Water tank fell down in the frame.

Loco

Well-known member
Well more trouble that had to be fixed. We were getting ready for a Harley rally in north GA. Thursday evening I was filling my water tank and heard this loud pop from under my rig. The cross members hold my water tank up broke and the tank fell down in the frame. So I checked it out and called Heartland right away. Told them what happen and that I was going to fix this also. I was not going to miss this rally Friday morning. I work till midnight and got it fixed right. I put 3 inch steel channel under the tank and 2 1/2 angle at the rear of the tank. It will not fall many more Ever! I will still say we love the rig and do not regret buying it. But the ole lady is tried of me having to fix something every time we use it. But I have a goal now to fix it better than they built it!:)
 

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ChopperBill

Well-known member
Sounds like we have he same rig! Mine popped out of the frame the first time I filled it. It is at the dealer now, and I told them to keep it as long as the needed. They found the drain pipes running up hill. They spent several days re-doing the plumbing and doing the "swelling belly bar" Glad the dealer is looking out for me while they were inside. Know its going to be right when it comes home. After the mods that I made and they are doing I should be good to go.
 

v92c

Texan
This is insane. Your water tank fell out? How many RV's are on the highway with this problem? What did the factory say about it? Are they going to reimburse you the cost of repairs?
 

ChopperBill

Well-known member
V92C, when mine came down you could hear the "pop". Could see the square end of the tank hanging on the belly material. If you can check real easy buy looking at the bottom and see it bulging down. Thankfully there are suppose to be a couple of straps to hold it up. I took a motorcycle tie down strap and put it across the frame for a safety margin and went a head with our trip. It stayed up there but when empty it still showed 1/3 full. Dealer said at the angle it was is why the gauge didn't work.
 

Loco

Well-known member
Tank that fell

GUYS,
I talk to Heartland and at first they said I filled my tank to fast, causing it to swell. I know better than that. You cannot fill any tank faster than the vents will vent the AIR OUT!:eek: But like I told them and showed them in the pictures. A weld broke on one of the cross members. When it broke with a full tank of water it took out the rest of the members. I am a fire fighter and also own a fire apparatus Dealer/service company. I know that one gal of water weighs 8,33 lbs per gal. So when a tank like ours 110 gals is full it has 916.33 lbs of water in it, plus tank weight,3/4 plywood,it is setting on all on top of cross members that are to small. They used 1 inch thin wall sq tubing that was 74 inch long and one 1 1/2 inch angle at the rear end. This is just to small to carry nearly 1000lbs under a trailer that is on all types of roads at 70 mph. Thats why I put it back with 3 inch channel and 2 1/2 angle with real good welds on the cross members and grade 8 5/16 x 1" bolts holding them to the trailer frame. Not self drilling screws like they did. They had the right idea, it was just they did not use the right steel to hold it up. I always over build something like that so it will not give any trouble at all.
 

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dieselengineer

Charter Member
That is just about the same fix I did to my coach. I sat the channel iron up right (stronger position then laying the iron flat) and ran the iron under the frame rails with welded plates clipping onto the frame rail. I did this before the tank "popped" so support from under side was the easy way to go. One item to note; If the vent line is routed so it will trap water, during filling the air will be required to lift the weight of the water. This is terms of psi is (one psi equal 2.34 foot of water columun) Therefore if the height of the vent opening is about 2 foot above the low point in the vent, then there is a pressure buildup during filling. This pressure of 1 psi is large for a plastic tank. Say the tanks is about 30 sqft on the bottom. This would equal to 4320 sqins. At one psi = 4320 lbs! Add this to the water weight and, well you can see things will fail! So you can see there is a number of forces acting on the structual members more then just the dead weight. I will leave the excel and de-excel forces engineering talk for another day. I know, we all just want to go camping. :D
 
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