Freshwater system - Hi-Lo camper travel trailer forum

Ffmedic2112 · 07-18-2012, 04:46 PM

Greetings again from a learning Hi-Lo newbie. My question today is about the fresh water system on my 1977 17'. I understand the holding tank and the pluming system but I'm a little confused on the filling. I am used to having a separate fill area to fill the tank and a hookup for a hose if you have city water. On my Hi-Lo it appears to be all one connection. My question is, when hooked up to city water does the tank fill until the system is pressurized? There is a hookup for an air pump to pressurize the system when running off the tank. Unfortunately the pump is missing so I am looking for a replacement or maybe replacing with an on demand pump. I have attached a photo of my fill connection. It has the hookup for city water and what looks like blue on top can be unscrewed but I can't get it off and afraid to break it if it's not supposed to come off. Also on either side of the city hookup are two "connections" one is a standard air connection like a valve stem on a tire. The other is what appears to be a metal thing-a-majig. Can someone shed some light on how everything is supposed to work and would you recommend replacing the air pump or convert to an on demand water pump.

Thank you

RCREYES · 07-18-2012, 05:35 PM

That is something new to me. I just looked through the '77 owners manual and it says the fresh water system is a standard fill system. I hope someone has an answer for you.

http://www.hilotrailerforum.com/f49/...7-2577-a-1117/

RichR · 07-18-2012, 07:35 PM

Maybe someone that didn't like the pump sounds did a modification.

Ffmedic2112 · 07-23-2012, 07:53 AM

So should I assume that someone changed the fill valve on the camper? I guess I don't undstand what the air fitting on the fill valve is for. I also don't see the point of having to fill up the tank to use city water.

RichR · 07-23-2012, 08:09 AM

The air fitting was to pressurize the system to make the water flow instead of having a pump. You shouldn't have to fill the tank to use city water if your trailer is set up properly. There is normally a fresh water fill port and a separate city water connection.

Ffmedic2112 · 07-23-2012, 08:38 AM

So is that blue part unscrew to fill the tank? I tried to losen that but it was tight and I didn't want to break it.

RichR · 07-23-2012, 08:59 AM

I tried to find something similar to it listed somewhere but without success. I think it is something that was popular many years ago but has been long since abandoned. I remember some older trailers having pressurized systems but pay much attention to them. Some had pressure gauges. I'm not aware that HiLo built any trailers with that type of system, but they have been known to experiment sometimes.

Krapolla · 07-23-2012, 10:15 AM

I have a similar system on my 1971, which I recently aquired and am learing on. As I read the owners manual on here, I saw that there never was a pump. You were to fill the tank with water leaving some head space and then attach an air compressor and fill the tank with with air to 30psi, this air pressure will push the water through your system. I bought a 12 pump for mine that I haven't hooked up yet, so I don't have to do the air compressor thing. Also not sure about if you are on city water. I imagine that if you hook the water line up, and leave it attatched the pressure in the hose will push it through your system.

sam · 07-24-2012, 12:08 AM

Ffmedic 2112 and Krapolla, Welcome to the forum. Many of our members have older units. Feel free to ask questions and ask for help. Best of times in all your camping adventures.