Water line issues

[D and C Kincaid]

We are having some issues with water lines in our ACE 29.3. We periodically have no hot water flow in the bathroom in either the sink or shower. This does seem to be related to the slide function, and have found in this forum another person who had this same issue with a different model. The resolution was to re-route the water lines so that the hot water line was not getting crimped off during movement in and out of the kitchen slide (where the water heater is situated). Anybody have any advice as to how to, and where to re-route this line in the ACE 29.3?
Also was performing the annual fresh water tank sanitation process yesterday, all went fine for the initial filling with the added bleach solution per manufacture recommendation. Let it sit for three hours, then drained the tank. Went to fill the tank for rinsing, and water wouldn't flow in through the external fill spout, which is the only way to fill the fresh water tank on this model. The only thing that I had done between the first fill and the second fill a number of hours later was to retract and extend the slide once trying to resolve the problem of no water coming through the hot faucet in the bathroom sink or shower. So somehow on this occasion, the retraction/extension of the slider on the opposite side of the coach somehow collapsed the filler hose it would seem. Borrowed a flexible camera today and there appears to be a kink about 12 inches down the filler tube. Any body had this problem, and if so, how did you resolve it?

[be happy]

I have the same water issue on my 29.3 but its with the cold and hot. We solved the problem by hooking the hose up letting water run to bath faucets. Turning off the faucets then opening the slide. Its seems that procedure (for us) has taken care of the problem. I did not want to run another line. As for the fresh water fill, its only a short distance form the fill entry to the tank. I would check out the tank under the bed. If you unscrew the four screws on the panel above the breaker panel you will have access to the fresh water tank.

[thor293]

I have the 29.3 (2015 model) I have not had either of these problems thankfully. The fill is just a short run as be happy stated. There are no valves involved to be at fault and it is a straight shot. As stated pull the top off the bed for access. Seems odd that it would suddenly stop filling. Maybe the line is so long and there was water still in the fill tube that after a couple of hours it was dangling and crimped. That should be an easy fix. If it is excess line which wouldnt surprise me just cut it off and shorten. Beware, you are about to see a real mess of wires in there. Out of sight out of mind for the builders

[D and C Kincaid]

Thank you both for your replies. We had found that we had some luck with running the hot water during the extension of the slider, but it is not truly consistent. Hadn't thought to just pressurize the lines and extend. Will try that. Do you ever boondock? and if so, does pressurizing with the pump work for this problem? Thor, I suspect that you are correct about the cause of the kink. Will explore there today. We figured that it had to be a pretty straight shot to the tank, so felt very confused about how on earth a kink could happen. We have had the electrical area open when trying to figure out some electrical issues. Oh wow, you are right about the mess of wires!

[thor293]

Originally Posted by D and C Kincaid

Thank you both for your replies. We had found that we had some luck with running the hot water during the extension of the slider, but it is not truly consistent. Hadn't thought to just pressurize the lines and extend. Will try that. Do you ever boondock? and if so, does pressurizing with the pump work for this problem? Thor, I suspect that you are correct about the cause of the kink. Will explore there today. We figured that it had to be a pretty straight shot to the tank, so felt very confused about how on earth a kink could happen. We have had the electrical area open when trying to figure out some electrical issues. Oh wow, you are right about the mess of wires!

When I first looked under the bed the fill hose was about 3' longer than it needed to be. We do boondock. A couple ideas you can look at are installing a bypass on your shower, it sends water back to the tank until hot gets to the shower head and then just flip the lever, that can be a pretty good water saver. Doesnt matter if you are connected to water because then you wont run out. Other thing is I installed one of those Hot Rod water heater elements in our tank, advantage is that it is adjustable for temp. I got mine adjusted to about 99* so we never have to mix cold with the hot to take a shower, we bypass till hot is to the shower head and we are on our way.

[thor293]

Tank heater link: https://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Group...kit+-+6+gallon

Water bypass valve . RV – Aqua View, Inc.

Since that worked so well I went to Home depot and bought the same type of breaker to hook up on the gas side of the tank. Takes some testing to get the right temperature but I think I have it now.https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt...1695/204834403 looking back, no reason you cant use this thermostat on your current electric heater, just run the wires through the thermostat and save buying the optional kit I listed.

[D and C Kincaid]

So, when I got under the bed it didn't take me long to figure out the problem. I had inadvertently overfilled the tank when filling the tank for sanitizing. Water had gone into the vent tube, and the vent tube was pretty much full of water. Since we hadn't moved the rig, or run the pump with the cap on, the vent tube didn't drain. That didn't allow any water to displace air when we were trying to fill the tank. In addition, the vent tube was below the fill tube, and had at least two low points in it with a slight rise in the middle. The filler tube was actually fine, and I am not sure why it looked like a kink to hubby when he looked with a flexible camera, but have to admit neither of us was familiar with that piece of equipment. I think we were both assuming a kink as well at that point. I fixed the vent tube by removing the tank end and placing it on top of the fill tube and straightening it out so that it does not have low points anymore until it reaches the tank. Water fills just fine now, and I actually purposely overfilled it just to test that it would actually drain properly back into the tank when the tank level went down low enough to allow that. I will certainly attempt to never over fill the tank, but know it will happen sometimes. Also, be happy, I tried the charge the lines and then extend the slider. It works well enough. The hot water in the bathroom sink is not as perky as when slider is in, but at least it runs, and the shower hot water runs fine, so we will consider it good for the time being. Thank you both for your suggestions.

[D and C Kincaid]

Originally Posted by be happy

I have the same water issue on my 29.3 but its with the cold and hot. We solved the problem by hooking the hose up letting water run to bath faucets. Turning off the faucets then opening the slide. Its seems that procedure (for us) has taken care of the problem. I did not want to run another line. As for the fresh water fill, its only a short distance form the fill entry to the tank. I would check out the tank under the bed. If you unscrew the four screws on the panel above the breaker panel you will have access to the fresh water tank.

Good afternoon, Be Happy. So, your solution to the water line helped as long as we were hooked up to city water, but we found that using the pump did not provide enough pressure to keep the hot water line open to the bathroom. So we realized that we were going to have to do something more definitive. Started tracing lines, and then figured that we might be looking for a place where the lines went to flex lines. Opened up the panel under the kitchen sink and found the problem area. There is a sleeve or pocket under the water heater where both flex water lines and a large bundle of wires curls in and out of the pocket as the slider is retracted and extended. Our hot water line had a very significant kink in it, which kinked firmly closed when the slide was extended. I detached it from the water heater end, straightened it out, and took it out of the pocket bundle. I couldn't figure out a good way to get it back into the pocket area without it kinking, as it has a permanent kink in it. I think it is a little longer than necessary, and I didn't want to try to cut and replace pressure fitting areas. It curls nicely exactly where I want it to go now as the slider retracts, and extends without placing any unwanted tension anywhere as it extends. Problem solved as long as the area of kink doesn't cause any future leaking. Hopefully yours will never get worse, but if it does, you might look here first.

[Bob Denman]

Originally Posted by D and C Kincaid

I fixed the vent tube by removing the tank end and placing it on top of the fill tube and straightening it out so that it does not have low points anymore until it reaches the tank... ...The hot water in the bathroom sink is not as perky as when slider is in, but at least it runs, and the shower hot water runs fine, so we will consider it good for the time being.

Congratulations on finding the cure!!