We drove from Denver to Santa Fe on Sunday, then Santa Fe to Flagstaff this evening. I had issues.

I worked until about 4 today, then we broke camp to hit the road. I was a little hurried, because we had a long way to go, and a short time to get there (well, not really, but that song is cool). I did things in a different order than I usually do. I pretty much do the same things in the same order when we break down. It is not intentional, but rather just habit now, I guess. I couldn't even write out the steps here - I just do them. Today was different - and I think I broke something because of it.

I was filling the fresh water a bit so we would have flushing juice on the road. I kept the fill valve open so that it would drain off the pressure and I could disconnect my fitting at the pressure regulator.  When I released the quick disconnect on the regulator there was a bit of pressure, and more water than usual was draining from the hose. I went back to the wet bay and heard the water pump going. I closed the fill valve and the pump kept running. It was filling the hose and pumping out - out through the in door.

I changed positions of the fill handle, cycled the pump several times, many combinations of things. They all turned out the same. Needing the water pump for the road trip, I put a quarter turn ball valve on the end of the hose and turned on the pump. It filled the hose to just over 40psi and shut off, which is what I had hoped for.

I figured out that there must be a check valve that diverts whatever is supplying the system with pressure. I rigged it for the drive, and it actually worked out because the hose acts as a big expansion tank. With the pump turned off, there was a lot of pressure for quite a while. Made me want to go to Lowes and shop for a tank.

I will call Monaco tech support tomorrow to see what is up with that check valve. Damien said that it happened to his, so I will see if he has any wisdom to share. I am sure it will be a quick fix, but by the time I get the part, make time to tear apart the wet bay, fix the valve, then goof with all the other stuff in there, it is going to be a while. Something tells me I can blow off the trip to Lowe's because I am going to have my ghetto Hose Reel Expansion Tank in use for a while.

--kev