Sewer pvc pipe and tank damage

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EPro141969

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Aug 11, 2018
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I experienced sewer pvc pipe damage on my second rv trip. Whatever I hit also ripped out the black water tank along with it.  Im currently going through an insurance claim. Im hesitant to go back out on the road without a way to mitigate this from happening again. I'm new to  RVing and any advise would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
Did you run over something on the road? I thought I backed over a curb at my site at a NP last month but missed hitting my sewer pipes by several inches. You had to have known right when it happened if it took out your black water tank.
 
Most sewer plumbing on RVs is ABS not PVC.  Some installations have the sewer outlet hanging too low and far from the axle, if you can install things higher and closer to the axle it would help.  Drive over a string to hold one end and then pull it back to the bottom of the bumper, nothing should be below that line. 
 
One of the many reasons I drive a class A instead of towing a trailer. THe plumbing is at the lowest even with the axle and inside a comparmtnt (heated) so there is almost no way to do that kind of damage.. note.. ALMOST.. I worry about those pipes hanging down there like that.

In theory you could add a "Skid plate" but it would reduce your ground clearance.
 
You don't mention what kind of trailer you have, but back when I owned a Trailmanor some folks built a metal box around that area, but some just reinforced the wheel wells to prevent a blowout from doing damage (obviously that's not your situation).
 
First, welcome to the RVForum, and we're sorry to hear about damage. We'd be happy to offer some suggestions on how to reduce the likelihood of it happening again, but it would help us if we knew what kind of RV you have (Travel trailer, 5th wheel, Class A, Class C etc.) and what you were doing when the damage occurred. Was it secondary damage following a blowout, or did you drive over something?

Kev
 
I had a trailer we nicknamed Lumpy.  There are 6 sides on a trailer including the bottom and I put a dent, scratch,hole, etc on every side.  Didn't stop me from going camping though.  Everybody with an RV will at one time or another have a problem with hitting things.  Stuff happens, don't let it stop you.

A couple months ago a truck lost it's tire and wheel on the freeway in front of me.  Couldn't avoid it and hit it with all my passenger side tires.  $2,000 in damage.  Insurance covered it. So keep on going, it gives you something to talk about around the campfire.


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Something similar happened to us a couple of years ago with our travel trailer. Road debris could not be missed. We pulled over right away, and it didn?t seem like anything was wrong. We spent a week at a RVForum rally at Yellowstone, and tried to dump the last day. Oops! The entire pipe system for the tanks had been pushed back. Kevin did finally get things dumped, but we couldn?t see whether there was damage to the tanks themselves or not since they were covered. Got home, and the dealer fixed it. It was actually remarkably inexpensive, only a few hundred, since the tanks themselves were fine. Had to replace some pipes and reapply the belly, but that was it. We didn?t turn it into insurance because the deductible was higher than the cost.

For the OP, you just had bad luck. Sooner or later we all do. Maybe since yours was early in your career it will be a long time until something else happens.
 
I wish they had "skid plates" under my entire motorhome.  In June, I blew an inner dually tire and flying rubber took out some of my wiring harness and caused the gas fuel filler pipe to move backwards an inch, breaking off the gas cap.  Truck service place fixed fuel filler, found a new gas cap, and patched and replaced the wiring harness back up to where it should have been. Cost was $200 for that, not counting the cost of a new tire.

Then in July, a big dump truck in the next lane on the freeway, but about 500 feet ahead of me blew a tire and the entire tread rolled into my lane.  (I was in center lane going about 65 mph.)  I braked but was unable to swerve, so I drove over it, with the result that it bent my power steps and damaged the motor.  That little incident meant i needed new stairs and to have them installed for a total of $900.

Neither accident was my fault, but I am much more aware of things on the highway than I was.  There is a tremendous amount of junk that can cause all sorts of damage to any vehicles, but motorhomes and even trailers have a lot of important stuff underneath them that can be damaged easily. 
 
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