Rene T
Site Team
As most of you may remember, I'm having issues with my black tank being cracked someplace near the top. When I go home, the dealership is going to take a look at it. They replaced that same tank last summer for the same issue.
So I've been dumping every 4 or 5 days because I don't want the level to get up to the crack. A few days ago, I noticed that when I closed the drain valve after flushing and dumping, I noticed that the valve linkage/handle didn't want to go all the way in. The last inch, it felt spongy and it would come back out when I released it. This valve has a remote operator which is basically a long cable same as a brake or shifting cable on a bicycle. I thought it may have been some paper or crap stuck in the slide for the gate valve.
This morning, I had to remove the toilet to replace a seal so I went outside to dump the tank contents so it would smell up the RV. I pulled the valve handle and nothing came out. Oh Sh_t. What now. I think what happened was that the valve was cracked open just a bit allowing all the liquid to drain out and you then know what happened. The dreaded poo pyramid. I ran my hose inside the RV and added about 15 gallons of water to the tank hoping the added weight of the water would flush it out. WRONG. What now.
I have what I call a backup valve on the end of the sewer pipe. Normally it stays opened because we keep our gray water tank valves opened all the time. The cap I put on the end while travelling has a garden hose connection on it. I connected my hose to the cap using a double female connector. I then pressurized the hose and opened the black tank valve hoping it would blow out what ever was sealing the tank from draining. I only let it run for a minute. At this point, the tank has quite a bit of water in it along with a lot of poo. I then removed the hose and attempted to drain the tank and it did drain. Whew!! Lucked out.
So I would highly recommend everyone to purchase a swivel valve to put on the end of your sewer pipe and a cap with a hose connection to be able to do exactly what I did to unplug a sewer valve to tank outlet. This backup valve serves as a backup valve in case one of your drain valves is leaking by. The other thing you can do is lets say your galley gray tank is full, you can shut this valve and open both gray tank valves and transfer water from one to the other till the levels equalize. Or transfer water from a full shower gray tank to a nearly empty black tank. Those two items saved my butt today.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Camco-RV-Sewer-Cap/14504312
https://www.amazon.com/Valterra-T58-Twist-On-Waste-Valve/dp/B000BGHYJS
So I've been dumping every 4 or 5 days because I don't want the level to get up to the crack. A few days ago, I noticed that when I closed the drain valve after flushing and dumping, I noticed that the valve linkage/handle didn't want to go all the way in. The last inch, it felt spongy and it would come back out when I released it. This valve has a remote operator which is basically a long cable same as a brake or shifting cable on a bicycle. I thought it may have been some paper or crap stuck in the slide for the gate valve.
This morning, I had to remove the toilet to replace a seal so I went outside to dump the tank contents so it would smell up the RV. I pulled the valve handle and nothing came out. Oh Sh_t. What now. I think what happened was that the valve was cracked open just a bit allowing all the liquid to drain out and you then know what happened. The dreaded poo pyramid. I ran my hose inside the RV and added about 15 gallons of water to the tank hoping the added weight of the water would flush it out. WRONG. What now.
I have what I call a backup valve on the end of the sewer pipe. Normally it stays opened because we keep our gray water tank valves opened all the time. The cap I put on the end while travelling has a garden hose connection on it. I connected my hose to the cap using a double female connector. I then pressurized the hose and opened the black tank valve hoping it would blow out what ever was sealing the tank from draining. I only let it run for a minute. At this point, the tank has quite a bit of water in it along with a lot of poo. I then removed the hose and attempted to drain the tank and it did drain. Whew!! Lucked out.
So I would highly recommend everyone to purchase a swivel valve to put on the end of your sewer pipe and a cap with a hose connection to be able to do exactly what I did to unplug a sewer valve to tank outlet. This backup valve serves as a backup valve in case one of your drain valves is leaking by. The other thing you can do is lets say your galley gray tank is full, you can shut this valve and open both gray tank valves and transfer water from one to the other till the levels equalize. Or transfer water from a full shower gray tank to a nearly empty black tank. Those two items saved my butt today.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Camco-RV-Sewer-Cap/14504312
https://www.amazon.com/Valterra-T58-Twist-On-Waste-Valve/dp/B000BGHYJS
