1. Converter location 2. Fresh water tank fix

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mnelms

Member

• Mar 6, 2007

• #1

1. Where is the converter located in the 3795?

2. Is there a factory approved/endorsed fix for the fresh water siphoning problem? This weekend I filled up before I left, and by the time I arrived in the desert, my tank registered 1/3. It's a fairly major inconvenience for my wife who likes to shower.

Thanks,
MIke

 

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mufflerman

Well-known member

• Mar 6, 2007

• #2

Mike,
The converter is behind the panel that holds the exterior stereo(in pass thru compartment).
I believe the factory will tell you the water loss fix is to loop the vent lines.
I however had mine connected together and run up to the fill neck.
There is a nipple right beside the fill neck that is used by most rv builder's for this purpose.
I don't lose water anymore.

 

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mnelms

Member

• Mar 9, 2007

• #3

Thanks for your reply Mufflerman.
I would like to hear from the factory if possible. This is the appropriate forum? I haven't heard from the factory on either of the 2 posts I've made. If there's no factory recommeded fix for me losing 1/2 of my water supply, then just say so.
Thanks again,
MIke

 

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Scott

Well-known member

• Mar 12, 2007

• #4

I was hoping that you would find any one of the numerous other posts on this. There are multiple ways to make sure you don't lose a drop of water from your tank during travel (the most common being valves on the over-flow vent lines), but most of them involve doing something that we are not comfortable doing at the factory level because it puts a whole lot of responsibility on the coach owner to make sure that they don't blow their tank through the floor by walking away from the tank as it is filling.
Check out some of the other threads.
ST

 

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mufflerman

Well-known member

• Mar 12, 2007

• #5

seems to me it would be a bigger responsability to remember to open the the valves especially if a friend filled it for you and had no idea a valve was installed underneath the coach, I believe these valves are a accident waiting to happen. just my opinion.

 

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Scott

Well-known member

• Mar 12, 2007

• #6

Well, in some regards, you are absolutely right. And the same could be said for the fill vents that go up through the sidewalls. They have had these in motorhomes for years because of their large, shallow tanks - and a number of people ended up blowing their tanks up through their floors and interior cabinetry. THIS is why we are so careful not to offer too many of these ways to keep water in a shallow tank with overflow vents while it is traveling down the road - sloshing back and forth. Its a catch 22. If we do install them, we will make some hard-core dry campers very happy. But then we run the very real risk of having people forget about the valves, and blow their tanks through the floor or underbelly. For now - we talk with individuals about their options, and most hard-core dry campers are just fine with monitoring their own risk and installing the valves.
ST

 

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mnelms

Member

• Mar 12, 2007

• #7

Thanks for the answer. Are there any diagrams available that show what drains/vents go where? Whick ones I should install a valve on? I have about 5 coming from the underbelly of my 3795.
Mike

 

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mufflerman

Well-known member

• Mar 12, 2007

• #8

Scott
I thought the reason for the large (100 gal. +) water tank was for us hard core dry campers ? That was a big plus for my family, one reason I got rid of my 31' class c motorhome.

 

tdharley

Well-known member

• Mar 12, 2007

• #9

I am in the middle of that repair now. I am going to couple 2 lines to the filler vent which is already hooked up,plug one port & install an adjustable pressure releif valve on the last.

I am also adding a manual drain on the bottom of the tank so I do not have to "power drain" it.

Scott,

Maybe you could find out from the tank manufactuer what pressure the tank is rated for? Or give me a lead on who makes it & I will track it down.

Also I could be wrong on this but I remember reading that the tanks that blew up were being filled off of the city water fill which some motorhomes (my Itasca included) have the ability to do. I do not think and again I could be wrong but we cannot do that by filling up our water tank with a garden hose. We are also filling the tank into an 1-1/4" flexpipe with enough room for back pressure since your garden hose is usually 3/4".

 

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Scott

Well-known member

• Mar 12, 2007

• #10

Elkhart Plastics makes the tanks. I don't know about what "pressure" the tank is rated for. Yes, even with a garden hose, you can blow a tank. Hydraulics are a very formidable force - even for steel.
ST

 

Uncle Rog

Well-known member

• Mar 12, 2007

• #11

TDH, you are exactly right, maybe I am wrong, but I think with a garden hose fill even with no vents the water would just back up into the fill pipe and vent. I normally do not travel with a full tank anyway. I would lose 10 gals or so from the fill station to the campsite with all the vents open. The tank drain is interesting, my prowlers had them and were handy. I do not have to winterize and the rig never sits too long between uses, I might consider it down the road.
mnelms, first check your system by filling the tank and either monitoring the amount going in, or the amount that is drainable, or both, to see what you are dealing with first as far as capacity. If you are under warranty go to the shop and set it up the way you want, or if like tdh or m hamilton have done, and git'er done yourself, good luck......UR

 

tdharley

Well-known member

• Mar 12, 2007

• #12

I also think the hose would shoot out and drench me before the tank explodes, since water takes the path of least resistance. I use a washing machine hose with one end cut off and a shut off valve to make it easy to fill.

