Grey and Black Dump Valve leak When Traveling.

[daldous]

My 2011 Alpine 3450 RL has two separate down pipes to dump the galley grey and bathroom grey and black water. While traveling, both down pipes fill with liquid. Yuck! When you pull the caps, look out!

At home, after flushing all tanks and filling with fresh water, I closed the valves and left the caps off and sat buckets under each down pipe. I checked the buckets for two weeks and no leaks.

I noticed that a vacuum seems to build up in the down pipes behind the factory caps while traveling. I have to fight to get the caps off the pipes even after they are unscrewed. (Look out!) The vacuum hold the caps in place. I think it also causes the liquid to leak past the valves!!

Has anyone else had this problem? Any ideas?

[cumminsdad08]

i have noticed that the caps seem to be a little tight when i take it off after traveling. i never worried about it, but i don't think that i got any "discharge" from it. maybe just a small amount, but i never thought anything about it.

[LeeMedic]

Originally Posted by daldous

My 2011 Alpine 3450 RL has two separate down pipes to dump the galley grey and bathroom grey and black water. While traveling, both down pipes fill with liquid. Yuck! When you pull the caps, look out!

At home, after flushing all tanks and filling with fresh water, I closed the valves and left the caps off and sat buckets under each down pipe. I checked the buckets for two weeks and no leaks.

I noticed that a vacuum seems to build up in the down pipes behind the factory caps while traveling. I have to fight to get the caps off the pipes even after they are unscrewed. (Look out!) The vacuum hold the caps in place. I think it also causes the liquid to leak past the valves!!

Has anyone else had this problem? Any ideas?

Here is an easy fix.

http://www.campingworld.com/shopping...on-valve/27868

[hankaye]

daldous, Howdy;

Are you sure that the valves are tightly closed. Could be some paper or hair blocking the valve from closing compleatly. Has this always happened or is this a "new" problem?
If you haven't been using any kind of tank treatments then when you leave it parked next to the garage or at the storage yard the seals coould be drying out and cracking.
Whenever I dump mine I toss a couple of cap fulls of Downey fabric softner down the bowel and follow it with 2 bowles of water. Keeping my fingers X'ed... so far no problems

hankaye

[daldous]

Thanks for the linc to this accessory valve. I read about it in another post and I'm keeping it in mind as a "workaround" fix. I'd like to figure out where the "vacuum in the downpipe" is coming from as I believe it's causing the problem. The evidence is that it did not leak sitting at home, only while traveling. Thanks again. daldous

[daldous]

Originally Posted by hankaye

daldous, Howdy;

Are you sure that the valves are tightly closed. Could be some paper or hair blocking the valve from closing compleatly. Has this always happened or is this a "new" problem?
If you haven't been using any kind of tank treatments then when you leave it parked next to the garage or at the storage yard the seals coould be drying out and cracking.
Whenever I dump mine I toss a couple of cap fulls of Downey fabric softner down the bowel and follow it with 2 bowles of water. Keeping my fingers X'ed... so far no problems

hankaye

Hi Hankeye,

I believe the valves are tightly closed. It's hard to actually see them. If not, wouldn't they leak while sitting at home when doing the "bucket test" with full tanks? I gave them two weeks with all tanks full of fresh water and checked the buckets regularly. Then, I dumped all the tanks, added valve lubricant and a couple gallons of water to each and drove about 4 hours to my current campground. When I got here, I had trouble removing the caps on the downpipes due to the "vacuum" that seems to build up while traveling. I can unscrew the caps easily but they are still "stuck" on the downpipes due to the vacuum buildup. I think the vacuum is pulling liquid past the valves! When I finally pry them loose, look out, here comes the liquid all over the ground and all over me. This has happened regularly ever since I got the coach last march. This is my 5th RV, and my 3rd fifth wheel so I'm not new at this. I've never seen a problem like this.

Any Ideas?

P.S. I bought a couple of caps with built in hose connectors ("cheater caps") and installed them yesterday. When I travel home, after dumping tanks I will "crack" the hose connectors a bit (so no vacuum can build up). I'll let everyone know if this solves the problem.