repairing a black tank

Wrknrvr · January 15, 2020

A friend of mine had a tire problem on his class C.

So since i am bored I thought I will try to repair it. We did look at buying a new tank. It needs to be manufactured then shipped. And not at a friendly price either.

So I told him to get me a mud flap from NAPA that was made of the same material. And I would see what I could do about repairing it.

So I did look at it closely and I think I can repair it. I think it can be repaired with patience.

Now what would be a real problem would be to buy a new tank which would have no waste hole, vent hole or sink drain hole in place. So then one must install those holes and attach the pipes accordingly. So the toilet is set on a plate form and has all these pipes connecting under neath it. Which has very limited space.

We are planning on reinstalling the toilet with fernco rubber collars.

I did a short test of welding on the tank that you can see. For welding rods just cut thin strips of material as needed.

I should be fishing,, Vern

Ed ke6bnl · January 15, 2020

I plastic welded the 110 gallon water tank in my trailer, paid someone and it lasted 1 year my job has been in there at least 5 years. Glue is a no go on the white water tank. I believe ABS glue is good on the black and I have herd of melting some abs in acetone and can spread it on the clean roughed up tank. Been awhile since I researched doing the repair on mine. you will be ok

rickeieio · January 15, 2020

Vern, remember in high school when you learned to solder using a soldering iron, the kind with a long handle, heated up over a burner? An old hammer works fine for soldering plastic. You have the skills floating around in the back of your head, just dig them out.

Wrknrvr · January 16, 2020

Got one more done. More photos tomorrow

So th hole on the bottom was drilled out with a 4” hole saw. I also have the end repaired with a piece of material installed and welded in place. The end of the tank took more work than I thought. But with watching u tube videos and some practice things look good. So the welding is actually being done with a 200 watt soldering gun. The kit that came with the soldering gun actually has two different ends that work good for smoothing out the weld joint. I just cut thin strips of the mud flap to make welding rods.

I do think of fishing when working, Vern

Edited January 16, 2020 by Wrknrvr

rickeieio · January 16, 2020

52 minutes ago, Wrknrvr said:

So the welding is actually being done with a 200 watt soldering gun.

cheater....😁

Ray,IN · January 16, 2020

JIC, Would any of these new tanks be the correct size? https://www.plastic-mart.com/category/34/rv-holding-tanks

Edited January 16, 2020 by Ray,IN

Wrknrvr · January 17, 2020

Got one more done. More photos tomorrow

More work to follow.

That is a good site for tanks. Thanks for that info. So one big problem for installing a new tank is getting the fittings in place for hooking up to old pipes.

Now I have done several black tanks in fifthwheels but this would be really hard to fit new pipes to match the old lines. Only one person can work on the pipes when the new tank would go in place.

So I think this may be the best way to do this job.

Thanks, Vern

photo did not post. Will try later.

Edited January 17, 2020 by Wrknrvr
Missing photo

Wrknrvr · January 17, 2020

A seniorororor moment.

Ed ke6bnl · January 17, 2020

what I did was I took my dads old big soldering iron maybe 400 watts and I silver soldered a stainless steel plate on the copper tip at about 30 degrees off 90 degrees and worked great. Also took the tip off the 200 what gun like the original poster and make my own copper stables that I can melt into the plastic for a stronger grip. I am no real you tuber but made a video on how it all works I guess there were 3 parts