gray tanks frustration

[wanpaku]

I read in this forum somewhere that someone was wondering about how the 2 gray tanks in a Prowler are utilized. Well, I had the same question until my last camping trip.

I have a Prowler 32 ft trailer with an outdoor kitchen. My thoughts were similar to an earlier posters' idea of where the grey water goes. What would make sense is that the water from the kitchen would go to one tank, while the water from the bathroom and outdoor kitchen would go to another, a logical person would think......

I'm here to tell everyone, that is not so and I'm pretty choked about that. I ran my shower and bathroom sink the other day until I was getting the typical stench from under the bathroom sink from the gray tank filling up. (Why the breather is under the sink makes absolutely no sense to me, that's a whole other topic for discussion.)

Anyway, when I checked the level of the tanks I found that only the front gray was full and that the 2nd grey wasn't even registering. I continued to run the water in the tub until it wouldn't drain anymore. The smell was unbearable. I hooked up my truck and proceeded to the dump station where I discovered that the 2nd tank was only for the outdoor kitchen sink. We use that one for washing our hands before eating outside or mixing a drink. Needless to say, when I dumped gray #2 only about a gallon of water came out. When I drained #1 I realized from the suds and food particles that both the bathroom and kitchen drained into #1. I find this extremely frustrating that gray #2 is not utilized at all while I'm camping and with a family of 6, I need to hook up and dump every 3 days if we want to shower in the unit. I should be able to double that with a tank specific to the bathroom gray.

Now, what I intend to do is pull the bottom of the trailer off so I can access the plumbing and see if I could possibly re-plumb the thing to make use of the #2 gray tank.

I suppose my post here is not a question but a rant.

 

[jimtoo]

Hi wanpaku,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and family. We have a great bunch of people here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge when needed.

I'm sorry to hear the tanks are not the way you want them, but the way the tanks are set up should have been covered in your PDI by the dealer. You should have had water hooked up and been shown how to drain the tanks along with all the other operations of the trailer. What you might do is put one of the twist on valves on where you hook your hose to drain and leave it closed and open both the gray tank valves so they could equalize.

Jim M

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

wanppaku, your logic sounds like the way it should be. Bath & shower to one grey and indoor and outdoor kitchen to the other grey. The suggestion by Jimtoo would be the cheaper route but your thoughts of re-plumbing might work best for your needs.
I would probably just add the gate valve at the main sewer connection and let it go at that. Only about a $25.00 investment and an additional safeguard against a leaky gate valve at a tank.
I might also call Heartland to see if what their logic was behind that design. Strange...

 

[cookie]

Do you have a black water tank in addition to the two grey tanks?
Using the air admittance, Studor Valve, under the sink is code in some situations. You will find them in some residential settings as well.
If you are getting an odor from it then it may be faulty. They can be found in the plumbing department at home repair centers.

Peace
Dave

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

Do you have a black water tank in addition to the two grey tanks?
Using the air admittance, Studor Valve, under the sink is code in some situations. You will find them in some residential settings as well.
If you are getting an odor from it then it may be faulty. They can be found in the plumbing department at home repair centers.

Peace
Dave

You may be able to remove and check that valve to see that it's sealing correctly. Even use a little 303 to help the seal. It's nothing more than an air intake port that is supposed to allow air into the tank when dumping the tank.

 

[wanpaku]

Thanks Ray and Jimtoo,

I wish my solution was as simple as what you suggested. The issue is that gray #1 (kitchen and bathroom) and my black tank have their own dump outlet. Gray #2 (outside sink) has its' own tank and dump outlet. Therefore it is impossible to equalize my gray tanks by adding a gate valve because they utilze seperate dump outlets.

I've already completed my modification and it works the way I would have expected from the factory.

Ray and Dave, thanks for the info on the studor valve. I'll troubleshoot that today.

 

[wanpaku]

Since I've done my modification, the smell issue I had before is gone. Sure is nice to have 3 more days of gray storage available.

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

Since I've done my modification, the smell issue I had before is gone. Sure is nice to have 3 more days of gray storage available.

Thanks for the update, glad it worked out for you.

 

[JamiePaul]

Hi all! I also have the same Prowler and can't believe that this is plumbed the way it is. I'm interested in your modification that you did to correct this problem. I have less gray tank capacity than I did in my previous RV and the second tank was a seling point for me.