 

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Chulinw

Guest

• Mar 12, 2007

• #13

tdharley,
When you do the manual install on the water tank take a picture and tell us how you did it. I had a manual drain on the 5er and it was great to drain all the water from the tank before winter storage.

 

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Dirt1st

Member

• Mar 12, 2007

• #14

I agree with the comments about the manual drain valve. The Weekend Warrior I am repacing with a Cyclone 3210 had a 2 inch diameter manual gate valve on the 2 inch diameter pipe that connected the two water tanks. Open the valve, and it would dump the tanks at a rate of about 15 to 20 gallons per minute. That is one feature I will miss.

 

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5erWonk

Well-known member

• Mar 12, 2007

• #15

Scott

I sure would like to see a plumbing schematic on the vent system as well....I do not see any vent lines comming out the underbelly on my 3055.

 

timk

Well-known member

• Mar 12, 2007

• #16

Guys, I think that the tanks are not designed for pressure at all. While they do hold a bit of pressure, I bet it wouldn't take much to blow one up. Have you ever noticed (for those of us who have plugged our vents) how all at once, the vent by the fill tube shoots out a ton of water. My theory is, that the water filling the tank compresses the air in the tank, until it reaches a point great enough to over come the weight of the resting water in the vent line. Then woosh. So with the factory setup, less chance of blowing a tank. I personally fill mine with the vent valves open, then when they start to flow, close them, then slow down, to top off.

 

tdharley

Well-known member

• Mar 13, 2007

• #17

I do not beleive they are a pressure vessel either.

I emailed the manufactuer, but doubt I will get an answer. I do not think they ever pressure tested them since they really are not supposed to be pressurized.

I do, thought question the amount of vents and the way they are piped.

I am going to crawl under my Itasca motorhome to see what I can see. I doubt I will see anything since the underbelly is REALLY sealed on that. I have never noticed any additional vent lines underneath, but never really looked for them either.

After searching around the internet I found a "rule of thumb on venting". A vent should equal to the size of the fill, loosely translated. Since I fill my with a 3/4" garden hose & the vent size is 1/2"(choked down to 3/8" by the fitting), I think we should need 2.

 

Uncle Rog

Well-known member

• Mar 13, 2007

• #18

I wondered about the pressure question myself, timk makes a valid point, and tdh is great, he is better than google, my plan to leave 2 vents hooked up was only my best guess, lucky guess at best.........

 

Loco

Well-known member

• Mar 14, 2007

• #19

Water Tank vents on 3795

I understand where Scott is coming from. But I must side with Mufflerman. The valves are a bad idea.I fixed my Clyclone and I have not and will not blow my tank up. I know how fast to fill the tank and that is the only time you will blow the tank up. Is when filling it. Not going down the road. The vent lines I put on my unit work great. You just have to make sure they are above the tank so not to trap water in them. This will let the air go out when filling. The line also must be bigger than the vent lines now on the trailer.I used true 1/2 ID hose. Also you must get the fill line up above the inlet of the tank so it does not trap water in it. Air will vent out there also if you fill with a 1/2 water hose. The fill line is 1 1/4 in size. But if it run down be low the frame like mine was it will not let air out. So I moved mine and went through the frame cross member and it is now higher than the tank inlet. It all come down to teaching the owners how to fill the tanks. YOU CAN NOT FILL FASTER THAN THE TANK WILL VENT!!!!
Heartland may not want to change the way they do it. So have the tank manufactures put bigger vents in the tanks and that would fix all the problems. Also for the folks not sure on how to do the fix I did I have pictures on the forum of the work I did on our unit. As for the tanks being made for Pressure NO THEY ARE NOT MADE FOR PRESSURE they are made to carry water ony. Thats why you have to have vents just like we have in our polypropylene tanks we put in fire trucks. I do know alot about Poly tanks, seeing how I have been in the fire service for 28 years and a fire apparatus service tech for 27 years and we deal with water tanks and pumps ever day .