Having delved into the depths of the hidden areas of our coach by removing the walls of the storage area I have discovered an appalling design fault (I am not even going to talk about the mess of wiring, wood shavings, screws etc hidden under there ("out of sight out of mind" seem to be the industry philosophy.))
What really shocked me was discovering that our black tank is suspended from the coach frame by flanges around the tank at about mid-height with the only support for the bottom of the tank being a couple of flimsy steel straps which allow the bottom of the plastic tank to sag about 3-4 inches below the level of the outlet which is on the side on the tank. The result of this is that it is impossible to empty the tank fully without turning the whole coach on its side. I would estimate that at least 3-4 gallons remain in the tank after a complete flush. I have left the tank draining with the black tank flush running for half an hour after it has apparently emptied and it continues to run brown. You can imagine what tends to accumulate at the lowest point.
It continues to amaze me that these coaches can be built with such total disregard for basic engineering principals such as a consideration for gravity.
Our kitchen grey tank also drains into the underbelly when full which means there is a leak somewhere in the plumbing which I haven't had time to trace just yet and the main grey tank has a 2" outlet which is totally inadequate for flushing the hose after (part-) draining the black tank.
As an engineer I look critically at the design of all aspects of my unit and have already re-engineered several things. I have tried to communicate several concerns I have, with regard to design issues I have found, to the divisional manager however he has chosen to ignore me.
From my reading of the forums both here and on other sites it is almost as if the market accepts these poor standards of quality and engineering from the RV industry and expects that the customer has to remedy the design faults themselves. This seems to me to be practically unique in the US market where in practically any other industry there would be an uproar at the disregard for quality or good standards of engineering evident here.
What really shocked me was discovering that our black tank is suspended from the coach frame by flanges around the tank at about mid-height with the only support for the bottom of the tank being a couple of flimsy steel straps which allow the bottom of the plastic tank to sag about 3-4 inches below the level of the outlet which is on the side on the tank. The result of this is that it is impossible to empty the tank fully without turning the whole coach on its side. I would estimate that at least 3-4 gallons remain in the tank after a complete flush. I have left the tank draining with the black tank flush running for half an hour after it has apparently emptied and it continues to run brown. You can imagine what tends to accumulate at the lowest point.
It continues to amaze me that these coaches can be built with such total disregard for basic engineering principals such as a consideration for gravity.
Our kitchen grey tank also drains into the underbelly when full which means there is a leak somewhere in the plumbing which I haven't had time to trace just yet and the main grey tank has a 2" outlet which is totally inadequate for flushing the hose after (part-) draining the black tank.
As an engineer I look critically at the design of all aspects of my unit and have already re-engineered several things. I have tried to communicate several concerns I have, with regard to design issues I have found, to the divisional manager however he has chosen to ignore me.
From my reading of the forums both here and on other sites it is almost as if the market accepts these poor standards of quality and engineering from the RV industry and expects that the customer has to remedy the design faults themselves. This seems to me to be practically unique in the US market where in practically any other industry there would be an uproar at the disregard for quality or good standards of engineering evident here.
