Hello all!

Hope you can help me…I broke the auto fill switch on our Barth and hope someone can provide some insight to assist my wonderful husband trouble shoot and fix the problem. So here is my story…

The auto fill valve worked when we first got our Barth as it was probably never use by the original owners. After using it for two or three year the valve corroded and needed to be replaced. This spring we installed a nice, new all brass Parker water valve…truly a thing of beauty.

Under normal conditions, when hooked to city water, we would turn on the auto fill “on” to fill the fresh water tank and use it for a good hot shower with good pressure. A few of our favorite campground have really low water pressure so the auto fill, water tank, and house pump make for a really good shower…any way…the new valve has been working great. Turn it on, the water tank fills, sounds an alarm (high pitch sound with a glowing light) when the tank is full and then you turn the auto fill switch off. The switch is located on the toggle panel above the entry door with all of the other switches and tank gauges.

Here is my blunder…on a recent camping trip I turned on the auto fill and got distracted and left in on for a good while…maybe 45 minutes while we went for a walk… …when we returned the good news was the auto fill had stop the inflow of water so the tank did not overflow but the alarm had been sounding for a long time. I think I must have burned something out. The next time we went to use auto fill the alarm immediately sounded and the gauge showed the water tank was full when it actually was 1/3 full. No mater what we did…wiggle wires, remove the control panel, nothing would make the alarm silent when the switch was turned on…thus the auto fill valve will not open and fill the fresh water tank.

Lonnie thought I burned out the switch and was going to replace it but it is not that easy. We are at a loss as to what to look at to make the switch and valve work properly again. It is a bit of a bummer to have bought a beautiful new valve only to have something down the line go wrong and render it useless.

In the big picture this is a minor inconvenience but I feel bad that I have made a mistake and I can’t help make it right.

Suggestions, opinion and helpful advice welcomed…please.

Hmm. Guess we have a problem with ours too. But, didn't know the "autofill" would turn off the fill line to the tanks. All ours ever did was sound the alarm when the tank was near full. If you let it run for a while longer all that happens is that the water comes out the overflow and on to the ground.
Always when I've put water in the tanks I have to turn on one of the fill valves in the compartment. Mostly never fill much more than a third full in the 2 tanks. There are manual fill valves for each tank and one to fill both at the same time, that's the only one I ever use.
Is this automatic autofill valve in the water compartment? There is an inline valve, red in color, with wires coming in to it; always figured this had something to do with the alarm but don't know for sure.
Only had the Barth for 3 years and still don't know how stuff works! Interested in info on your problem too.
Cheers
Don

I am not exactly sure but I think there must be a relay somewhere in the system between the switch and the fill valve. On mine. once the tank is full, I get a rather loud clunking sound and the light over the door flashes red/green.

As the auto fill does shut down once the tank is full, there must be another signal to shut off the solenoid once the full level has been reached, that is probably where the relay comes in.

I won't get a chance to research this as I am finishing the head gasket replacement today, it has been started and the process was finished yesterday but today I am doing a couple of heat cycles to verify all is well with my work.

The auto fill on mine which works well and is used all the time works like this. The 'control panel' switch turns on the 12v water solenoid at the fresh water tank and allows street pressure water into the tank. There is a second tank level sensor in the tank which when about 7/8's full, turns on a relay on the back of the 'control panel' which opens the 12v to the water solenoid and also turns on a son-alert module making an awful irritating noise. It also lights up an LED on the 'control panel' to let it be known that the tank has been filled.