Bulging Black tanks

[murry135]

When we returned from our trip this past weekend my son pointed out to me where the black holding tank was bulging and pushing down and out on the black corrugated liner. We dumped the tanks prior to leaving our site but when we got home we saw that the tanks where now showing 2/3 full. Apparently the tanks never emptied all the way. Once I saw this condition I re-dumped the black tank and flushed it completely and got it down to 1/3 full, cant seem to get it to empty level. Bulge still apparant. What are my options here or is this a normal condition dure to weight.

 

[jmgratz]

Re: ATF: Bighorn - Bulging Black tanks

You are lucky if you tank reading ever are accurate. After 3 years of trying to get the black and one gray tank to read empty I have given up and discovered the sensors are best guess. I now flush until clean, treat tank, and then 'keep on truckin'. The sensors will probably never be accurate. The best way to tell when the black tank is getting full is when you toilet starts 'burping' it is time to dump.

 

[jbeletti]

Re: ATF: Bighorn - Bulging Black tanks

Hi Jim and Colleen,

Sorry to hear you are having some issues with your new Bighorn.

With regard to the bulging black tank vs the tank monitors, these issues may or may not be linked. What I mean by that is, tank level indicators are not known for being super accurate, especially those in the black tank. Debris gets on the sensors and fouls them. So, it's entirely possible that you have achieved a full emptying and the sensors are just fouled.

The tank bulging needs to be looked at. If working on RVs is not your thing, you should get this back to Crossroads RV to have them look at it. Or another Heartland dealer if you have one that is closer to your current position. They will need to remove the black coruplast material (underbelly) to do an inspection. If the tank has broken free from its moorings, the dealership will work with the factory on a fix for it.

Before you take it in, you may want to get under the RV yourself and push up with your hands in that area to see if there is give in the underbelly material or give in the tank itself. If you can push up on the underbelly, then feel the tank, yet the tank will not budge, you may not have a tank issue at all, just some sagging coruplast. In that scenario, camping should be able to be continued until you can make a more convenient appointment with your dealer.

If however, there is give in the tank, where you can easily lift the tank itself, then it sounds more serious and should be examined right away, before traveling with anything in the tank for sure.

Best of luck.

Jim

 

[murry135]

Re: ATF: Bighorn - Bulging Black tanks

Jim,

Thanks for your input. I will make a better attempt of flushing and rinsing our black tank next time and watch what the results are. As I push up on the black coruplast I immediately feel the black tank and when I push up on the tank I feel and hear fluid sloshing around in it. This may all be normal or not, I guess my next question is should there be be some sagging and or bulging in the coruplast?

 

[Vtxkid]

Re: ATF: Bighorn - Bulging Black tanks

Jim,

Thanks for your input. I will make a better attempt of flushing and rinsing our black tank next time and watch what the results are. As I push up on the black coruplast I immediately feel the black tank and when I push up on the tank I feel and hear fluid sloshing around in it. This may all be normal or not, I guess my next question is should there be be some sagging and or bulging in the coruplast?

If you haven't picked one up already, purchase a clear sleeve (straight) adapter to hook up to your 3" tank drain port then hook up your 3" hose to that. Once everything is hooked up to drain, open your black water tank valve. Afterwards, turn on your black tank flush and let it clean out everything until you get clear water running thru the hose...

 

[jmgratz]

Re: ATF: Bighorn - Bulging Black tanks

One other thing to be sure of is nothing should be put in the tank other than human wastes and septic safe toilet paper. No sanitary napkins, garbage or anything else. Also be sure everyone understands to flush with plenty of water which helps break up the wastes. We use Angel Soft toilet paper.

 

[JohnDar]

Re: ATF: Bighorn - Bulging Black tanks

Timeout! Unless they mount the black tanks in different positions in different BH floorplans, the tank is nowhere near the coroplast. In mine, the black tank is actually suspended above the Gray 1 tank, so even if it fell from the mounts, it would not hit the belly cover. In the photo, the black tank is mounted under the upper section of flooring. Gray 1 is under it and the basement floor.

The second photo is a Big Country at the plant, showing the same tank layout.

 

[bighorn3370]

Re: ATF: Bighorn - Bulging Black tanks

On my '08 3370RL, my tanks are just like John's and the factory's. They are black on top of gray. I hope this helps. Ernie

 

[hoefler]

I was thinking the same thing, my bet would be the fresh water tank.

