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Old 06-10-2018, 04:56 AM   #1
Dave W
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Shower Drain Trap

Starting to get a foul odor from the shower drain this season, especially when the bathroom fan is on. Question - do most of the Keystone 5er line use a Hepvo waterless trap? These traps appear to have a less then stellar history.
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Old 06-11-2018, 02:55 AM   #2
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Guess no one here knows. Oh well, not a big deal.

Should have included this link above though: http://hepvo.com/
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Old 06-11-2018, 03:28 AM   #3
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All Keystone fifth wheels that I've seen in the past 10 years or so use a HEPVO trap instead of a conventional trap. I'd guess that most brands also have made that transition.
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Old 06-11-2018, 04:49 AM   #4
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Our 2012 Cougar Half-ton series had a regular P-trap and it hung down in the pass-through storage, taking up a lot of space and making it difficult to get bulkier items in and out without hitting the plumbing.
Our 2018 Laredo has the waterless trap. Much better as it takes up almost zero room in the storage compartment. We have not noticed any odor - yet. I wonder if the rubber one way valve gets stiff after a while and no longer seals. You might try taking it out and eyeballing the rubber seal?
BTW, thanks for posting something of which to be aware.
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Old 06-11-2018, 05:23 AM   #5
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We've had a Studor vent (I guess it's similar in function but different in design compared to the HepVo) under our kitchen sink in the S&B for at least 15 years without an issue. There also appears to be a similar device hooked up to the tub/shower drain located in the space adjacent to where the 120V shore line cord stows (see photo).
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Old 06-11-2018, 06:49 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jsmith948 View Post
Our 2012 Cougar Half-ton series had a regular P-trap and it hung down in the pass-through storage, taking up a lot of space and making it difficult to get bulkier items in and out without hitting the plumbing.
Our 2018 Laredo has the waterless trap. Much better as it takes up almost zero room in the storage compartment. We have not noticed any odor - yet. I wonder if the rubber one way valve gets stiff after a while and no longer seals. You might try taking it out and eyeballing the rubber seal?
BTW, thanks for posting something of which to be aware.

Surprised that the Laredo trap in the storage compartment. Ours is well hidden behind the bulkhead which, pulling it out, is not my favorite way to spend a morning when it comes to plumbing (and electrical) parts access

Quote:
Originally Posted by SummitPond View Post
We've had a Studor vent (I guess it's similar in function but different in design compared to the HepVo) under our kitchen sink in the S&B for at least 15 years without an issue. There also appears to be a similar device hooked up to the tub/shower drain located in the space adjacent to where the 120V shore line cord stows (see photo).
Summit - that's a drain line air vent. I was looking for drain water traps. But with that said, those vents gadgets aren't 100% trouble free either.

Looks like I need to spand some time in the basement area of our 5er. One positive - I get to clean all the extraneous 'treasures' out
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Old 06-11-2018, 08:28 AM   #7
flybouy
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The outdoor kitchen sink in our unit has the Hepvo trap and when the unit sets for a while it will let odors come thru. I run a little water thru it and it's fine unless it sets for many weeks. Your bathroom fan will exacerbate the issue by drawing the odor from the drain. Have you tried running a little water in the shower first?
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Old 06-11-2018, 09:51 AM   #8
Dave W
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Originally Posted by flybouy View Post
The outdoor kitchen sink in our unit has the Hepvo trap and when the unit sets for a while it will let odors come thru. I run a little water thru it and it's fine unless it sets for many weeks. Your bathroom fan will exacerbate the issue by drawing the odor from the drain. Have you tried running a little water in the shower first?
Yep, for sure that fan will suck in a bunch of stench.

I ran a bunch of water down the drain when I dewinterized in early May then a few gallons more on Friday. We'll be using it again Wed-Sat this week and if the odor persists, will pull the bulkhead out and go from there. That Hepvo may get a heave and a standard trap installed if there is room. If not, a new Hepvo will be installed
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Old 06-11-2018, 12:22 PM   #9
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This last winter "I" over filled the bath gray water tank and water backed up in the sink, that Hepvo fitting prevented water from entering the shower.
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Old 06-12-2018, 09:06 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jsmith948 View Post
Our 2012 Cougar Half-ton series had a regular P-trap and it hung down in the pass-through storage, taking up a lot of space and making it difficult to get bulkier items in and out without hitting the plumbing.
Our 2018 Laredo has the waterless trap. Much better as it takes up almost zero room in the storage compartment. We have not noticed any odor - yet. I wonder if the rubber one way valve gets stiff after a while and no longer seals. You might try taking it out and eyeballing the rubber seal?
BTW, thanks for posting something of which to be aware.
We had the same issue with the trap right in the middle of the pass through. Problem solved, I relocated the trap, and fixed a flat drain line.
Results; more storage, and drain works much better!!

This is the "BEFORE"



This is the "After" Moved trap to front wall of pass through.

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Old 06-13-2018, 03:56 AM   #11
jsmith948
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rhagfo View Post
We had the same issue with the trap right in the middle of the pass through. Problem solved, I relocated the trap, and fixed a flat drain line.
Results; more storage, and drain works much better!!

This is the "BEFORE"



This is the "After" Moved trap to front wall of pass through.

That would have worked. Good mod. They did a much better job with the plumbing on this trailer. Or it was accidental.
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Old 06-18-2018, 03:52 AM   #12
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Whatever I did a week ago with water a week ago, and it was very hot, seems to have temporarily, at least, cured the odor problem. I'm still be considering changing over to a conventional trap though as the Hepvo reasoning doesn't make sense - and that's that regular traps will lose their sealing water on rough roads. Nahhhh.

It surprises me that Alpine didn't do a better job of hiding their traps behind the bulkhead but then I've seen how sloppy some 5ers, including super premium units, are dangly wired.
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Old 06-25-2018, 05:32 PM   #13
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Wow, this post hit a nerve!

Found the same odor issue with our Bullet 204RBS, not all the time, just occasionally. Thought it was the check valve vent under the sink, replaced it, no change and it looked good. Lo and behold, Keystone had installed a 1-1/2 shower drain above a 1-1/4 trap, nice loose fit, water was missing the trap and draining into the underbelly.

Too cheap to dump this unit and the layout inside is nice so we've adjusted (or fixed) most issues. In short if it's hidden it's probably wrong.
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Old 06-25-2018, 06:19 PM   #14
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Howdy All;

Funny I should run across this thread today. My K-stone is a 2008 (see sig.),
and has the good ol' "U" trap in the front of the basement. I try to keep mine
full of water as I'm fulltimeing in it and have since I bought it in 2011. Well ...
crud accumulates and even/especially after I dump my tanks (Sat. mornings),
I generally get some whiffs of nasty stuff coming from the shower. This usually
happens after I watch, have one of those clear sections at the discharge, it
(clear section), fill up and stay full for several seconds (haven't used a stop
watch yet), so my presumption is the vacuum created is sucking the trap dry.
Stink always goes away after I pour a few cups of water into the drain.

Lately, the drain keeps wanting to back-up while taking a shower, even if I
plunge it, it's only a few days later it starts to back-up again, so, looks like
I'll be taking the trap out of the system for a good cleaning and reinstalling
it. We have some very high calcium content in the ground water here 'bouts.
I know it ain't hair as I keep mine at roughly 1/2" and the beard as well.

Thinking I just might make a day of it and clean out the other 2 traps as well
the kitchen and the lavy sink. Can't hurt, may even help, who knows...

hankaye
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