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Old 11-22-2005, 03:13 PM   #1
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How to vent a fresh water pressurized system?

How does one vent off the displaced air in a fresh water tank or system when hooked up to a pressurized city water system? I realize that there is a bypass around the water pump to fill the tank, but how is the pressure maintained in the system and still vented?

-Richard

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Old 11-22-2005, 10:05 PM   #2
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It's not vented. It's just like your house water system, ever shut the water off and then turn it back on later? Air comes out of the faucets when you first turn the water on ... that's the air in the system being 'vented' 'til the pipes refill with water. When on city water the tank is bypassed, otherwise water would just flow out the vent pipe once the tank filled up. If you fill the tank on from the city water hook-up you'd need a valve to shut off the city water to the tank once it's full.

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Old 11-24-2005, 12:01 AM   #3
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My Dr. Seuss plumbing is kind of funky, but it works. I don't maintain a city water connection. I could, but I'd have to leave a window open to run the hose inside the bus to hook it up. The setup could be modified to work with a through the wall fitting (and pressure control device) for continuous city water connection. (Honestly - I did it this way on purpose!)




To fill the tank.

1. Turn pump off at breaker (a switch at the pump would be nice).

2. Attach hose between Hose Bibb and city water (don't turn water on yet).

3. Open Flood Valve -- this lets water go into tank.

4. Open Hose Bibb -- this connects city water to fresh water system.

5. Turn on city water -- the tank will start to fill.

6. WATCH TANK LEVEL! Turn off city water when tank is full.

7. Close Hose Bibb -- this disconnects city water from fresh water system.

8. Close Flood Valve -- this keeps pump from circulating water through lines and back into tank.

9. Turn pump back on. Disconnect hose from Hose Bibb and city water.

Now you have a full tank! The tank is vented just by the gaps around where I cut the holes to put the draw pipe and the fill pipe in the top of the tank. If you were to have real, honest to God, fittings on a tank, you'd need some other provision for venting the tank when you fill it.

To run on city water.

1. Turn pump off at breaker (a switch at the pump would be nice).

2. Attach hose between Hose Bibb and city water (don't turn water on yet).

3. Open Flood Valve -- this lets water go into tank.

4. Open Hose Bibb -- this connects city water to fresh water system.

5. Now you are running on city water. A backflow valve on the line from the pump keeps the water from circulating back through the pump and into the tank.

I have run this way a time or two just to test it, but I do not maintain a city water connection. I fill my 40 gallon tank about every 4 days.
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Old 11-24-2005, 12:39 AM   #4
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Eric,

Great job on your bus.

Call it Dr. Seuss if ya want, but it looks like a very good, simple system.
Looking at the diagram tho' and knowing there's a check valve after the pump, connecting to city water would just be

1) Close flood valve (keeps city water from flowing to tank).
2) Connect city water to hose bibb.
3) Turn on city water and hose bibb.

The check valve would prevent backflow through the pump and the city water pressure would keep the pump from turning on when a faucet in the bus was opened, no?

Also when you say that the tank is vented through the holes for the fill and draw lines, is there actually a gap around the pipe between the pipe and the tank? If so, and the flood valve was open when on city water, once the tank was full, water would just continue to run out through these gaps wouldn't it?

Looks like a good sytem and as you say, just a through the wall city water connector and you're set (that is if you don't want to run the hose through the window). Good illustration too, by the way, what you use to do that?

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Old 11-27-2005, 07:10 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wtd
Eric,

Great job on your bus.
Thanks! 99.9% of it is ideas that came from other people (or evolved from looking at their busses).

Quote:
Call it Dr. Seuss if ya want, but it looks like a very good, simple system.
Looking at the diagram tho' and knowing there's a check valve after the pump, connecting to city water would just be

1) Close flood valve (keeps city water from flowing to tank).
2) Connect city water to hose bibb.
3) Turn on city water and hose bibb.
uhhh...check valve after pump....I think I remember putting one of those in there...I know there's one on the cold water line feeding the water heater...

The diagram looks fine, the Dr. Seuss part comes in at the execution phase!

Quote:
The check valve would prevent backflow through the pump and the city water pressure would keep the pump from turning on when a faucet in the bus was opened, no?
...you keep bring up that check valve...now I'm trying to remember....I KNOW I bought 2 of them....

The pump would not turn on, I don't think, because the city water pressure is higher than the pressure setting on the pump (45psi IIRC). I always turn my pump off when I fill the tank, and I reckon that I'd turn it off when I had a citywater connection.

Quote:
Also when you say that the tank is vented through the holes for the fill and draw lines, is there actually a gap around the pipe between the pipe and the tank? If so, and the flood valve was open when on city water, once the tank was full, water would just continue to run out through these gaps wouldn't it?
BINGO! Once the water level is about 1" from the top of the tank, I have 14 seconds to run outside and shut off the water. So far, so good. Never missed it...yet.

The tank was shipped with fittings, but it's polyethylene, and you have to have a "spin-welder" to install fittings on it. They didn't tell me that when I bought it - I guess they assumed I knew. I just cut holes in the top with a hole-saw.

Quote:
Looks like a good sytem and as you say, just a through the wall city water connector and you're set (that is if you don't want to run the hose through the window). Good illustration too, by the way, what you use to do that?

Tom
It's my imitation of a standard RV system! I used Microsoft Paint to draw the illustration. I do my graphics like I do my bus ...on a shoestring! :lol
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Old 12-21-2005, 08:12 PM   #6
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Both the fill door and pump have built in check valves so I just hook up the hose and turn off power to the pump, no city water flows into the tank via this hookup.

BTW: I didn't know that the pump and fill door had check valves when I bought them!
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