How To Fill An RV Fresh Water Tank

by Marcus
(Spokane, WA)

How To Fill an RV Fresh Water Tank

How To Fill an RV Fresh Water Tank

I own a 2010 Jayco Eagle Lite 5th wheel, and I was wondering if it is normal for water to trickle out of the drain below the trailer after it is full? I understand that it will come out of the fill hole after it is full.

ANSWER: Hi Marcus, yes, it is normal for some water to drain out of the vent on your trailer's fresh water tank to leak some water for a couple of minutes if you have filled the tank to the top. If it is leaking continually, then that may indicate a problem. Take a look at the video below to get a good explanation for properly filling up your RV's fresh water tank.

Depending on the type of RV you have, there could be two different setups for filling up the fresh water tank and hooking your RV to a city water connection at an RV park.

Setup 1; There will be two separate connections on your RV, one for filling up your RV's fresh water tank and a separate screw-on connection for hooking to city water.

Setup 2: There will be one screw on connection that you connect the hose to. There will be a valve that you use to choose whether you are going to fill up the fresh water tank or use city water from that connection.

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* When filling up your RV's fresh water or using city water the only type of hose you should use is a RV Drinking Water Hose. These hoses are designed to be used for drinking water and will not add any strange tastes to your water.

* When filling up your RV's fresh water tank or using city water make sure that you have
a good quality RV Water Filter attached to the fresh water hose. A good filter will help in filtering out bad tastes and sediments that can contaminate your RV's fresh water systems. You should replace these filters at least once every 6 months.

Some RV's are also equipped with separate filters on the kitchen and sometimes the bathroom sinks, so you need to make sure that these filters or Filter Cartridges are also changed every 6 months.

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* When filling up your fresh water tank you will want to go in the RV when the tank is partially filled and turn on your RV's water pump and then turn on the hot water on one of your faucets so that the hot water tank in your RV gets filled up. This can add an additional 6 to 10 gallons of water to your system and will also allow you to operate your RV's hot water heater without damaging it.

* You should sanitize your RV's fresh water system, especially if it has been sitting for a while. I would recommend that you read our article Freshen Up Your RV Water System.

* Lastly, if you are not planning on doing a lot of boondocking (camping where there is no water or electric connections), there is no need to keep your RV's fresh water tank full. Keeping it full will only make you carry around extra weight that you don't need.

I hope that this information has been helpful to you.

Do you have any suggestions or comments on this topic? You can add them to this page by clicking on the "Click Here To Post Comments" link located near the bottom of this page.

Happy RVing

RVing Al

Comments for How To Fill An RV Fresh Water Tank

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Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Not always two water connections
by: Big Z

My 2001 Class A Coachmen only has one water hook up both for filling the fresh water tank and for the city water hook up. I have a panel with multiple shut offs. The article above said that there are two water hook ups. One to fill the tank and one for city water. This is incorrect. Maybe correct for some applications but not all.
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Answer for Camden
by: Anonymous

You may be using the wrong water fill port. Our camper has a port to fill the fresh water and another port to clean the black tank.
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Fresh water goes directly to black tank
by: Anonymous

When we hook our hose to the fresh water fill inlet the water goes directly to the black water tank. Anyone have any advice. 1994 Beaver Camden
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		filling water ta nk in an rv
by: Anonymous

If you are filling with a hose turn valve to fill. Then back to use .
When boondocking turn valve to fill, then open the antifreeze fill valve then put the end of the hose in the bucket. Turn on pump. It should suck it into tank. I use two gallon water containers as they are easy to carry and fit into a small space.

Tip: catch the cold wster when you first turn on the shower in a plastic pitcher and use the water for the toliet. It will give you a couple of extra showers when dry camping. You can shower with one gallon if you wet down, soap up and shampoo, then rinse.
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		water tank install
by: jan

I just recently purchased a stripped down 1964 winnebago canned ham trailer and need to install a water tank and pump for my mini kitchen. I need to know do I need to have both inlets put in or can the water tank inlet also handle city water pressure. I did purchase a pressure requlator and a tank inlet hoping that I would only need to cut one hole in the side of the trailer I only am equipting my trailer with cold water no water heater and no bathroom/shower. I am working with 108 inches x 75 inches here for the entire trailer.
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		fresh water drain
by: Anonymous

on 2016 newmar bay starsport 2903 where is thwe fresh water drain plug? I need help thanks
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Water valve on Baystar Sport 2903
by: Anonymous

Never in a million years did I think a Newmar motorhome would hide the valve like that. Read the owners manual. It states that the valve is inches away from the hose hook up, not hidden behind the sewer hook up in another compartment. Shame on Newmar. I've had several people try to find the valve including techs at Richardson's Rv and they couldn't find it without a flashlight and much searching for several minutes.
Rating
starstarstar 		Newmar water tank
by: Reva Miller

Found it! The water connection is in the next bin over...the tap black against a black background. Thanks to the wonderful staff at Newmar!
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Water tank
by: Anonymous

I purchased a 2008 Holiday Rambler. How do I fill the water tank?
Carol
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		City water not filling on 2014 Newmar Bay Star Sport
by: Reva

Howdy folks, I feel foolish for asking this but here goes. Our RV fresh water tank is not filling. There are no other connections (except for black) on our Newmar. We even tried the suction method from a bucket, no luck. Can anyone explain how to fill fresh water on this make and model? We are obviously missing something! Thank you for your help!

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