pressure regulator/tank fill valve mystery solved

[Richard Gideon]

Greg: All good points; the sporland is working just fine; my guess
is that the PO installed the bypass hose setup simply because the
check valve within the external water fill/regulator needed a good
cleaning...I chose to replace the water fill/regulator because of my
lack of knowledge for disassembly for service. Just adding my 2
cents regarding "quick fixes" to solve a problem and thereby possibly
introducing a new problem or inconvenience. Kinda like some of those
temporary fences I used to build on our farm years ago...many of them
are still being used!

Dick Gideon
Freedom Bird
1989 35FC
Rolla, MO

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Gregory OConnor"
wrote:
>
> The mystery is why was the garden hose installed?
>
> The potable water tank fill is an appliance on the citywaterhookup
> line. like an icemaker or sink. On 91 and newer birds the sporlan
> is a diaphram valve like a automatic lawn sprinkler valve. the
valve
> is closed passivly then opened when the valve is energized by the
> switch. the problem with the notion that it is closed all the time
> is that when there is no pressure pushing into the input side of
the
> sporlan tankfill valve, the diaphram that keeps the valve closed
> floats open. since ther is no pressure, water doesnt pass but air
> gets in the valve.
>
> when the plumbing system in the bus is not hooked to city water
and
> the automatic 12 volt pump is turned off, some one is sure to open
a
> sink valve and depressurize the plumbing lines which will float the
> valve open. when this happens and the bus sits for a month or two,
> scum builds up on the rubber and the valve will not shut closed. if
> the valve does not shut closed, hooking up to city water the
potable
> tank will overfill. with the valve failed open, running on the
> 12volt pump you will keep removing water from the tank and refill
> the tank with that water so removed.
>
> Fulltimers have frequent or constant pressure up against the valve
> thus have not this problem but us monthly or bimonthly users
> welcome your "hose through the wall upgrade"
>
> One caution I see with filling the potable tank too fast via a non
> Bird-engeneered design is if you fill it faster than the air or
over
> fill pipe can exhaust the air or water you build pressure in
> the 'not designed to be pressurized', plastic tank. This may
cause
> the potable tank to split. talk about wetting the bed!
>
> GregoryO'Connor
> 94ptRomolandCa
>
> --- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Gideon"
> wrote:
> >
> > On our recent visit with Ralph and Charolette in our 89FC35,
Ralph
> and
> > I performed the obligatory 'walk around' of our coach. I opened
> the
> > utility hookup door, (street side rear) and Ralph immediately
> spotted
> > the non standard piece of garden hose added by a PO. Ralph's
> comment
> > was "get rid of that" as I tried to explain I was not the guilty
> party
> > responsible for this re-engineered method for filling the pure
> water
> > tank via a 1/2" hose protruding through a 1" hole bored through
> the
> > backside steel bulkhead of the utility compartment.
> >
> > Now settled down after our South Texas travels, I'm doing
> preventive
> > maintenance on the bird, 3208 & ZF service, AD4 dyer rebuild, new
> D2
> > air governor.
> >
> > We've had this 35FC 18 months now and that dangling piece of fill
> hose
> > has bugged us long enough...previous owner told me that's the
only
> way
> > to fill the fresh water tank. Turns out, the first night we
spent
> in
> > the coach when bringing it home from GA, the regulator /fill
valve
> > leaked like a sieve (through the 2 small holes where you insert
> snap
> > ring pliers for service) and the first repair I made to the coach
> 18
> > mos ago was replacing that regulator assembly. This fixed the
> leak.
> >
> > Previous owner related he did not ever hook to 'city water' but
in
> lieu
> > always filled the tank through this stupid hose and like a dummy
> I've
> > continued to use the "hose thru the wall" instead of filling by
> > flipping the fill switch to energize the sporlan valve. Hose is
> gone
> > now and I plugged the hole with a chrome plug purchased at Lowe's.
> >
> > My lesson here is simple; try to keep the original systems fully
> > operational when practical! This case of the water hose added to
> > bypass the factory regulator could have been avoided by merely
> doing
> > the preventive maintenance on the regulator and the city water
> function
> > as well as the electric fill function could have remained intact.
> >
> > Ralph, thanks for helping us keep the Blue Bird systems working;
> also
> > thanks to all who contribute to the forum.
> >
> > Dick Gideon
> > Freedom Bird
> > 1989 35FC
> > Rolla, MO
> >
>