 

[JohnDar]

In the factory photo, you can just see the white fresh water tank at the rear of the frame. When I was poking around down there, installing the wires for the Ground Control jacks, there was considerable distance between the bottom of the tanks and the coroplast. Now, the coroplast does droop down/bulge in spots, but it's due to the coroplast itself, not something laying on it. The other consideration may be a leak in the plumbing somewhere, putting water on top of the belly cover.

Did the OP have water dripping from underneath?

 

[jpdoggett]

Re: ATF: Bighorn - Bulging Black tanks

You are lucky if you tank reading ever are accurate. After 3 years of trying to get the black and one gray tank to read empty I have given up and discovered the sensors are best guess. I now flush until clean, treat tank, and then 'keep on truckin'. The sensors will probably never be accurate. The best way to tell when the black tank is getting full is when you toilet starts 'burping' it is time to dump.

Jim and Jim
My tank sensors have never worked on my 2011 Augusta and your right when starts to burp it is time to dump. I t would be nice to see Heartland use the outside sensors, had a fifth wheel that had them and I tell you they always worked and they work right for 11 years that I had the Rv

 

[murry135]

John,
Thanks for the info and tank placement photo's, I guess what I am feeling is a bulging grey water tank. No, no water is leaking from under the coach and when I pushed up on the coroplast no water ran out the sides. I think I my be over reacting to a normal sag. Start reading thess forums coupled with a little knowledge makes for bad diagnosis. This weekend I will pull down the cloroplast and check further to see if anything looks out of place but upon me poking around the tank seems in place and I can feel the support straps which feel in place also.

Murry135

 

[JohnDar]

John,
Thanks for the info and tank placement photo's, I guess what I am feeling is a bulging grey water tank. No, no water is leaking from under the coach and when I pushed up on the coroplast no water ran out the sides. I think I my be over reacting to a normal sag. Start reading thess forums coupled with a little knowledge makes for bad diagnosis. This weekend I will pull down the cloroplast and check further to see if anything looks out of place but upon me poking around the tank seems in place and I can feel the support straps which feel in place also.

Murry135

No problem, Murry. On mine, the coroplast droops the most where there are no crossmembers to secure it to. Almost looks like it's in a family way with a pop-up. You don't need to drop the entire underbelly, just remove some of the bolts along one side and pull down to have a look see. Hard to do, however, around the axles.

 

[murry135]

John,

Being on the forum as much as I am I see your input and recommendations often, so with that beening said I have another question for you. Our A/C when on auto and running in 90 degree temp or better seems to hiccup for lack of a better description. Blowing HIGH then momentay what sounds like a shut down and then restart on HIGH. Sometimes it will drop to LOW fan and continue to run smoothly or even sound like the compressor is running w/o the fan for a second or two. Is this the nature of the AUTO fan feature or what? I respect you opinions in other post and hope you don't mind me asking for more info?

Murry

 

[JohnDar]

OK, Murry, you've stumped the blabber-mouth. With where we use our rig, we don't need to run the A/C very often, so I don't have much experience with any problems. I know if you run it for long on low fan that it will ice up and not cool. Did learn that lesson. I replaced the basic Domestic thermostat a while back with the Hunter digital. I don't use the switch with the Auto setting for the fan, but added the toggle switch to it that allows me to set it on either high or low. When running the furnace, I might set it on low, but normally I just leave it on high. It's possible the Auto setting on yours is what is causing the intermittent running, but that's only a guess.

Thanks for the kudos, though. Most of what I pass on I learned from others here on the forums.

 

[murry135]

John,

Thanks again for your insight. I have a service date set for them to check it out. I was thinking about changing the thermo. Wait and see what the dealers has to say.

Jim

 

[caissiel]

On my trailer, the first summer I noticed the tank was pushing the coroplast and droped the sheeting down to see what was happening.
The tank was held by a small angle and it was bending making the tank straps looser then I felt was comfortable. I added more support for the angle and always wanted to change this angle that is to small to hold the weight of both tank. I also found out that my tanks are Imperial gallons sizes and thus 20% larger then if they were US gallons. So I assumed the design was light for my tanks because of the larger holding tanks.