check valve on outside shore hose connection is leaking

[Blue~Go]

I don't think so, because the door is not removable I don't believe, and the "mouse hole" needs to be on the bottom (I have the same JR door, but in electrical flavor). Another clue is that utilities are generally on the driver's side, and the doors are situated such that the hinge side is forward (so if they come unlatched you have a chance). Also, it's hard to see, but the boss for the gravity water fill is angled. That would be upside down if you flipped it around.

Not that it wouldn't be easy to overwhelm with a full hose gush, but perhaps the vent is lower down so that it will let water spurt out before it tries to come out the fill. Or it was just easier to mold...

(Actually, don't get me started on outside vents... ewwwww. Every time you run the water whatever is outside the rig in that area gets sucked into the hose. Truck stop diesel, pollen, mold, you name it. Most RV vent hoses I see are absolutely black inside.)

That said, PEX is not so hard to work with. I just wanted to mention that since different years are different, some are easier than others to replace.

In around 2000 or 2001 (I think), they went to a molded door that is "like" part of the body, then all the utilities are under that. Kind of cramped, but also sleek looking. And just by happenstance, no discontinued Bargman door. On my era there are molded indents for various separate doors (water/electric/fuel/shower/sewer hose). Plusses and minuses, like all the various features over the years, IMO.

[Blue~Go]

Oh man, no problem. It took me almost three years to realize that I didn't actually have an airbag. Directly under my nose, there it wasn't .

Ha, that is funny. Have you looked to make sure you have duallies? Well, now I don't feel so alone in my error

[chin_k]

Yeah, Blue is right, for it to be reversible, there needs to be hinges on both sides, since the mouse hole need to be on the bottom. I think the vent hole should be on the bottom too. I don't see the logic of having the vent above the fill opening. My vent tubing is disguising, but I was too busy on to replace it. Maybe some kind of air filter would make it more sanitary?

[Blue~Go]

My vent tubing is disguising, but I was too busy on to replace it. Maybe some kind of air filter would make it more sanitary?

The first time I thought about this was ten years or so ago when a fellow sailor (who was also a water quality/health person) posted about just how gross it was. Right, air is being actively sucked INTO that vent whenever you draw water. Never had really connected those dots. On boats, the vent tube might draw from a moldy anchor locker or etc.

He suggested having the vent tube indoors, and then putting a specific type of filter on the end. The Internet (and my search skills) was not as developed back then and I couldn't figure it out exactly. But he did also say you could wrap a piece of gauze around the end and change that from time to time. That plus siting the vent opening someplace "decent" would go a long way, is the impression I got.

'Course you also don't want water coming out the vent into your living space. On various boats I have had the vent in a closet (locker) and at the galley sink (separate little tap). I have been thinking of where to put it on the Chinook. I'm actually not sure how high it would have to be to have no possibility of pressure water exiting it, but I guess with attended gravity fill it would be less off an issue (?). Boats have a bilge that doesn't mind getting wet so it's easier in that way. There is also the idea of having it go into, say, the sink or shower, where you don't mind a spill.

I guess I only know enough to stir things up.... oops.

[Scott]

I thought a bit more about the pressure thing. For someone who really wants to use the city connection, I figured the best approach is to just connect a gauge to the bib and check the psi. If it's under sixty psi, go nuts. If it's 100psi, just use your pump. Of course this approach wouldn't suit if there's a surge, but does that happen? Some of these RV "regulators" (the non-adjustable type without spring/diaphragm) look like glorified pressure reducers for sprinkler systems, and I'm not sure I'd trust their pressure claims.

As I mentioned earlier, I replaced my vent tube. It was black. It is disconcerting to draw who-knows-what into the tank's air space, and I was going to bring it inside, but I don't consider my water potable anyway and I don't drink it. My original concern was some sort of critter (spider) getting in there. The manufacturers should at least integrate a screen or something into the nipple, but that would add another 25 cents to the production cost .

The height of the vent really doesn't matter. If your tank is filled to the top and you accelerate hard, the water can gush up to the top of the gravity fill hose and hit the screw-on cap. Not a problem. I've had water drip through the hole for the cap's tether. Although I'm sure it could happen, I've never seen water come out of the vent, except for when I'm filling; I use that as a sign that the tank is filled to the max, which I do each time, and this is why I put the tube back to the stock location.

A thought on the gravity fill hose. Everything I've seen available from the RV industry has a spiral reinforcement integrated into the hose to prevent kinking; that's also true for the original Chinook piece. The barbs on the tank's fill nipple are coaxial (ideal), and the nipple on the fill port is just smooth (OK). But we're trying to seal by clamping onto a spiral-reinforced tube? Yeah that doesn't work. There's actually a decent bit of pressure at the tank connection when filling at full blast, and it's fairly large diameter, so there's a good amount of force there. So Chinook put clear silicone at those connections. I think this might be standard, but it's a band-aid solution. I have plans to remove the hose and switch to schedule 40 PVC with clamp-on rubber couplers at each end, and run the vent tube through a large air stone for aquariums. *Note that I haven't done this yet and cannot speak to the performance. It's just something that rattles around in my head at night.

[Blue~Go]

I you want to go to good hose (and even a good filler), you might want to check out marine items. A water deck fill is the part that would be on the outside. Trident is a good hose company. One thing to be aware of is that 1-1/2" is the usual diameter for boat fills, whereas 1-1/4" or 1-3/8" is often used on RV's.

I haven't done it yet, but I bought a "blank" of of those RV doors (it has a recessed back inside) and I may put an angled Sea Dog marine fill on it, then the vent inside. Just one of those projects I've been noodling but haven't done - you know the kind.

Yeah, I think the only time to worry about an inside vent (presuming it's up high-ish) is if you are doing a pressurized fill or have a hose fitted in such a way that it could "seal" the opening. Which brings to mind a situation I read about wherein a couple were filling their Airstream's water tank with the gravity hose. Water must have been running at a good clip. They walked away for a moment, and (as it turned out) the vent hose was kinked. The pressure was relieved by the potable water tank (which is underneath on an Airstream) buckling up their entire floor