Jump to content

Leak in the grey or black tank outlet valve


Recommended Posts

Hello

 

Our RV - a Fleetwood Flair - has been in storage in LA for the last year or so and we have just taken it out of storage to do some more traveling. We have been boondocking for the last two weeks and I suspect that one of the valves for the grey or black tank is not sealing properly. When I remove the cap on the outlet to drain the tanks there is about a cup of liquid in the pipe. From the look (and smell) it would appear to be water from the grey tank.

 

From the look of the piping, there is a fitting that connects to the black and grey water water outlet pipes. This fitting has what looks like two blade valves that close the pipes off to seal the tanks. Is it possible to replace just the blades in the fitting or do I have to replace the entire fitting? If it is the entire fitting, how difficult a process is it? The fitting appears to be glued to the outlet pipes so it likes like the old fitting will have to be sawed off.

 

i would be grateful for any help.

 

Peter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You should have 4 bolts going through that hold the valve in there but for that amount of leakage just get another valve thats made to hook on where the cap hooks on and then the hose hooks to it.

Jim Spence

2000 Dodge 3500 1 ton QC 4x4 dually 5.9 diesel LB

BD exhaust brake, 6 spd manual trans

34CKTS Cedar Creek 5er, Trail-Air hitch

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes it is possible and it looks like it should be a 30 minute of so job. HA! took us over 6 hours because the build the wet bay around that and sometimes getting to the back bolts takes an acrobat with superhuman strength. Unless the weeping is VERY significant, I would try other remedies before tackling that again. B)

 

You might find that if you dump the tanks the night before you leave, close them, but don't disconnect. Put some water in each tank and wait and hour or so.. Sometimes a little water will complete the seal and if you wait and then disconnect, you won't find the small seepage that you are currently seeing as it will have drained away until water pressure completes the seal.

 

Barb

Barb & Dave O'Keeffe
2002 Alpine 36 MDDS (Figment II), 2018 Ford C-Max HYBRID
Blog: http://www.barbanddave.net
SPK# 90761 FMCA #F337834

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pick up a bottle of RV waste valve lubricant at an RV dealer or even some Walmarts. Used as directed, it may clean and recondition the seals well enough to solve your leakage problem. It might take a couple of treatments to get the job done.

Dutch
2001 GBM Landau 34' Class A
F-53 Chassis, Triton V10, TST TPMS
2011 Toyota RAV4 4WD/Remco pump
ReadyBrute Elite tow bar/brake system

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As Jim said....get one of these: http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/twist-on-valve/27868

and use it in place of the cap. Never worry about leakage again!

 

Often after you have dump there may be a low spot that holds a small amount of waste and then when you travel it makes it's way to the cap resulting in a surprise when you remove the cap. Not a problem with the valve used in place of the cap.

 

Lenp

USN Retired
2002 Winnebago Ultimate Freedom

2012 F150 4x4

2018 Lincoln MKX

2019 HD Ultra Limited

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As Jim said....get one of these: http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/twist-on-valve/27868

and use it in place of the cap. Never worry about leakage again!

 

Often after you have dump there may be a low spot that holds a small amount of waste and then when you travel it makes it's way to the cap resulting in a surprise when you remove the cap. Not a problem with the valve used in place of the cap.

 

Lenp

 

That's what I did. The was after replacing all of the dump valves without solving the problem. Since my rig has two grey tanks, I can leave their dump valves open to equalize the levels of both tanks, too.

Michael

2017 Allegro Bus 45OPP
Cummins ISL 450

Visit us at schwarz.org!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do have a semi-permanently installed twist-on third valve that I use to give the black tank a flush from the grey tank or to equalize the tanks if needed, but as Barb said, not all RV's have room for one. TT's in particular seem to have pretty low hanging waste outlets some times, as well as some smaller C's.

Dutch
2001 GBM Landau 34' Class A
F-53 Chassis, Triton V10, TST TPMS
2011 Toyota RAV4 4WD/Remco pump
ReadyBrute Elite tow bar/brake system

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Except some of us don't have the room to use it. Barely have enough room to get the cap on.

Barb I'm kinda picturing a hole in the floor that you have to shove the hose through to be able to hook it up correct ? What if you could cut off the fitting that the hose hooks onto and put a 90* elbow in its place so the plumbing would be facing the door. A good sheet metal shop could cut in a door for the hose to go through to the side. The designers of these rigs should live in one for six months and then decide how to build it !

Jim Spence

2000 Dodge 3500 1 ton QC 4x4 dually 5.9 diesel LB

BD exhaust brake, 6 spd manual trans

34CKTS Cedar Creek 5er, Trail-Air hitch

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Our Landau had a really awkward sewer hose exit that required feeding the hose through a hole in the bin floor into a tunnel that exited under the slide. It wasted almost 3 ft of hose, just to get it in the clear, and left no room for a twist-on third valve. I removed the plastic tunnel under the floor and sealed the hole with sheet metal. Then I cut a new hole directly in line with the sewer outlet, added the twist-on valve secured by a screw to lock it in place, and attached a clear 45 deg outlet to the valve that extended through the new hole. Hook up is very easy now, with no crawling under the slide, and all three valves are within easy reach.

 

YmTOLidl.jpg

Dutch
2001 GBM Landau 34' Class A
F-53 Chassis, Triton V10, TST TPMS
2011 Toyota RAV4 4WD/Remco pump
ReadyBrute Elite tow bar/brake system

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Barb I'm kinda picturing a hole in the floor that you have to shove the hose through to be able to hook it up correct ? What if you could cut off the fitting that the hose hooks onto and put a 90* elbow in its place so the plumbing would be facing the door. A good sheet metal shop could cut in a door for the hose to go through to the side. The designers of these rigs should live in one for six months and then decide how to build it !

 

Barb I'm kinda picturing a hole in the floor that you have to shove the hose through to be able to hook it up correct ? What if you could cut off the fitting that the hose hooks onto and put a 90* elbow in its place so the plumbing would be facing the door. A good sheet metal shop could cut in a door for the hose to go through to the side. The designers of these rigs should live in one for six months and then decide how to build it !

 

I agree the designers aren't RVers. In our case, there simply isn't the room for this because of the Y hooking the two tanks together and how low the connections are in the coach and how low our coach drops when we deflate the air bags.

Barb & Dave O'Keeffe
2002 Alpine 36 MDDS (Figment II), 2018 Ford C-Max HYBRID
Blog: http://www.barbanddave.net
SPK# 90761 FMCA #F337834

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...