Plumbing Question...

[Dawn Michelle]

Alrighty!  I'm finally off the roof (yay!) and starting to trace my systems and I have a plumbing question if anyone can throw their two cents in?  

My tank is under one of the dinette seats and I think I got that all figured out.  The pic is from above and shows tank on the left and wall of the camper on the right.  The big hose with the green stripes is the tank fill, the pex from the wall is the city water fill (and it curves down and out along with the top left pex from the tank) to the other dinette seat where the water pump is housed (pic #2).  Then the center white top hose out of the tank that goes straight down and out is the overflow and I assume the lower bottom hose that also goes down and out is a way to empty the tank without running it through the system.  Found both those connections bottom side of the RV.  This pic doesn't show it but the tank at one time had sensors - but someone clipped the wires down to the bolts (grumble).  Well, that's okay.  If I find I really need them, I'll make it project next year to pull it out and put new ones in.

But, to my question - next shots are an overview and then closeups of the water pump and the connections (left and right).  This is where I'm a little confused.  In my old Bounder I don't remember switching anything (and certainly not plumbing connections) in order to use water from the tank rather than the city water.  But looking at this - it appears the tank pex hooks into the water pump and then the water pump hooks into one line heading off towards the bathroom (and the lines appear to go under the shower pan (shower uses the sink faucet as its supply) and behind the toilet and then under the kitchen cabinet where the water heater lives.

And the city water connection comes out and has two end points, both capped (one loose - the gold one which is laying up against the pump - and which I assume is what I'd hook to the line that goes on into the bathroom if I want to use city water, completely bypassing the pump).

So my questions are - what is that tube coming off the valve going into the water pump?  And, shouldn't there be a way to plumb this so I don't have to manually keep switching connections each time I want to switch systems?  Also, if this is what it is, is there something like a quick disconnect like they have in propane?  I can't imagine constantly rehooking plumbing lines is a good idea....

And yes, I'm going to clean out in there - YUCK! - and ensure all the wires (the 12volt wiring runs through here - and the converter -is here which just seems a bad idea, too) are out of the way, and maybe even try to isolate the converter by rigging up some way to separate it from the possibility of a water leak in this area.

[Rich Thomas]

Sureflow pumps are a good replacement pump Dawn, I have one in each of my campers. the little pop up is at least 20 years old and still works fine.

[Dawn Michelle]

I'll keep in mind - this one came on hasn't been tested yet (turned on just briefly - motor came on but didn't try to run any water through) - I took the plunge as I knew I'd be relocating it anyway and just need to be sure a new one also has half inch connections.  Hopefully all will be good but never knows - there was water in it and she went through some bitter temps this winter.