trial and error

[leisuremom]

Hi everyone, glad to be a new owner of our 27' travel trailer and be a communiy of adventure seekers.
We just purchased a used travel trailer, a 27 rbds ultralite. first day in, hoping to figure out the ins and outs of this baby. Well, first mishap, filled our black water tank, thinking that we're filling the fresh water tank. Heard leaking inside the cabin and to our shock the toilet is over flowing. Fun, Fun already. Read the manual but we can't find this selector valve. Manual doesn't give you an idea of where it could be placed.
Found the fresh tank filler, which we just stuck our hose into. Haven't tried the flush yet, still unsure what that does.

So my question is, where could this selector valve be? and does this valve switch to city water connection?

Any feedback would be soooo appreciative.

[backtrack15]

Could you tell us the model year for your 27 RBDS? I'm guessing things may have changed over the years, so the year might help people be more specific.

It sounds like you found the black-tank flush (caused your toilet to overflow). It also sounds like you found a gravity fill for the freshwater tank. You're making progress via trail and error.

Often the selector valve for city water vs filling the freshwater tank is in the front storage compartment on the street side of the unit. You might check there. I'm sorry I can't help, I don't really know anything about your floorplan.

[leisuremom]

27rbds ultra lite 2016. I'll look in there again. Only found the battery turnoff in the compartment

[backtrack15]

Okay. From what a I found online, it looks like yours will not have anything but the battery disconnect in the front compartment. It would not surprise me if yours simply has the gravity port for the freshwater tank, a city water connection (toward the back on the street side), and a black tank flush. I doubt there is a selector valve, but hopefully somebody more knowledgeable will chime in soon.

[leisuremom]

Thank you for your input. I can relax and not wrack my brain trying to find this valve that doesn't exist

[DavidM]

There should be no selector valve to switch from the black water tank to the fresh water tank. That would violate standard plumbing practices that isolate black water from fresh water systems to eliminate the chance of contaminating your drinking water.

I suspect what you thought was the fresh water fill port was the black water tank washout port. They should be labeled as such but time may have destroyed the label.

Also you should never use the same hose to fill your fresh water tank that you use to hook up to the black water flush. You could contaminate your drinking water that way.

David

[Old Navy]

As others have said, there's no valve. WGO really should do a better job of marking the connections. On my Minnie, they are unmarked but do look different. The black water flush connection has a large plastic grip around it, while the city water is just a plain brass hose connection. I assume the plastic grip is so you can attach/detach the flushing hose while wearing gloves.

[creativepart]

leisuremom, did your selling dealer or private seller give you a basic run through of how everything works. If not, it would be best if you connect with an experienced travel trailer owner to help you learn the basics.

Always keep in mind that anytime you have a water hose running into the Black tank flush hose connector that if the main black tank dump valve is closed that you are at risk for over filling your black tank and having a disaster on your hands.

To use it, connect your dump hose to your main tank dump 3" pipe and have your dump hose already connected to the campground sewage dump. Then open your black tank valve and then you can turn on the water going into your black tank flush.

Many of us will close the black tank valve and let the flush add some water to the black tank to make it easy to release the valve and dump and second or third time to better clean the tank. But as a newbie you may not be up for that just yet.

YouTube has hundreds of videos on just about all RVing topics. So, that's a great place to learn the basics of how things work.

But always keep in mind, both here and on YouTube that not all RVs are the same. Especially between motorhomes and travel trailers.

Here's a video for an Rpod brand Travel Trailer. It's not EXACTLY like yours but it should be obvious to you where your Travel Trailer is different. The man in this video says he puts 4 or 5 gals of water back into his tank after draining and flushing. I might disagree with that large amount. I would put maybe 2 gal at max of clean water back in the tank after dumping but every RVer has a different way of doing things.

Anyway, this video (and there are many others) will guide you through the basic steps:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixynZc0BUNQ

[creativepart]

Filling your fresh water tank via the gravity feed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmeV6qQPJnU

Here's a basic trailer setup video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-JQ7rnj7kM

NOTE: Neither video is for your trailer nor is it universal for EVERY RV. So, don't try to make everything you see here apply to your exact travel trailer.

[leisuremom]

Thank you everyone for your great suggestions. Since there's no valve I can move on. Yesterday we tested the water lines and labeled them, correctly. The manual was very misleading and trying to find a video on it was nil.
The previous owner had labeled the lines but I think he inadvertently mixed the flush line w the city water line. Hence my flooded bathroom.
Well, this a learning process on a new toy. We're really going to know how this baby works when all the links are straighten. Thank you all.

[backtrack15]

Unfortunately the towables owners manual is very general and features vary across the towables lineup (not everything in the manual applies to every trailer). It sounds like you're well on your way to figuring things out. Enjoy the new trailer!

[Fasttimes]

Hi leisuremom, I Have a 2015 27RBDS, and I would imagine everything is the same. You for sure filled the black-water flush. On that back left area where all the connections are there should be another fresh-water port to attach your hose to. Not to be confused with the fresh-water tank port that does not have a hose-connection. There should be a rubber cap on it and a threaded hose connector.



The only "water selector" I"m aware of is a water pipe diverter that is used if you have to winterize your camper to by-pass the hot-water heater. That is behind the wooden panel inside the bathroom to the right of the toilet. You do have to unscrew it to get to it. I found out this the hard way on my inaugural trip with the camper when I found no hot water heater working. I bought the camper during the winter from a dealer up in Connecticut and shipped to Florida. First trip out I had no idea, but was ultimately able to sort it out.


BTW, great choice on the 27RBDS. The dual-opposing slides really makes this model shine. The amount of room inside really is noticeable by all who come in when set up.



If you have any questions about the camper feel free to ask away.