Tank Level Meter

[DocData757]

Just to let everyone know, in case they didn't realize it....

If you have a drain valve setup with 2 grey water tanks (could be marked Gray 1 and Gray 2 or Bath and Galley), you should also have a tank level monitor that allows you monitor both of those tanks.

My brand new 2011 Alpine has the wrong monitor installed in that it only has one grey tank meter. I called and confirmed this with Keystone.

Check your monitors!

Dave

[geo]

Dave -

Might I also recommend that you partially fill your black water tank with ONLY water and treatment. Use a clear link on your sewer hose and pull the tank valve for the black water. You may find it dumps the gray water . . . like I did. The tank valves were mislabeled - or mis-connected - where black was gray. In my case, on the Alpine 3640RL, the rear valve was labled Black and the front valve Gray 1. These were reversed. I was instructed to release the valves from back to front. Need I say more? I was warned by Susan C. at Keystone, however, to change these valves would violate my warranty. Sticky labels from Office Depot does wonders . . .

Back to your problem, sounds like Keystone might be somewhat cutting corners. Do both the Gray dump valves work? In other words, do they both dump separate tanks? Or is one blind and the other dump both tanks through a Y?

Ron

[DocData757]

All valves are labeled (sort of) correctly and work correctly. My 2 grey tanks were labeled 'grey' and grey'. A call to keystone didn't help ID which was which so I filled and dumped each to figure it out. I added a 'G' (for galley) and a 'B' for 'Bath' to the labels.

The 2 grey valves dump the 2 grey tanks separately.

Dave

[ptodd47]

My Black/Gray valves were labled backwards also...good ole label maker fixed that. If I were Keystone I would check out the guy/girl who is doing this as this problem seems to be talked about a lot.

[abrandvo]

We have a 2011 Alpine and found out the hard way that the Grey 1 tank dumping lever was really dumping the Black tank. So no clue if was only mislabeled, or is one of the gray tanks really the black tank? The black tank is supposed to be 50 gal and the grey tanks are 41 gal capacity each. We also have another issue. Although we have 2 guages Grey 1 and Grey 2 as well as a Black tank indicator on the indoor panel, the black tank seems to indicate full very quickly, which makes me wonder if they did screw something up. Given the fact that we have had many many issues with this coach (refer cooling unit failed after just 3 days, waited over a week for replacement part, many wiring issues causing interior and exterior lights to burn out, faucet in bathroom sink leaking and had to be replaced after a few weeks, fireplace had to be fixed, made awful noise, one of the dual pane windows had to be replaced as it always fohgged up, landing gear fuses always blowing, so we just put in bigger fuses, need I go on!

Would be curious if anyone else has this black tank issue. Travel Safe....

[Bowline]

Abrandvo,

From my experience with my one year old (purchased new) Cougar TT, the sensing units are located inside the tanks and are subject to buildup of crud, which affects the readings you see on your sensor panel. I found the black tank is especially prone to false readings. The use of deodorizer packets for the black tank contain surfactants that will help to keep the tank walls somewhat cleaner (provided you use the pressurized black tank flush-out feature when you dump, and use a clear attachment on your dump connection so you can monitor the color of the effluent coming out). I found that the deodorizer packets help to keep the sensor clean. I still get "full " readings sometimes when I know the tank is nowhere near that level. I have found the best gauge is to shine a flashlight directly down the toilet opening and visualize the level of liquid in the tank. (I don't know if Montana models dump directly into the tank without a bend in the pipe that would prevent you from seeing in there.) Some of the really high-end tank sensor systems use sensors that are attached to the outside of the tanks, and are not subject to crud buildup.

There were a few issues with my RV which had to be fixed right away. My dealer was great, and all were fixed in a timely manner. (That was within the first 2 months). Haven't had a problem since, and we have towed about 4,000 miles.

Good Luck!

[psuedopimp]

a lot of people have had the labels backwards. that person must have taken a sick day cause ours were labeled correctly!

[miller8179]

Mine are wired all backwards so they show the wrong levels for the tanks. Took forever to pinpoint the problem. Totally frustrating!

[mikell]

My dump valve and hot water bypass valve tags are all monkeyed up. We live in it and everything is left open and the water heater was figured out.Another thing it needs is a water heater switch inside so that might be a summer project.

[Seann]

Now you know why people that work at keystone are called KeySTONNERS.

[Jim_VaBeach]

We just purchased a 2011 Alpine 3555RL. When I went to dump the black water tank by pulling the handle, nothing came out. When I pushed it in, the black water came out. The grey water worked the opposite. I also set up the black water flush and sent my Wife in to see if she could hear it flushing while the flush lever was open. She could not but thought she heard it gurgling in the shower making me think that the black water flush was hooked to the grey water tank. Anyone have this happen to them?