Water pump-how to make sure it is turned on

I need to get to my water pump but do not know how to make sure there is power to it. I have a 19 foot single axle Hi-lo and am trying to winterize it. I have never taken in on the road yet. Can someone tell me how to find the water pump and how to turn it on. I have drained all the water from the water tank by opening the valve on the right front of the trailer, but there appear to be several switches that need to be powered to get the valve to work. None of the videos tell me that. Please help me. I have charged the two batteries in the front outside compartment with a trickle charger so there should be power in the batteries. I have not checked the fuses in the breaker box yet.
Where is the water tank and tubing located? My couch is on the right side, dinette is in the rear. The seats under the dinette appear to be screwed down.

Thank you,
Larry from Parker CO

Larry, you SHOULD have an electrical switch up near your heater thermostat that turns the water pump on, Once on, it pressurizes the lines, then cuts off. You will turn it on to pull antifreeze into those lines as shown in the video. There are three valves you must orient properly to do this (as shown in the video) and they are in the water lines. You can probably get to them via doors under your couch. I suspect the water pump is under there too.

The fresh water tank is under the front of the trailer, behind the tongue. The Hot water tank is usually on the street side, behind the door near the front, as shown in the video.

- Jack

JackandJanet said:

Larry, you SHOULD have an electrical switch up near your heater thermostat that turns the water pump on, Once on, it pressurizes the lines, then cuts off. You will turn it on to pull antifreeze into those lines as shown in the video. There are three valves you must orient properly to do this (as shown in the video) and they are in the water lines. You can probably get to them via doors under your couch. I suspect the water pump is under there too.

The fresh water tank is under the front of the trailer, behind the tongue. The Hot water tank is usually on the street side, behind the door near the front, as shown in the video.

- Jack

Click to expand...

Ok Jack I will look. I have my trailer stored at another location a few miles from us so I will go look today. I will look under the couch or under the dinette seats to find it and locate the 3 valves to reposition and then hopefully pump antifreeze into the lines. I have drained out the water heater by removing the nylon plug in the water heater on the outside access.

Thank you as always,

Larry from CO

Good! I think you'll find the pump under the couch. It's on the same side as the water heater though, and very close to it. I suspect you'd find the propane furnace under one of the dinette seats. The other seat may have an easily removable top under the cushion that exposes a storage area. We keep our sleeping bags and dirty laundry bag in there.

- Jack

JackandJanet said:

Larry, you SHOULD have an electrical switch up near your heater thermostat that turns the water pump on, Once on, it pressurizes the lines, then cuts off. You will turn it on to pull antifreeze into those lines as shown in the video. There are three valves you must orient properly to do this (as shown in the video) and they are in the water lines. You can probably get to them via doors under your couch. I suspect the water pump is under there too.

The fresh water tank is under the front of the trailer, behind the tongue. The Hot water tank is usually on the street side, behind the door near the front, as shown in the video.

- Jack

Click to expand...

The water pump switch is not at all by the thermostat. It is across the camper near the kitchen sink, but the pump will not turn on. I have moved the breaker switches to both positions and I checked the fuse to the water pump. It will still not turn on. The lights do not work either but ther is power to the hydraulics because I was able to raise and lower the top. I really need some advice on this.

Also I found the hot water tank and water pump under the dinette seat covers which are screwed closed. I was able to move the two valves for winterizing so the handles face each other. But without the pump, I cannot get the pump to run, which means I cannot pump the antifreeze through the water pipes.

Seems quite strange to have to unscrew a compartment in order to do maintenance, but I am an engineer, what do I know?

Please help if you can.

Larry from CO.

Larry - you say the interior lights in your trailer are not working? But, you have power to the hydraulic lift motor? This sounds to me like your Master Switch is in the top up/down position. It needs to be rocked to the opposite position, which disables the up/down switch and allows DC power to the lights, water pump, fan(s), furnace, etc.. Check the Master Switch position, and see if things work if you "reverse" it to the opposite side.

I would have thought your water pump switch would have been near the thermostat, like mine since we have such similar trailers, but, oh well.... Like you, I don't know why your access doors under the dinette are screwed closed - I wonder if a prior owner did this? Mine are simply hinged and I pull a handle to open them. You could surely change them to allow easier access.

- Jack

Jack,

I looked at the 12v electrical manual to the 12v water pump. It shows a safety bar switch and a safety lock in line with the fuse and battery. Where are those and what do they look like? It seems like I should Be able to run the water pump when the batteries are charged. Also I should have lights in the camper but can’t figure that out yet.

Larry

Where is the master switch or what does it look like. Send photo to my email if you want.

Larry, I have nothing like a "safety bar switch" and a "safety lock" in my water pump wiring. I can't help you on this. I don't know why such a system would have been installed either. Perhaps, another member can help us here?

I've never heard of the devices you describe in the water systems of any of the trailers in this forum. I wonder if a prior owner installed this?

- Jack

JackandJanet said:

Larry - you say the interior lights in your trailer are not working? But, you have power to the hydraulic lift motor? This sounds to me like your Master Switch is in the top up/down position. It needs to be rocked to the opposite position, which disables the up/down switch and allows DC power to the lights, water pump, fan(s), furnace, etc.. Check the Master Switch position, and see if things work if you "reverse" it to the opposite side.

I would have thought your water pump switch would have been near the thermostat, like mine since we have such similar trailers, but, oh well.... Like you, I don't know why your access doors under the dinette are screwed closed - I wonder if a prior owner did this? Mine are simply hinged and I pull a handle to open them. You could surely change them to allow easier access.

- Jack

Click to expand...

Where is the master switch? Is it the one beside the raise/ lower switch at the trailer entrance near the floor by any chance?

Thanks Jack.

The Master Switch is described in this video which shows how to raise and lower the top of your trailer:
There are some very early model HiLos that did not have the Master Switch, but I think your's is a later model?

- Jack

Lgullyatt said:

Where is the master switch? Is it the one beside the raise/ lower switch at the trailer entrance near the floor by any chance?

Thanks Jack.

Click to expand...

I have power in the trailer after I turn the master switch on. Thank you Jack for the assistance on that. Now I need to get the antifreeze fluid pump throughout the water system. I put the clear hose into the gallon of antifreeze and turn the water pump on, I could hear it running, but it did not suck out the fluid. I did not turn on the valve in the waterline that was near the water pump. I forgot that step. So now I need to go back to the trailer several miles away and do that.

Should there be any difficulty in having the water pump prime itself enough that the fluid will come through the hose from the gallon container? Is there some secret to getting the fluid to start flowing? Or does the water pump have enough suction that it should pull the fluid from the antifreeze bottle into the system?

Thank you Jack for all of your help. We’re getting their step by step.

LarryFrom Colorado

Larry, my water pump is self-priming. If the one valve to the open ended hose (tubing) is turned the right way, I think you will see it immediately fill with antifreeze, provided you have a sink faucet open. I open all 4, just a bit, so all the water lines fill with antifreeze. Then, after "pink stuff" starts flowing from the faucets, I flush the toilet until its supply line is full of antifreeze too. There's no J-pipe below the toilet, so all you have to do is fill its supply.

As long as you have the other two bypass valves set properly (see the video), it should take very little antifreeze to fill the lines. As I said, I get by with a gallon.

- Jack

Jack, thank you again so much.

I am so ashamed of myself for forgetting that valve. I should have known.

One slow step at a time. I will go to the trailer as soon as possible to find the valve and open it.

Will let you know the results.

Wow, good day. Pump works and so do the lights.

Larry