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GregS
08-22-2011, 05:25 PM
I am jus curious why converters always or it seems always have the coach water supply supplied via the onboard fresh water tank and pump even when hooked to a city water source? So I always have to manage the avaliable water to the faucets by refilling the onboard water tank. All of the production motor homes I have owned bypass the onboard water tank and pump when connected to an external presurized water source...

Mark3101
08-22-2011, 07:56 PM
I prefer it this way. You keep your tank filled with fresh water and don't have to worry about city water pressure either being to high or low.

Jon Wehrenberg
08-22-2011, 09:01 PM
Greg,

The decision about using city water (and pressures) or to pump from your holding tank is usually based on how your converter designed the water system. A conventional motorhome may have been equipped with a single low flow water pump so in that case municipal water would be the preference. But I think the Prevost converters today want to have a water system that is capable of handling multiple uses without any degradation in water flow so they are being equipped with high volume, high flow pumps so someone taking a shower is unaffected by someone flushing a toilet.

Mark is correct about not worrying about water pressure and I think you will agree the variations in municiple water systems will make it just nicer to use your pump.

truk4u
08-22-2011, 10:15 PM
Is this a Millenium thing? I have had a Marathon, CC, Liberty and now the Royale and they have all been plumbed to allow city water direct into the coach. All 4 have had fresh water fill, either automatic or manual to the fresh water tank for use with the pump when not hooked to city water.

CAPT MOGUL & Sandy
08-22-2011, 10:22 PM
Truk, our 2001 Royale has the city water coming in via the tank. You are right though with the '97 Royale. It came straight in to the coach! So it isn't just a Millenium thing.
Sandy

garyde
08-22-2011, 11:04 PM
The pressure using shore water doesnt come close, partly due topressure regulators on board and at campsites. I prefer to use the on board pump.

Jon Wehrenberg
08-23-2011, 05:57 AM
Gary did hit it on the head as far as our Libertys are concerned, and likely others. We have a regulated incoming water flow. The regulator is an in-line flow restrictor that limits system pressure to 45 PSI. There is no doubt that is excellent protection for RV parks with excessive water pressure (the highest we have encountered was about 100 PSI near Salt Lake City) that prtection comes at a price. With the regulator in place not only is the system pressure restricted, but the flow in gallons per minute is also impacted.

We have a decent size expansion (or accumulator) tank which provides a good flow rate at that pressure for flushing the toilet, but we have been in some RV parks where their pressure is low or flow rate is restricted so recovery time after flushing is slow. On a coach without an expansion tank it seems almost a requirement to use the water pump from the tank to deliver the flow required.

Ignore what the Royale guys are saying. They have tiny pumps so city water works better for them. Especially Truk who has to pee every 10 minutes.

BoaterAl
08-23-2011, 08:41 AM
I just got in the habit years ago of allowing the RV park water to run for a few minutes before hooking up to our coach. With our Marathon filling the storage tank via city water is filtered first through a primary filter with a clear observation canister. Prefer the large house water pump for on call pressure service and zero complaints from the Mrs on water pressure.
Marathons also have the accumulator tanks for quiet service. I assume that is standard on all Prevost conversions ?

jack14r
08-23-2011, 03:03 PM
I think that the Headhunter toilet will not flush properly without the headhunter pump being activated,the converters that us Headhunter do not have a choice but to make sure that the pump is the primary source of water pressure.

phorner
08-23-2011, 03:38 PM
I think that the Headhunter toilet will not flush properly without the headhunter pump being activated,the converters that us Headhunter do not have a choice but to make sure that the pump is the primary source of water pressure.

That's exactly right.

Although we can survive on shore water pressure for everything else if we have to, the Headhunter toilet will not flush unless we use our pump.

The good news is that our setup using the pump assures us of consistent water pressure throughout the bus regardless of demand. The bad news is that without that pump you better have a real good Plan B for using a toilet.

rahangman
08-23-2011, 05:26 PM
Just thought I would chime in with about $.02 worth. My CC has a switch that says Pumps. When on, both pumps work and do a good job, with little or no noise being noticed once the pressure tank and switch kick in. We don't bother to hook the water up on arrival at campgrounds unless we are low on water in the tank. I can fill the tank directly from my hose, which is faster than using the auto fill but I have a seperate opening in my water compartment for the hose. If I wish, I can connect to the regular hose attachement and leave the hose connected, and simply turn off my pump switch inside the coach and select auto fill instead. Now, when doing this with the auto fill, I have to monitor the level gauge as it has no auto-shut off when the tank is full. I simply set the timer on the Micro Wave for 15 min or whatever estimated time I need. If I forget or whatever, it simply overflows, the neighbor or a campground attendent comes over waving their arms and wanting a cold beer for telling me about the water gushing out of the side of my coach (sometimes they just shut the water spigot off). While auto filling and I do not have water flow in the bus. With the hose connected to the bus, and pumps off, I have outside water pressure (through a press regulator) available, so, I carry an extra water pump for an emer and just go through the onboard water tank which I think holds 180 gal. Thats the way it is in CC land.

jack14r
08-23-2011, 09:56 PM
I found a Headhunter pump on Amazon last year,since I dry camp I have no choice if the pump fails but to check into a motel so I have the pump and that is the best insurance that it will never fail.

BenC
08-24-2011, 02:37 PM
Greg,

The decision about using city water (and pressures) or to pump from your holding tank is usually based on how your converter designed the water system. A conventional motorhome may have been equipped with a single low flow water pump so in that case municipal water would be the preference. But I think the Prevost converters today want to have a water system that is capable of handling multiple uses without any degradation in water flow so they are being equipped with high volume, high flow pumps so someone taking a shower is unaffected by someone flushing a toilet.

Mark is correct about not worrying about water pressure and I think you will agree the variations in municiple water systems will make it just nicer to use your pump.

This is true, but largely dependent on the type of toilet being used as well. If it is a direct drop Sealand, Thetford, or Microphor Electric toilet, little water is used for flushing, so it doesn't really matter which approach to water system design is used, but it does matter if the toilet is a Royal Flush "Water jet pump" toilet. The Royal Flush toilet takes high velocity water to create the venturi vacuum in the volute of the bowl, and the "jet pump" principle of evacuating, macerating the toilet bowl contents, and pumping the contents to the waste tank. This toilet takes a full 1-inch water line plumbed from the pump outlet through the flush valve and directly to the toilet to accomplish the flushing. An accumulator tank can be placed at this juncture in the fresh water system so that the toilet can often times be flushed without the pump turned on as long as city water pressure was high enough, even if the flow rate was not there through the smaller diameter city water hose and the protection regulator and smaller fresh water piping lines, but this is still not a "sure thing" to flushing without the pump. The sad thing was, regardless of what the coach converters wanted to put in for a toilet, the Royal Flush became an "industry standard" at a point in the late 90's, and since then, all the big converters have utilized them.

truk4u
08-24-2011, 08:27 PM
Ben,

My CC Magna that I had last year had a Headhunter toilet that was electric, no air, and worked off city water or pump. It worked pretty well with various water pressures. I don't recall the model or name, other than Headhunter, but seems like that would be a good alternative to air. I've had both versions of Microphor, air and electric and the air seems to work best. My preference over all of them is the Microphor air.

Jon has to have the Headhunter Extreme Duty, don't flush while seated, Mega Turd Slinger for obvious reasons! He has even attempted to improve performance by using an air doubler while poor Di waits outside with a close pin on her nose and ear protection.:p

Jon Wehrenberg
08-25-2011, 07:13 AM
I believe Truk is in the early stages of dementia. He has me mixed up with JDUB and the Anaconda affair.