Pressure problem....and hot water heaters.

I've got an oddball question for you guys. When hooked with city water, I had NO problems with pressure. Then I reconnected the hot water heater. There are NO water leaks anywhere in the system, yet when I turn on the water, it's like it comes out good for a few seconds, then slows to a trickle.....until it builds up pressure again. Does anyone know what's going on here? I would guess that is the reason the previous owner had the hot water heater bypassed, just curious if there's something I can do to fix this problem. BTW, same thing happens with both hot or cold water, tho I've gotta fix the heater first before I can turn it on. I really would like to get this heater working if I can. Anyway, does anyone know what's going on? (This is not anything connected to the tank btw.)

Happytrails......

We had a problem last year.  We had used our camper for several weekends, using tank water and city water and had no problems.  Then, near the beginning of a 3 week trip, we were losing pressure in our hot water system.  We had filled the fresh water tank and had started using that, but the filter kept 'pulsing' even when we weren't using the water.  The pressure was low.  Then we switched to city water and  would have pressure when we first opened the hot water, but it would soon become a trickle.  Nothing seemed to work.  I finally drained the hot water tank, blew out the lines as best as I could with my little compressor and put everything back.  As the trip went on, it seemed to get better, slowly.  This year, we haven't had any big problems.  It's not as good as the cold, but it's adequate.  We can take showers.  :P

That's what the RV shop told me as well, to take out the check  valve at the end of the system, or rather the beginning where the city water connects, then blow the system out in reverse to get any debris that might be caught in any screens somewhere out of there.........


Happytrails.......

I think the Suburban FAQ (or some other web page I stumbled on) had a description of this problem.

Since there is no expansion tank in the hot water system, the pressure rises as the water heats.  When the user opens the faucet, you have a relief of pressure.  After the pressure relieves, the flow drops to a trickle until you open the faucet more.

This is a common problem with RV hot water systems...

Suburban recommends keeping some air in the top of the water heater.  The air allows for expansion and compresses much better than the water.  Their web site (assuming I'm not halucinating) has a detailed description of how to do this.

You could also install a small expansion tank (sold in RV catalogs) which would address this problem.

The pressure surge irritates me to varying degrees, but not enough to install a tank.  I may try the air gap method, but with only a 3-gallon heater I hate to lose to much capacity.

[Civil_War_Buff]

That's what the RV shop told me as well, to take out the check valve at the end of the system, or rather the beginning where the city water connects, then blow the system out in reverse to get any debris that might be caught in any screens somewhere out of there.........


Happytrails.......

I suppose that I need to do this as I only get a trickle in the bathroom at the sink, but I was wondering how you blow the system out in reverse, and where the "check valve" is located?

Thanks.

The check valve is part of the hose connection on the outside of the TM. If you look where you hook up to city water, you'll see it in there, actually, you only need to jam a little something in there to get it to move out of the way. (I just used a screw laying near the camper). Actually, I feel really stupid, lol......Turned out after doing all this stuff plugging off the lines, then putting them back, and trying durn near everything, I went to put some water in my tank to see if that would work, and nothing was coming out of the hose. In the short week or so that the hose was disconnected from the faucet outside, a bug had pulled a bunch of leaves in it and they got trapped at the beginning of the water filter!  :-[  lol (We won't even go into what happened when I put air into the heater from the inside of the TM and getting blasted with water and sedement!) LOL

[glow=red,2,300]Happytrails[/glow]