Leak in Kitchen Gray Tank

[jstauffer]

I have a 2019 Big Country 3155 that has a pretty bad leak in the upper corner of the tank. The crack starts behind the cross member angle iron that supports the tank and then comes around the end of the tank. I can see the part of the crack that is on the end of the tank, but without removing the cross member I do not know how long or large the crack is that is behind the angle iron. I am thinking of dropping the underbelly, supporting the tank from the bottom and moving the angle iron to see if I can patch it. Does anyone know what these tanks are made of? I suspect it is ABS but I read where a lot of them are polyethylene. Should I attempt a patch or have the tank replaced?

Thanks,
Jerry

 

[rhodies1]

Chances are you’ll have to have it replaced . The difficult part will be getting access to where the piping hooks to the tank I believe it’s hard to fix cracks on these tanks .

 

[BigFry]

I had to replace my tank. Nothing I tried stopped the leak even though the crack was less than 2 inches. I was surprised at how difficult it was for the repair shop to make the connections to the new tank.

If it is an Alpha tank, it is polyethylene. I contacted the company for specs, etc. They are more difficult to repair, but as you can see from the post below, some have tried.

Bighorn Black Tank Connection Failure

Does anyone know what adhesive and/or material is used by Heartland to join the drain valve to the black tank? Mine has separated causing an unfortunate mess. There is a white substance on the joint which resembles dicor lap sealant. There is also a single radiator type band around the black...

heartlandowners.org

Good luck,
Big Fry

 

[centerline]

abs tanks are not as common as the used to be... polyethylene is the material of choice these days....

but if its abs, its an easy fix, but polyethylene requires plastic welding, as there are no adhesives that will adhere to it....

I believe its better to replace the tank than to have it repaired.... but if you know how to plastic weld, then you may save some money.....

one thing to look at before removing the tank from its nest is to see if it is setting on an even, level plane, or if it has a high corner, which is causing a slight twist in the tank.... a square/rectangle tank does not like to be stressed by setting on an un-even surface, and it will fail at a corner, where as a tank that has no stress in it will rarely ever fail, but if it does its almost always along a straight edge away from the corner at the end of the tank.....

if it isnt being supported properly, FIX that before or during the reinstall of a tank....

 

[SLO]

I made a repair on a grey tank, that BigFry linked to above, using plastic welding sticks. 2 1/2 years later it’s still holding.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk