Water Tank Question

[RantucketT139]

2002 T139

Can anyone help clue me in on what the water tank inlet does/how it works?

Does this fill up the freshwater tank? Do you just put a hose up to it until it overflows since there is no gauge?

Hot water question, does the freshwater tank need to be full to use the hot water or will it run off of shore water if she's hooked up to a hose?

Any help for this newbie would be greatly appreciated!

[profdant139]

Yep! Just stick the hose into that port, wait till it overflows, and turn off the water. I have a long tapered brass nozzle that I use for that job.

And if you hook up the hose to the threaded "city water" inlet, you do not need to have any water in your tank.

A couple of important points -- it is a good idea to have a pressure regulator on your hose before hooking up to the city water inlet, because high pressure in an RV park can damage your system. We also installed a simple garden hose valve, so that we can turn down the pressure even more.

When you get ready to light up your water heater, make sure that there is water in the tank. Otherwise, the tank could be damaged if you try to run it when it is dry. Before running the heating element (probably propane), open the hot water faucet at the sink and make sure that water is coming out.

Then close the faucet and run the water heater.

Also, on such an old trailer it is a good idea to check the anode to see if it is corroded -- it is a simple device that sacrifices itself so that your hot water tank won't corrode. You probably need a 13/16 socket to unscrew it. If it is corroded, just buy a new one -- they are cheap. Use teflon paste on the threads when you screw it back in.

Let us know if you have any other questions!!

[RantucketT139]

Thanks Dan! I knew you would know the answer and thanks for the explanation of it all too. Very helpful in figuring all this stuff out!

[profdant139]

One other thought -- on our old T-139, the tube from the fill port to the tank actually slanted up a little, causing some back-pressure when we filled the tank with the hose.

The solution was easy -- I opened the hatch under the dinette bench on the left side of the trailer. I looped a string around the middle of the hose and cinched it around a screw near the water pump, thus tilting the hose down just a little.

Hurrah for gravity!

[APD]

There are instructions on line regarding sanitizing the fresh water tank. I would recommend a good cleaning.
We removed ours, since we never boondocked anyway, and now use the space for storage. Nothing against boondocking, we're just old and lazy....

Alan

[RantucketT139]

Alan,

We've talked about removing the tank for more storage as well for that same reason and will likely do so before the summer is through. We're also not small ladies so the bathroom situation wasn't working so well. We've removed the toilet, semi-permanently plugged the black tank and made some more room for our porta-potty. Easier/cleaner to dump and we've been tent camping for 4 or 5 days at a time and never filled it so it's plenty big. We will cut down and refinish the high step up to get into the bathroom making it all around an easier task. Trying to manage that in the dark at 2 or 3am wasn't fun on our first outing!

[APD]

We like our little shower but it IS kinda tight in there. My better half is petite but I'm not...........can you say elbow bumpin'?

The toilet in ours is also short and plastic sooooo, a much taller, higher quality unit is going in late spring.


Alan

[Frida]

I'm a newbie as well. I learned that I have a broken valve and that's why my hot water tank wasn't filling with water. Make sure all your lines are open so the tank fills. Mine lines were closed when the service center winterized it. I watched a YouTube video to learn how to fill the hot water tank, but like i said, I'm new, so maybe you already knew all that. I took mine out for the third time a couple weeks ago and got caught in the snow. Still more fun than sitting at home watching TV. Would have been better with hot water!