Kitchen sink draining issue

[astuckens]

Hello,

I have been fighting a kitchen sink tank odor issue and am in need of some advice as a new RV user-

This is a torque 371 2018 and have been noticing slow draining and smells from the kitchen sink. Tonight I pulled the P trap off the sink and water came back up from the drain. Pipe. Rather forcefully at first but continued trickling for quite some time. I would estimate 3ish gallons total.

I just just recently drained the tank and it didn’t seem excessively full at that time I have a very hard time imagining it was over full already.

what else should I be looking at to cause this backup and reverse flow? Water never backed up all the way into the sink despite enough coming out from the p trap that it seems like it otherwise would have. Is this something the air admittance valve could cause if failing?

 

[david-steph2018]

Yes, it could be the air admittance valve as you believe. These are easy to replace, and you can find these at places like Lowe's, Home Depot, etc....

 

[Dahillbilly]

doesn't that have a roof vent also? I'd check that out

 

[sengli]

Another thing I have seen in these threads where this type of issue is called out, could be when the unit was built. Maybe they inserted the input pipe too deep, and its against the bottom of the grey tank? And over time, some debris is now constricting the flow.

 

[astuckens]

Another thing I have seen in these threads where this type of issue is called out, could be when the unit was built. Maybe they inserted the input pipe too deep, and its against the bottom of the grey tank? And over time, some debris is now constricting the flow.

Interesting.. I put some enzymatic drain opener down there last night and am going to play with it again today. Hopefully with a mostly empty tank situation the cleaner will help break it up if this is the issue.

I’m also planning to replace the AAV as I took it off last night and it seemed to be quite a cheap model.

I’m trying to understand the physics of this issue and it seems like there would have to be some decent positive pressure involved to force the water back up, I think I’ve also got to examine the vent pipe for possible blockage.

Thanks for the words of wisdom

 

[astuckens]

doesn't that have a roof vent also? I'd check that out

I went up on the roof and after removing the vent cap was able to slide a garden hose freely up and down the vent stack. At about the base or the trailer it seemed to hit something, I don’t know if there’s a valve or tight corner at the meeting of the vent stack and the tank but it wasn’t pushing past that and I didn’t want to go hard enough to break something. Going to see about acquiring a snake of that length tomorrow.

 

[hoefler]

Open the drain valve, run water in the sink, does it drain better? If so, the roof vent is installed too deep or slid down into the tank too far. Locate where it is going into the tank, pull it up and out of the tank, you most likely will need to remove the roof vent cap. Install a hose clamp 2" from the end that goes into the tank, then reinsert it back in the tank allowing the clamp to rest on top of the grommet. Attach a "L" bracket to the bottom of the floor against the vent pipe, take the previously installed hose clamp loose, with out allowing the vent to slide any further into the tank, raise the clamp up around the mounted "L" bracket and tighten the clamp around the bracket and pipe. Cut the pipe off enough to re-install roof vent cap.

 

[astuckens]

Open the drain valve, run water in the sink, does it drain better? If so, the roof vent is installed too deep or slid down into the tank too far. Locate where it is going into the tank, pull it up and out of the tank, you most likely will need to remove the roof vent cap. Install a hose clamp 2" from the end that goes into the tank, then reinsert it back in the tank allowing the clamp to rest on top of the grommet. Attach a "L" bracket to the bottom of the floor against the vent pipe, take the previously installed hose clamp loose, with out allowing the vent to slide any further into the tank, raise the clamp up around the mounted "L" bracket and tighten the clamp around the bracket and pipe. Cut the pipe off enough to re-install roof vent cap.

Do you have any advice on how to access the tank for this repair?

I’m trying to find guides online and it appears I either need to remove the dirt shield on the bottom of the RV or the side wall and both look like that will be quite a project.

Also found that water was pooling on top of the dust shield.. not sure where it’s coming from but it seems like fresh water. Hard to say.. at least it ain’t black water!

 

[hoefler]

Just need to try and figure close where it is and remove the liner and start looking around.