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Old 04-01-2014, 12:28 AM   #1
Lack of HP
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fill fresh water tank

Well this could be one of those dumb questions but unless you know the answer I guess no questions is dumb. I have a 14 3625re Montana, never had the fill system before using the switch on the city water hookup. Mine were always stand alone.
My question is are there any way to add a water freshener or chemical to clean the tank. Could not find anything on this.

I go to alot of Nascar and NHRA events and use Johnny on the spot to refill the fresh water tanks for showers and such. How would they do this as they don't hook up, just pump in. Thats my dumb question. I am sure I am not the only on going to these events. thanks. Joe
 
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Old 04-01-2014, 01:31 AM   #2
jswharton
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I too would like to hear from others that have actually done this, so far I have not. My understanding is that there is a method to remove the FW vent cap (it is where the old fill door was) and you can pour the sanitation chemicals directly into the tank.

As to filing the tank I believe any water source would work as long as it can be feed thru a normal FW hose. I have never used a portable service but if they were going to pump it in I would be sure to have a pressure regulator attached. I have a 70 gal FW tank in the pickup bed and use a regular surflo pump to move the water from the pickup to the Montana. Just turn the valve to fill and either look at the monitor or wait until the water starts to come out of the overflow vent.

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Old 04-01-2014, 03:16 AM   #3
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So I'm not the only one with this question. I read on a sticker in the Convenience Center that you remove the cap on the overflow vent at the rear of the coach. I can't figure out how to remove the vent cap. I don't want to start prying on something that might break. But that seems to be the only way to add the bleach into the fresh water tank to sanitize it.
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Old 04-01-2014, 04:07 AM   #4
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I just emailed Keystone. When I get a good answer back I'll post it here.
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Old 04-01-2014, 04:32 AM   #5
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So Keystone decided to get rid of the old manual fill method? That seems rather silly. For those of you with new rigs that do contact them about this issue, maybe do future Montana owners a favor and politely ask that they put that back! I can't imagine gravity feed will work very well to the convince center location.
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Old 04-01-2014, 05:38 AM   #6
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Okay, I went out to the Monty and played with the overflow vent at the rear of my 3402RL. Below are 2 pictures one with the cover removed. You can see the strainer gasket. It removed easily with your finger. You could easily use a funnel with a flexible hose to fill it. The other picture is of the vent cover upside down so you can see the back of it. It has 3 tabs that stick in slots in the vent frame. I just pulled out on one side and it snapped off.



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Old 04-01-2014, 05:41 AM   #7
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by davidaf

So Keystone decided to get rid of the old manual fill method? That seems rather silly. For those of you with new rigs that do contact them about this issue, maybe do future Montana owners a favor and politely ask that they put that back! I can't imagine gravity feed will work very well to the convince center location.
To answer you question about concern, I'm not concerned because filling the fresh water is now very easy, just flip a switch in the convenience center. To sanitize you just use a funnel to pour bleach into the vent with the cover removed and strainer removed. See my other post with pictures.

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Old 04-01-2014, 07:06 AM   #8
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I bought a short (6 foot) length of garden hose to use solely for this purpose. When getting ready to sanitize, I hook up the one end to the convenience center, turn the valve to fill position, then before hooking up the other end I pour the recommended amount of sanitizer/deoderizer, or whatever your choice is into the open end of the hose before hooking up to the source of water. Mixes the solution very well as it heads towards the freshwater tank. Worked for me for many years now.
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Old 04-01-2014, 07:15 AM   #9
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by DQDick

I just emailed Keystone. When I get a good answer back I'll post it here.
Believe we have the same Montana as you. I have a fresh water filler cap/door at the end of the rig on the opposite door side.
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Old 04-01-2014, 07:25 AM   #10
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I know I've already ran off topic but I've had a few occasions where I had to dump in few gallons just to get us by for the night. That would be hard to do w/ the convenience center connection. Or when the hose just wouldn't reach the convenience center (two weeks ago already setup needed a refill). Sounds like anybody with the new setup could just add water via the rear vent just like when you sanitize.

Guess I'm a "If it works, don't fix it" kinda guy.

