Drainage of grey water

[Darrell Duncan]

Hi everyone, i'm new to having a travel trailer and just not getting how it all works, First if my sink isn't backing up all over the place ( 3 times now) my shower isn't draining, my trailer is set in the rear lot of the house all hooked up to sewer, water, & electric, The grey line is open, i have even snaked the line, my dbl sink drain line was flatter than flat so i fixed that so that it drains but now my shower is backing up, is it just one grey tank or two?, the company i bought it from is no help. and i can not get the sewer smell to go away, i use the little blue pods & downy and it still smells
Also the main sink drain pipe has dbl flat rings on the pipe and a flat washer on top of that with a normal threaded ring that connect to the threaded sink drain and it was held in place by pressure.
It's a 2013, 30 foot bumper pull, Keystone high country, talk about buying a lemon....

[Retired Copper]

Could the valves be mislabeled? It has happened before. Is your vent pipe stopped up? I am sure others will come along shortly that might have a better idea.

[Old Mustanger]

No idea why your shower is backing up, but I would suggest you close all drainage valves if you want to get rid of odors. Keep valves closed until tanks are full (or near full) and then dump. After dumping and flushing the black tank add 2 gallons of water along with the blue pod, this should help eliminate odors thru the toilet.

[sourdough]

I'm thinking this is all pilot error. Can you provide more info on what you are experiencing, the exact problems, what you have done specifically so that we can help you?

[Pmedic4]

Are you sure your draining both Gray tanks?

From experience talking here, found out after several trips our RV had two grey water tanks.... One grey tank and the black water tank valves were very visible, the other grey tank valve - errr, not so much!

Look for the second grey water tank valve. Can't tell you where, don't have a TT (fiver), but the second valve on ours was hidden up on the frame, right in front of the front wheel. Seriously, you couldn't see it because it's black, and it is right on the black frame. Bet you have another one someone their hiding, which probably drains you sink grey tank.

Also, I wouldn't really leave the valve open for the gray water. It creates a direct path for the sewer gas to travel right up into your RV - really there is suppose to be a trap, but when you say you 'snaked' it out, you probably destroyed the trap - it's not a 'p-trap' like you have in the house, but probably a waterless p-trap, like shown in this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxW3uzMalKE), that uses a soft silicone rubber one way valve to let the water out, but keep the sewer gas from coming into the RV. Those are easily torn and destroyed by a drain snake. :(

Good luck finding the second valve.

[ctbruce]

Hi everyone, i'm new to having a travel trailer and just not getting how it all works, First if my sink isn't backing up all over the place ( 3 times now) my shower isn't draining, my trailer is set in the rear lot of the house all hooked up to sewer, water, & electric, The grey line is open, i have even snaked the line, my dbl sink drain line was flatter than flat so i fixed that so that it drains but now my shower is backing up, is it just one grey tank or two?, the company i bought it from is no help. and i can not get the sewer smell to go away, i use the little blue pods & downy and it still smells
Also the main sink drain pipe has dbl flat rings on the pipe and a flat washer on top of that with a normal threaded ring that connect to the threaded sink drain and it was held in place by pressure.
It's a 2013, 30 foot bumper pull, Keystone high country, talk about buying a lemon....Good luck. Be sure to report back what you find is the solution. It will help the next one in line out.

[notanlines]

Darrel, I suspect you have three tanks on your RV, one 28 gallon black tank and two 28 gallon grey tanks. It is imperative that you find the dump valve for your second grey tank and then proceed from there.

[Darrell Duncan]

No tan lines, thank you for the info. i looked and looked and finely found the second grey water tank pull handle, above front tire.

[Darrell Duncan]

Hi Retired Copper, tanks were labeled right, thank you for the info. i looked and looked and finely found the second grey water tank pull handle, above front tire.

[Darrell Duncan]

Hi Old Mustanger, Thank you for info. I will close drain lines and empty as needed.

[Darrell Duncan]

Gentlemen, one and all i just saw that i was writing a quick note to each of you to let you know what i had found and saw that they were stacked up .... lol,
This is what i found : second grey water drain valve in front of front tire on frame, also my double kitchen sink does have a house type p-trap and the gassetts were worn out and i replaced them, I also had to shorten the vertical drain pipe from sink for the drain line sloped towards the p-trap, The hepvO waterless p-trap is cool and a great idea and i may have to replace mine p-trap latter down the road, and last but not least to the gentleman that said: I'm thinking this is all pilot error. Can you provide more info on what you are experiencing, the exact problems, what you have done specifically so that we can help you? i think i was clear on the problem(s).
All in all i thank you all for your response and i know we will chat more for the owners manual is kind of use less, and as for as the big company that i bought this trailer from there worthless ..... with that gentlemen have a great day.
Darrell

[notanlines]

Thanks for the reply Darrell. It helps others down the road with the same problems.

[twoyorkies]

Hello, I have a Keystone Everest and also had some drainage problems but finally found the handle for the kitchen sink like you did! Yes the owners manual doesn't tell you too much about where things are! I cut off some of the black plastic on the bottom and see that the fresh water tank is a white color and sort of below the sink and the gray water is black and forward of the fresh water tank. I overflowed the kitchen gray water tank and water collected on top of the black plastic and became very stinky!

[jackorte]

I use a weather vein looking thing on top of vent pipe wind causes neg airflow and exhausts gas.

[notanlines]

I use a weather vein looking thing on top of vent pipe wind causes neg airflow and exhausts gas.
Maybe explain to us how this works. It vents out the top, but how do you get air inside the tank to vent out the top.....?

[jackorte]

It looks like a weather vein and swivels to stay in direction of wind.neg pressure pulls gas out,rv supplier has them.

[DocP]

It looks like a weather vein and swivels to stay in direction of wind.neg pressure pulls gas out,rv supplier has them.

Is this what you're talking about? https://www.amazon.com/Camco-40595-White-Cyclone-Plumbing/dp/B003P64XU4

I've used this on previous travel trailers and it worked well. Just haven't had time to put it on the new one.

[Ksupaul]

Is this what you're talking about? https://www.amazon.com/Camco-40595-White-Cyclone-Plumbing/dp/B003P64XU4

I've used this on previous travel trailers and it worked well. Just haven't had time to put it on the new one.

Very interested in this!!

[Darrell Duncan]

That's no fun, system seems to be working pretty well now.

[Pmedic4]

For a retired guy, seems like I don't get online as much when I was working;)

As you saw, there is a great deal of good, supportive information on the site. Many of the issues you experienced impacted us in one manner or another, and because not all RVs are built quite the same, giving a precise answer is usually difficult.

Regardless, we're all happy it's worked out for you, so enjoy your RV.

[C.LeeNick]

It looks like a weather vein and swivels to stay in direction of wind.neg pressure pulls gas out,rv supplier has them.

Yup! Another vote up for this! On our old 1977 Mobile Traveler we had a terrible odor problem early on traveling with all the kids. I installed one of the "weather vane" vent devices..similar to the Camco Cyclone but not that one..I don't remember the specific brand or name of mine, and didn't find it doing a quick internet search. But did it work wonders! We've never had an odor problem since.

We haven't had an odor problem with our new Passport yet, but we've only had it out maybe a total of 14 days since new. But I wouldn't hesitate to install one again if I get a whiff of any trouble! :)