First time using plumbing-Help Please

[Keystone]

We're RV newbies. For our first six months of B-190 ownership, we've just used the sleeping quarters and the propane for heating and cooktop. The previous owner had the plumbing winterized before we bought it. Now we're finally ready to dewinterize and use the water system, but we're not sure what does what in our 1994 van. There was about 4 inches of propylene glycol in the fresh water tank, so we added a few gallons of fresh water and turned on the pump, hoping to follow the directions for dewinterizing that we found on this site. The pump never did shut off, but it ran for about 15 minutes before we gave up. How long should it take to pressurize the plumbing? It made watery-type sounds but when I tried opening the sink faucet nothing came out. Is there something we're missing? BTW, I doubt we have a water-heater bypass, though I'm not sure if that matters. Some pictures of labeled valves, which should be open and closed, and some troubleshooting advice would be very welcome.

[skater]

The pump works off water pressure - it attempts to maintain pressure in the lines and cycles on and off as pressure requires.

If it doesn't build up enough pressure to shut off (with the faucets turned off, of course), there are a couple possibilities:
1. There is air in the lines. To get this out you basically need to open all of the faucets, hot and cold.
2. There's a leak somewhere.
3. The pressure relief valve in the water heater is open, or one of the drain valves is open.

I would've expected something from the faucets, but next time try running the pump with the faucet open.

Another possibility is that the filter behind the tank, before the pump, is clogged. That happens from time to time. It's just a little plastic thing that pops apart to clean.

A third possibility is that the pump head is bad. Hopefully that's not the case...

[Keystone]

Thanks, Skater, for the suggestions. We'll dig in and report back.

[Alaskan]

Don't forget the the water drain valves for the system...one might be open somewhere, like the one for the hot water tank

[Keystone]

Update: we're good to go with fresh water in the tank and pressure holding. I guess it was a rough winter! There was more than one leak; the most serious one was the cap to the filter. It's now super-glued and gorilla-taped, but I need to find a replacement part. The sink faucet leaked (now fixed), the shower hose leaked (now replaced), and there is still a tiny leak at the fresh water valve for the toilet; haven't found that part yet either, but it's not a bad leak (yet). The good news is that the pump is fine and there aren't any leaks in the lines (yet). The bad news is it'll take a while to dry out the glycol-fragranced carpet under the sink...

I wish I could take credit for the diagnostic work and dewinterizing, but I chickened out and brought it in to the shop. If anyone needs an rv detective while cruising through the northern/central mountains of Colorado, I can recommend this shop.

Thanks for the support out there. And now, it's time to hit the road--White Rim, here we come!

[Alaskan]

As you chase the leaks...it helps to turn the pump switch off and crack a faucet open to reduce the line pressure, therefore keeping the water damage to a minimum

Also...in the process of the hot water tank coming up to temp, you'll see a significant increase in line pressure....ya might wanna reduce that also the same way.

water-vac that carpet if ya can...