Quote:
quote:
To answer you question about concern, I'm not concerned because filling the fresh water is now very easy, just flip a switch in the convenience center. To sanitize you just use a funnel to pour bleach into the vent with the cover removed and strainer removed. See my other post with pictures.
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Old 04-01-2014, 12:22 PM   #11
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by davidaf

I know I've already ran off topic but I've had a few occasions where I had to dump in few gallons just to get us by for the night. That would be hard to do w/ the convenience center connection. Or when the hose just wouldn't reach the convenience center (two weeks ago already setup needed a refill). Sounds like anybody with the new setup could just add water via the rear vent just like when you sanitize.

Guess I'm a "If it works, don't fix it" kinda guy.

This isn't a new problem. It has been discussed before. One solution is to use a 12V pump (Harbor Freight type or a spare Shurflo water pump) to suck the water from your portable container.

*OR* use the "Winterize" valve position to suck in the few gallons ot water from your portable container.

Read these postings and all should become clear.

http://www.montanaowners.com/forums/...ad.php?t=42207
http://www.montanaowners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42221
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Old 04-01-2014, 02:00 PM   #12
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You may be able to put the necessary amount of sanitizer in your water filter container if you don't have a manual fill at the rear of your 5er.
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Old 04-20-2014, 03:05 PM   #13
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A manual fill cap would have been nice! I have a clean 5 gallon bucket and a length of 6' potable water hose for this. I place my sanitizing fluid into the bucket and connect the hose to the "winterize" connection. The other end then goes into the bucket. Plug in the outside water hose in the convenience center(mine is a blue coiled hose) and then connect that to my city water connector. Turn the "power fill" on, winterizer valve on, 12v water pump on and then open the water valve to the outside water. The pump will suck it in from the 5 gallon bucket through the winterizer connection back out to the outside faucet and into your tank. Sounds a lot more complicated than it is. Takes me just a couple of minutes and I am done.
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Old 04-20-2014, 03:14 PM   #14
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Thinking outside the box here: Could you rig up something similar to the device you buy that attaches to your hose to fertilize with? A bottle with a suction tube that the water flow would draw from as it filled the tank. Seems like it would mix well too. I still have a manual fill cap, but have put thought to this topic.
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Old 04-26-2014, 07:26 PM   #15
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I sure wish I could pop off the tank vent on my 3400RL to add sanitizer! It's all sealed on with RTV silicone from the factory.
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Old 04-27-2014, 09:32 AM   #16
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I dumped bleach into the hose, then hooked it up and turned the water on while in the tank fill mode. Worked for me.
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Old 04-27-2014, 10:38 AM   #17
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by TAKPAK

I bought a short (6 foot) length of garden hose to use solely for this purpose. When getting ready to sanitize, I hook up the one end to the convenience center, turn the valve to fill position, then before hooking up the other end I pour the recommended amount of sanitizer/deoderizer, or whatever your choice is into the open end of the hose before hooking up to the source of water. Mixes the solution very well as it heads towards the freshwater tank. Worked for me for many years now.
This would seem to be the easiest method for putting an additive into the fresh water tank. Even if you used your regular white hose. Just hook it up to convenience center, let the water drain out of the other end, pour whatever you want into the hose, hook it up to water source and fill the tank. Seems like that would be easier than any other way for our newer rigs.
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Old 04-27-2014, 12:51 PM   #18
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Doh. I never thought of using the antifreeze method. We often camp in provincial parks that lack water and waste connections.
We carry 6 x 6-gallon plastic water jugs and a big towable waste unit. Every two or three days, I transfer the waste into the towable unit and head down to the water/dump station. I empty the waste, clean the waste unit, then fill the water jugs on the tailgate. Back at the rig, I have to wrestle the jugs into pouring position and tip them into the tank via the manual fill opening. A bit of work, but it's pretty fast because there are no narrow hoses to slow down the flow. I bought a bladder to try it, but discovered that it's too heavy when full to place on the bed locker panels and I'm reluctant to try it on the roof of the Sierra. I've discovered that filling the tank via the city water connection and the fresh tank fill diverter is very slow. But, it seems like combining the antifreeze fill with the bladder, placed on the truck bed, might work well. Slow won't matter so much if I don't have to change out the jugs.
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Old 04-27-2014, 03:06 PM   #19
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We dry camp a lot. I have a harbor freight pump. One end in the water jug. Other end to my white hose, then connect to the water fill in the water closet. Make sure to turn valve to fill, and also make sure your pump is off. After filling turn valve to city water connection, turn on your pump, and should be good to go.
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