Broken poo pipe....

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cmagers1

Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2012
Posts
11
Location
Dayton, Maryland
Things have been going so good for so long I haven?t posted for a while?

We now have a 2010 Keystone Bullet 256RBS. A few weeks ago we were packing up and ready to pull over to the dump station. When I pulled forward one of the leveling boards flipped up and broke the 3? waste pipe off. It broke the flange off at the tee between the gray and black tanks. Needless to say we couldn?t dump the tanks.

After arriving home I removed the corrugated belly cover and removed the spray foam insulation around the valves. Taking a long shot we epoxied the broken pipe back in place. Fortunately it held long enough to dump the tanks.

I didn?t trust the epoxy for the long term so I removed the tee and repaired it with a fiberglass repair kit. This tee is stronger than new. The problem we?re having now is getting the tee and valves back in place. The arrangement is the black tank is in the rear, then the black waste valve, then the tee, then the gray waste valve then the gray tank. We placed the gray waste valve and tee in place and made the attachment. Now there is not enough room to slide the black waste valve in place. We?ve tried prying the tee and black tank apart but it just doesn?t want to spread enough to get the valve in. We?ve gotten the valve in three times but each time the seals are dislodged and it leaks. I?m thinking we need to loosen the gray or black tank but laying under the trailer with the belly cover half in place we can?t see how to loosen either tank enough to get the 3/8? to 1/2? we need to get the valve in without dislodging the seals.

I picked up a porta-jack this afternoon. I?m thinking about using that to get the space we need.

As always, we appreciate any thoughts or comments you may have.

Thanks,
Charlie
 
This is just s suggestion as I am not there...
but if there is enough pipe to put a coupling on than you can get a coupling made of rubber.. http://www.fernco.com/plumbing/flexible-couplings. they slip past the connection [cut pipe] and allow you to slip the pipe in place than slide the coupling over the pipe and tighten down the clamps..
These work well and are fairly cheap and fit the ABS pipe sizes...
Good luck..

George
 
Epoxy is great stuff, and there are times when say JB Weld works better than anything.

However many times it has also let me down, occasionally many months later.

GOOP, not as strong as epoxy, but......... You might just cover the fitting with GOOP, so long as the pipe is DRY it will stick and stick well. and once it sets it's waterproof.
 
Without seeing the actual situation, I have to agree with Icemaker.  I have had repairs made to the stickhouse plumbing and some of the joints have been sealed with similar type connectors.  A rubber sleeve and two worm-type clamps.  Is there enough of a run to just cut the line between the tee and the black tank to utilize such a connector?  Could/should the run between the grey tank and the tee be shortened a bit to provide the room you need?
 
I think I got a visual of your situation. :eek:
Hook a rachet strap to the Black tank pipe and to something solid in the rear (Maybe the bumper).
AND/OR
Hook a rachet strap to the Gray tank pipe and to something solid towards the front (Maybe an axle?).
Just be careful not rachet too hard and break it.  Do during warm as possible weather so it's not cold and brittle.

Does that make sense. :-\
 
cmagers1 said:
Things have been going so good for so long I haven?t posted for a while?

We now have a 2010 Keystone Bullet 256RBS. A few weeks ago we were packing up and ready to pull over to the dump station. When I pulled forward one of the leveling boards flipped up and broke the 3? waste pipe off. It broke the flange off at the tee between the gray and black tanks. Needless to say we couldn?t dump the tanks.

After arriving home I removed the corrugated belly cover and removed the spray foam insulation around the valves. Taking a long shot we epoxied the broken pipe back in place. Fortunately it held long enough to dump the tanks.

I didn?t trust the epoxy for the long term so I removed the tee and repaired it with a fiberglass repair kit. This tee is stronger than new. The problem we?re having now is getting the tee and valves back in place. The arrangement is the black tank is in the rear, then the black waste valve, then the tee, then the gray waste valve then the gray tank. We placed the gray waste valve and tee in place and made the attachment. Now there is not enough room to slide the black waste valve in place. We?ve tried prying the tee and black tank apart but it just doesn?t want to spread enough to get the valve in. We?ve gotten the valve in three times but each time the seals are dislodged and it leaks. I?m thinking we need to loosen the gray or black tank but laying under the trailer with the belly cover half in place we can?t see how to loosen either tank enough to get the 3/8? to 1/2? we need to get the valve in without dislodging the seals.

I picked up a porta-jack this afternoon. I?m thinking about using that to get the space we need.As always, we appreciate any thoughts or comments you may have.

Thanks,
Charlie

I am thinking this may work.  You must be very careful not to break or damage the tanks.  Use as wide a board as you can on each end to spread out the PSI and reduce chance of cracking something.

Also I like the idea of using a sealer to attach the seals to the valve and then lube the other side to help avoid friction that will dislodge them.

We all are guessing and trying to visualize what you are up against.  Is there any way you can post a pic?
 
These are a couple of pictures. I hope they help explain the problem. I tried to post the pictures into the reply without luck so these are the links.

http://images57.fotki.com/v283/photos/7/134597/9108638/BlkTnkValve-vi.jpg
http://images46.fotki.com/v1506/photos/7/134597/9108638/GrayTnkValve-vi.jpg

Thanks,
Charlie
 
Don't you love it when a plan comes together......
We used a porta-jack to spread the two tanks apart just enough to slide the valve in without dislodging the seals. Then we put about five gallons of water in the black tank and no leaks. We'll reinstall the belly cover and insulate the valves tomorrow and the repair is complete. What a relief! Camping at Greenbrier State Park next weekend.....

http://images60.fotki.com/v224/photos/7/134597/9108638/P1090452-vi.jpg

Thanks for all of the comments and suggestions.

Charlie
 
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