Question about plumbing

Pulltab

Well-known member
Can someone explain how heartland plumbing works? Must be something I don't understand.

heartlandplumbing.jpg
 
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Pulltab

Well-known member
BigBlue said:
Not sure what your question is. Your picture is of the drain plumbing with a 3-1/2 inch pitch.
Sarcasim, That 3-1/2" "drain" is actually a 3-1/2" RISE in the pipe before it gets to the valve. The tank is on the left (this being the rear of the RV) the valve is actually 15' forward of this with rise on the way. Of course it drops back down to the bottom of frame near the valve.:rolleyes:
 

ChopperBill

Well-known member
PT, my dealer said they spent the good part of a day making all the drains go down hill when they first had the bottom off. After my shimmed fresh tank deal I am afraid to look! :eek: That was before they hired the latest and greatest big shot tech though. Our galley tank never does seem to drain too fast but we dont put too much down it but water and a little soap. Dose it up with our Happy Camper tank chemical pretty good though.
Just a thought wouldn't it be better if you just cut the drain pipe off close to the tank and run the drain straight out to the side. A little inconvenient to hook up another hose but may be a heck of a lot easier than to re-run it back to where it is.
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
You would certainly think it would be difficult to drain the tank with that rise in the drain. You don't suppose they thought it would siphon itself do you? LOL. Is there any way you can re-route the drain? You could cut and reattach with a coupling but there still might be a problem where the pipe exits the tank. I've never been into the tank area in our trailer so I'm not sure how they're attached to the tank.
 

mufflerman

Well-known member
WOW, I would post that in ask the factory and see what their response is? You would think they could trace down the plumber that did that and send him back to plumbers school !!!
 
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Pulltab

Well-known member
I think the ONLY way this is gonna drain is I am going to have to drop it under the chassis and slope it down to the valve from there. Just gonna have to support and insulate it good.
 

Uncle Rog

Well-known member
Pulltab, here are some pictures I took of the plumbing on a neighbors 3600 last year, he was the second owner, out of warranty. His lines were pretty bad also....
 

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snuffy

Well-known member
It appears the Heartlands aren't engineered much differently or better than many of the other brands.
 

Pulltab

Well-known member
While I agree it should have never happened or should happen again, to their credit they are trying their best to remedy the issue for me to my satisfaction. Honestly they have gone WAY beyond what any other manufacturer has ever done to help me. ;)
 

vangoes

Well-known member
These pictures really make me leary of going into the belly of my rig. I already know I have the issue with the fresh water tank not draining....but, these pics surely depict there are probably other issues with the holding tanks. Don't take me wrong.....I like my unit, but how do these obvious problems pass through quality inspections (assuming there is a quality program)?
 

nhunter

Well-known member
Hey Uncle Rog, the picture you posted must be from our sister rig their s/n is 9941 and we are 9942. Guess that means we probably have bum plumbing as well.:confused:
 

ChopperBill

Well-known member
PT, hows that drain pipe project going? I think if I were you I would take the bulge out of the bottom of the waste tanks while you are doing the re-plumbing. It will be my next project. I am guessing a couple of pieces of all thread on both sides of the tank and a section of angle or channel iron across would work out pretty good. You can adjust the tension with the all thread and give that ole tank a tummy tuck. I purchased a couple of the sink spring loaded vent caps from ACE and will install them today. That is going to be the EASY update! Thanks for the heads up on who ever had that idea!
 

Uncle Rog

Well-known member
nhunter, I certainly hope that the 9941 rig is an anomaly and that you are good to go!.....................
 

Pulltab

Well-known member
Bill, I will have it all finished up next week. I have supported the tanks and have tilted the water tank and secured it. Along with raising the fill tube and vent lines to the bottom of the floor (above the tank actually) it fills perfectly now and I can pump all but maybe 12 oz of water out of tank. Before I had minium of 20 gallons left in tank when it quit pumping.

The drain line will have to be dropped below the belly but that is not a terrible deal. I will have a gate valve put right on the end of the tank and that way there will not be any water to freeze in the drain line when it is cold.

One thing I am going to do to better the bottom heating situation is run a lenght of drain pipe the lenght of the rv underneath (we have a rear tank) then connect the flexible 2" line to it. I will then cap the far end and drill holes wherever I want heat directed to which will mainly be the tank area.

Bracing up the tanks make a tremendous difference. Our black tank started out draining fine and then one day it just quite gushing and started dribbling. Reason being I found out that eventually the tank carrying liquid deformed and drooped in the middle retaining a lot of the solids. Now I have it shimmed up so everything slides towards the gate valve.

Thinking I will throw some insulation around the ends of the tanks and the areas that are just wasted space. Hopefully that will direct more heat to the tanks with less airspace to heat.

Heartland has been great in helping me out on this. :)

Oh and to revisit my smell that I was getting inside the rv while running the fantastic fan. This is not a positive but I am pretty sure I have traced it down to the fact that the vent pipe runs inside the same space as the refer vent and does not exit the top of the rv. Therefore it is like venting your toilet to your attic. Soon as the fan is turned on it sucks the smell right out of the tank thru the vent. :( Not going to be a pretty way to fix that I don't think. Being the big refer vent cap covers the entire vent I will probably have to have them cut a hole in the refer vent for the vent line to get above the roof. Maybe this is why they quit making rear kitchen units.
 

Pulltab

Well-known member
Update:

Service tech is suppose to drop the drain line below belly early next week and fix the vent pipe. So while waiting I have been making some mods under the RV. I have insulated any dead space like under the basement and and large spaces between the tanks but leaving a gap around the sides of tank for heating. I insulated the ends of the tanks also. Then I bought some of that foam pipe insulation and insulated both hot and cold lines anywhere they run under the belly. That is a cheap and easy thing to do. I think my cost for insulating all the water lines including the water tank line was $14. That will be a big help should we encounter any cold weather. The lines actually lay against the side of the frame so cold would have been a problem for them, till now. :)

I also bought a couple cans of undercoating and sprayed as much of the frame underneath as I could.

While under there I noticed they do not lubricate the slide mechanism's so I sprayed the tracks and roller good with white lithium grease. Ours always squeaked like heck when running in and out.

When I reinstall the bottom cover I will probably use 1/8" x 1" aluminum with self tapping screws to completely seal the underbelly covering. Lots of air gaps with just using fender washers every 3 feet or so. After I get that done I will fill any voids left with spray foam insulation. Due to being so well insulated I will also install a vent that is closeable at each end to allow air to circulate during the summer to keep mildew down.

I did all this with the exception of insulating the water lines in our Fleetwood and it made a crazy difference in keeping the rv warm. We did not get that cold attacking the floor.
 

nhunter

Well-known member
While you are laying on the ground looking up you might want to check where your sheet metal skirt is bolted to the frame. Ours had a self tapping bolt every 2-3' and appx. half of them were ripped off. I pulled them out and installed fender washers and re bolted.
 
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