Black tank flush issue

lightning79 · 07-23-2013, 10:30 AM

Hello friends,

Had an issue with my black tank flush this morning. I hooked up a hose to it to flush it out. I had the black tank valve open, and I THINK I had the grey valve open, too. Well, when I turned on the hose, water immediately started leaking out the side of the trailer. I quickly shut it off, and went inside. There was about half an inch of water on the floor of the trailer under the bathroom sink where the flush valve was hooked up. After my blood pressure went through the roof, I got the trailer dried out. There wasn't much water, as I guess I had quick enough reflexes to get it turned off, but it's frightened me.

Now, I wish I could remember if I had the grey valve open or not, it all happened so fast. Maybe a leak in the flusher lines? Any ideas as to what's happened?

Kevin

lightning79 · 07-23-2013, 10:35 AM

Forgot to mention, there was only fresh water that I had to wipe up, nothing from either of the other two tanks.

Festus2 · 07-23-2013, 10:48 AM

lightning79 -
Like many others who have experienced exactly the same problem, the cause is almost always the same as well --- a faulty check valve in the black tank flushing system.
It has probably cracked or simply "exploded" inside and now you have ended up with water everywhere. Doesn't help but you are just one of many.

Check the search feature and find out what others have done to solve this problem. If it is due to the check valve, replace it with a brass fitting or make an alternation in the system to bypass this altogether. There are numerous posts/threads -- type in Black tank flush or black tank flush check valve or something similar.

If you can't find any posts that will help you out, get back to us.

Get back to us anyway and keep us posted as to what you found and how it was fixed.

lightning79 · 07-23-2013, 01:10 PM

Thanks, Festus, I appreciate your advice, and hearing that i'm not the only one. I love this trailer, and I certainly don't want to do anything to hurt it!

I'll do a forum search for the topics you've mentioned.

Kevin

therink · 07-23-2013, 01:26 PM

Same happened to me but fortunately it was during my pre-delivery inspection. One of the barbed hose fittings was loose on the vacuum breaker valve. Has worked fine since then.
As mentioned, very common problem.

labs4life · 07-23-2013, 01:30 PM

FWIW, I recently swapped my "vacuum breaker" for a brass gate valve. Works perfect and no chance of EXPLOSION!!

Festus2 · 07-23-2013, 01:53 PM

Kevin -
One thing I forgot to mention, is that this vacuum breaker valve may have cracked because, during the winterizing process, you forgot to ensure that you had the pink stuff in that system, it froze and cracked. Or you didn't blow out this section of plumbing.

This part is not the best of quality - you might just want to replace it with something better if you can find it or do as labs4life suggested.

lightning79 · 07-23-2013, 05:09 PM

I'm sure I didn't have the pink stuff in the black tank flusher lines. How would I go about getting it in there?

**JRTJH** · 07-23-2013, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lightning79

I'm sure I didn't have the pink stuff in the black tank flusher lines. How would I go about getting it in there?

Some people use the outside shower to pump it into the black tank flush fitting, others just blow it out with air and then use a hand pump to put some RV antifreeze in the line. Some tow the RV to Florida or some other "warm winter storage area". Others just say "oops" when they get water leaking out the side of their RV

therink · 07-23-2013, 05:25 PM

I have always blown mine out with air. It. Takss about 30 seconds. All you need is a $2 air chuck adapter fitting. Running antifreeze from outside shower works too.

Jdegugl1 · 08-16-2013, 03:18 PM

Do they sell an after market black water flush system? It sounds like a feature I would like to have.

MarkS · 08-17-2013, 06:30 AM

Yes, they make an aftermarket tank flush. You have to drill a hole in the end of the tank and insert a spray nozzle. You have to route a hose to the side of the trailer.

CW sells one. They can install it for you, but it is not very hard to DIY. The hardest part is getting access to the tank.

lightning79 · 08-17-2013, 11:26 AM

I went to an RV dealer and bought a new valve, looks just like the one in the pic I took for earlier on this page, and it's all good now. I'm glad I have it, as, I'm sorry to say, my camping season comes to an end on Friday! I'm a teacher in northern Alberta, and it's not feasible to bring the trailer up there with me, so into storage it soon goes!

Kevin

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