[Art]

Looking forward to the discussion on this topic; I have the same problem

[Jim/Chris]

I always watch my auto fill because it fails to shut off randomly. It mostly fails more in cold weather, but will also fail occasionally in warm weather too.

Davy

[Art]

I’ve never had a problem with mine (oops, knock wood) but it shuts off at about 80%.

[Archived]

Since I don’t have a smartphone it sends a message that I am not entering the digital world just yet.

So to be consistent I never have used auto-start and I have never used autofill.

But I do know Liberty (for example) sets the lower level at 20% and the upper around 80%. For the system to work the first condition that has to be met is the water tank level sensors have to be in operation. The panel needs to be set for auto-fill and it only initiates the process when the water level gets down to the lower level, not by turning it on when it gets to the fill level. It then has to sense the tank filling and it should close the valve at the 80% level or whatever the converter has set as the shut off point.

The drawback is you need to have the water supply turned on all the time and the valves in the coach admitting water into the system open.

A lot of folks have mentioned a concern about leaving the water pump on in the coach when they are gone for the day, and if using auto-fill, that is exactly what is happening. Even with the water pump off the municiple water supply is pressurizing the coach water system.

And how about what happens if the tank fills automatically and the coach owner doesn’t remember to drain the holding tank so you can kee adding water to the holding tank. By manually filling I always drain the holding tank eliminating that risk, along with being able to shut off municipal water system pressure to the coach. I distrust stuff that can bite me in the ass.

[Bernie]

after the tanks is full and the supply is still on and not turns off where does the water go? My bus it vent out the bottom of the bus water the lawn.

[Dick]

Ours vents out the bottom… but on the floor of our garage if I don’t pay attention.

I can use a catch container, but overflow it if not on top of it.

[Walter]

I may not have what you have. As we know, the converters do different things. My tank level sensors definitely do not read correctly. However, IF I leave the auto-fill turned on and IF I have city water hooked up, the water will begin to fill when the tank is down to a certain level. I am not sure what that level is but 20% sounds close.

I usually leave the auto-fill off, use water from our tank 4-5 days, then flip it on and watch outside to make sure it turns off when full. It sure beats holding a hose in a filler tube, waiting for it to burb fresh water on me, like I had to do with our fifth wheels.

I thought I had moved uptown when I discovered auto-fill the first week I owned the bus. I was stopping people on the streets to show them my new feature on a 12 year old bus.

Davy

[Archived]

I’m reluctant to use “automatic” things, especially as they relate to water. If a pipe or hose cracked or broke under city pressure or campground pressure (which at times can be significant) I would not want to see any part of the coach flooded.

However I have found another “automatic” method to fill the coach’s freshwater tank. I go outside, turn the Liberty installed quarter-turn ball valve “on” at the water inlet and turn on the city/campground water at the spigot. I “listen” to the fresh water tank to ensure that water is going in. Then I go in the coach, open the door in the front of the coach so I can see the fresh water indicator, turn on the TV, and as Dean Martin said “hit the couch!”.

Preoccupied by the TV I pay little attention to the water level indicator because I know that once the fresh water tank overflows my neighbors in the campground will “automatically” come to the coach to let us that we have a massive water leak in our RV … especially once the toys and pink flamingos in the neighboring camp sites start to float down the street.

[Eric]

Because my HH auto fill does not turn off I don’t use it, so when I couldn’t turn off tank fill this morning I started pulling out switches in the bays and wondering about power to the solenoid. I don’t ever leave city water turned on on the pad as I don’t want to come back to the bus with a burst pipe and rotten floors and carpet (though I will use it sporadically for clothes washing). I accidentally turned on auto fill when I cycled power to the HH indicator gauge this morning, it is usually on “HOLD”. Hoping this helps someone with a Liberty and/or HH system.

[steve]

I no longer own a Royale which utilized this system, so take this with a grain of salt…..

I set my “ON” point for Auto Fill at 20%. That means it will open the water valve when the tank gets down to 20% full. I set my “off” point at 85%. That means the water valve will close when it gets up to 85%. I would lower the off point in case your tankage system isn’t ever reading 100% full. Never had a problem using that strategy.

I do know my coach had 1 or 2 small relay boards in the plumbing bay (on the front wall of the bay). These were generic relay boards that can be bought off Amazon for little money. At least one of these (and maybe both) controlled the Auto Fill function. You might start there. I’ll try to find a picture of the board in question. I would think the shutoff valve would either work or not work. If not working, then its the solenoid valve or the control circuit.

Are your plumbing valves set properly for autofill? I don’t remember the sequence, but remember there is a setting for autofill.

[Glenn]

As mentioned, I also suggest setting your Stop point at 80% or 90%,

Or you can adjust your “full” point to be slightly less than full. In other words, adjust it so it reads 100% when it’s actually 90% or 95%.

Couple reasons.

1> the actual % point can very depending on ambient Barometric pressure, which varies depending on atmosphere and height above sea level. This can affect your sensor readings by 1% to 3%. Which means your tank could be full and over flowing while your system is only reading 98%. It will never reach 100% at this point and keep filling.

2> The Headhunter system verifies the tank levels too slowly in my opinion. The systems shows tank level in real time, but there is some lag. In other words the tank could reach 100% and over fill but the system is only seeing 95% until the next purge verifying what the sensor thinks it is vs what it actually is. A purge cycle is when those little pumps pump air into the tubes clearing them and recheck or verify the fill level. So you could over fill your tank for 10 or 15 minutes before the next purge cycle when it finally shuts off.

3> Headhunter uses potentiometers to set your high and low points. This can introduce a large margin of error in your actual full point.

[rafael]

I likely will be criticised for my position on this issue, but using an auto-fill feature is a recipe for trouble.

Apart from system problems and issues the more serious problem, is the potential to end up with an overfull holding tank backing up into the shower drain and ultimately onto the coach floor.

I will never add water to my tank unless I have also dumped the holding tank. Those who depend on auto-fill or who prefer to use municipal water instead of the water tank contents always run the risk of forgetting to empty the holding tank.

[Glenn]

Jon

In many ways I agree with you. But in it’s defence the only time the autofill should be used is if the coach is also connected to the parks sewer and the black and grey dumps are open. This way the black and grey tanks are always empty. A few converters set it up so it won’t allow the auto fill to activate if either the black or grey tank is higher than 50%. Which presents issues of it’s own, just more things to fail.

The biggest issue with the auto fill is the solenoid. They tend to get stuck in the open position. I have replaced a lot of solenoid valves. The largest failure is “baking”. This happens when the valve gets turned on and there is no city water connected. The coil then over heats because it relies on flowing water to cool it. After time the valve becomes stuck in the open position from cooking the calcium in the water around the little plunger. Or the coil burns out. With my system I recommend using an electronic ball valve rather than a solenoid valve. Electronic ball valves are constructed in a way that they open and shut off and close and shut off even if power is still applied. My system also shuts the autofill off if there is no rise in water level for about 5 to 10 minutes.

[Jon]

Jon and I are in lock step on this subject!

There are two things that will send shivers up my spring …

hearing the racking of a 9mm behind my ear and hearing the shower drain gurgle while the clothes washer is draining.

[Archived]

To Badfitter,

If your valve isn’t closing all the way or takes too much time to close then your valve may be getting clogged up with calcium. Most solenoid valves can be taken apart and cleaned. You may have calcium built up around the diaphragm or plugging the pin hole that allows water to seep above the diaphragm which forces it closed. (Just be sure to get the springs back in the right way).