Adding water through my vent.

[JHT]

At a park and only have power. I bought a pump to transfer water. Pump is not working so now I'm adding water through the vent at the rear of the rig. I can fill it until it runs out but fresh water indicator will only show 2/3. Brand new 3231CK guessing it's a issue with the fresh water sensors.

[Daryles]

You may have an air bubble in the tank trying to fill it through the vent.
An alternate method is using "Winterizing" mode valve in the convenience center.

Filling freshwater tank using winterizing port.
Take 5 gal bucket of freshwater. Connect a pickup hose to the winterizing port (sometimes you have to use 2 washers to make a good seal). Put the open end into the bucket of water. The bucket must be level to or higher than the winterizing port. Turn winterize valve to "ON". Connect the outdoor shower hose to city water connection. Turn "Normal flow/Fill" valve to "Fill". Turn water pump on and open cold water side of shower. Water will draw from 5 gal jug go thru shower hose into city water connection right into the freshwater tank.

Freshwater fill kit
https://www.montanaowners.com/forums...ad.php?t=86368

[rohrmann]

Trying to use the vent port is going to be very hard because you can't get air out of the tank while adding water. I use a 12 volt pump from Harbor Freight, added a switch and used a trailer plug wired to the leads of the pump to connect to the outlet in the bed of the truck for power. I can empty a 40 gallon bladder quickly connected to the normal water connection in the convenience center, even though we do have a gravity fill. I fill this way so the water goes through the water softener and I use a blue inline filter coming from the pump too.
https://www.harborfreight.com/plumbi...gph-63324.html

[JHT]

Well there you go thanks! Wouldn't of thought of that.

[JHT]

Going to get a better pump for sure. I bought a cheap one and couldn't get the water to pick up out of the tank. I burned up the rubber impeller. Going to get a water jug with a valve at the bottom so it primes right away.

[Carl n Susan]

Get a 40 gal. bladder (from CW or ?) rather than a jug. The bladder holds more water, it plumbed for a hose connection to a HF pump, and folds up to almost nothing when empty.

[DutchmenSport]

Here's my set up. I've been doing it this way for several years now on 2 different campers now.

The pump is a Lowe's Home Improvement store water transfer pump, 120 volt AC. I also have a 400 watt inverter I can plug into the cigarette lighter plug in the truck in the event I am somewhere I do not have AC electricity. The 35 gallon water tank is from Tractor Supply Company (TSC). The pump currently costs a bit over $100, but stands the test of time. I don't know what the tank costs now, but I've seen them, identical ones, still at TSC when I swing in to get my propane tanks filled. This works and works well. And the hard 35 gallon water tank is easy to sanitize.



My previous trailer (gravity fill)



My current Montana:

Filling the tank:





The transfer pump:





Pumping water into the Montana via the fill port, valve:





I use this water meter to keep track of my water usage, when using the 35 gallon water tank or not using it. The meter just stays there.

[Foldbak]

Pretty impressive setup.

[Ahdmeyer]

i have used this thu the vent slow but works
https://www.harborfreight.com/batter...ump-63847.html

[JHT]

That's a great setup for sure

[JHT]

Worked great. Definitely had a air lock doing it manually through the vent. Had a big blast of air come out the vent when I started pumping. Put 70 gallons in, wasn't sure if the pump could run that long. I didn't do it all at once just incase. Next trip out I will have a better setup.

[rohrmann]

I wonder where all that water went, seeing as you only have about a 50 gallon fresh water tank. Your rig is listed as having 66 gallons of fresh water capacity, but that counts water in the water heater and the rest of the plumbing.

[JHT]

Conversion error. I was working in litres. 250 litres is 66 US gallons or about 55 imperial. The correct amount I put in is about 60 US gallons