Loosing Water From The Fresh Water Tank

[timk]

Tell me if I'm misunderstanding here....you folks are loosing fresh water in an area that is supposed to be insulated? What is happening to your insulation? This can't be right....I must be mis-reading this....

Whats happening is the vent hoses that run out the top of the tanks are loosing water when parked on an angle, or when driving it can splash out. The hoses exit under the coach, so the insulation is fine.

TimK

 

[BluegrassMan]

Losing Water

Hi All:

Some of ya'll got in on this discussion rather recent, If you go back to the begining of the THREAD; you can catch all the earlier opinions.

Don' forget your physics class, this sloshing acts exactly like syphoning gas out of a tank with your mouth. Once you get the action going it creates a draw. That is emptying the tank more than the sloshing etc. Once you break the CYCLE the water stops running. I still use a vinyl cap over the over flow hoses on a long trip. Just my $.02 worth

 

[cdbMidland]

To Bill B in Michigan.

I have a 2003 Dodge 3500 quad cab with 4-speed auto and a 3.73 rear end with single rear wheel drive. GRVW is 9,900#. GCVW is 21,000#. Weight without Big Horn is 7,680# (full fuel and driver and passenger).

I am towing a 3655RD.

 

[Sawbonz]

Sorry I will sound like a sap, but it has been bothering me since the beginning of this thread:
loose=not tight
lose=not gained

 

[timk]

Sorry Karl,

After 40 posts misspellings become accepted as official.

How about this; the water is not tight in the tank "loose" so we loosed it on the road?

TimK

 

[BillB800si]

To Bill B in Michigan.

I have a 2003 Dodge 3500 quad cab with 4-speed auto and a 3.73 rear end with single rear wheel drive. GRVW is 9,900#. GCVW is 21,000#. Weight without Big Horn is 7,680# (full fuel and driver and passenger).
I am towing a 3655RD.

------------------------------------------

Chuck,
You're over weight with that Dodge.
Your 7680 (truck) plus the 12,300 (trailer) = 19980. That only leaves you with 1020 lbs. Figure the 12,300 does not include any extras you had put on by the factory or dealer.

Everything I've read says add 2000 lbs for personal =
Water at 8#/gallon
Food
clothing
personal items
tools
misc..(chairs-ladder- etc....)
plus:
hitch
batteries
generator

 

[cdbMidland]

Bill from Michigan...

I do not haul water nor anything in my waste tanks. I had the entire unit weighed on a CAT scale before adding any clothes or food and had plenty of capacity as we travel pretty light (even though we are spending a couple of months down south this winter). This weight already had the Pullrite Superglide 16K hitch installed, so hitch weight was already included. I do not carry a generator.

So, I am still "legal" in the weight category, but not by much.

I could swap out the 3.73 for a 4.10 and gain another 2,000#, and would have if I would have been overweight. I decided to see if I could safely haul this unit with the SRW, or should go for DRW. If Dodge would only offer the new mega-cab with DRW, I would trade, but so far, it only is on the SRW.

 

[svd]

The spec sheet indicates the trailer weighs 11,950. How did you get to 12,300, did you weigh it?

 

[BillB800si]

The spec sheet indicates the trailer weighs 11,950. How did you get to 12,300, did you weigh it?

------------------------------------------

I guess that depends on which 2006 brochure you want to look at. I have both brochures. So when in doubt I take the higher number... o)

Plus get this:
1st brochure says:
length= 38' 11"
GVWR = 18000 lbs
Dry wt. = 12300
Hitch wt. 2400

2nd brochure says:
length 38' 3"
GVWR = 16000 lbs.
Dry wt. = 11950
Hitch wt. = 2040
And they both are for the 3655RD....... Go figure.....


Bill B. (Michigan)

 

[svd]

Wow, that is quite a difference! I looked at the spec on their website to get the 11,950. I agree, probably always safer to go with the heavier weight.
Steve

 

[cdbMidland]

Spec sheet does not include all of the options. We have gel cote and dual pane windows.

By the way, the old brochure showed triple 6,000# axles, but they have dual 7,000# axles. First brochure was prepared before the first 3655RD was built.

 

[phranc]

Most of the 'Extras' are 'standard' for the BigHorn..There are not a lot of options that weigh much .. Pretty accurate weights..

 

[Jim_1899]

I went on my 3rd trip this weekend and know have pulled my new Bighorn 2,050 miles. This last trip was 720 miles round trip and the fresh water was not drained out of my fresh water tank since I installed three female hose ends and then screwed caps. It worked put we were not able to use the water while traveling, so I will try to find a value install. We had one other problem the crack stopped working, the nut fell off the left side and the screw fell out. The trailer was just being jacked up on the driverside. After an hour I figured it out and corrected it by getting the bolt back through and the nut fastened. One front leg is longer than the other so I used two 2x6's to put it back down after traveling. I guess I will have to take the bolt and nut off, disconnect the one side and even the legs back and then reconnect it. Has this happened to anyone else.

 

[ChopperBill]

The Bighorn specs show that the water tank has a 63.5 gallon capacity. The 75 gallons comes from adding in the 12 gallons that the water heater holds. Not surprise you could only get 60 gallons in the tank. I think most manufactures count the water heater in with their total fresh water capacity.

Oops! Missed a couple of pages! It has already been said.

 

[phranc]

We left NY with about 10 gals in the fresh tank.Stopped at a Flying J in Columbus Oh to overnite and filled (to overflowing) the fresh tank there.Went to louisville for a couple of days and then on to the 1st annual world famous Heartland Rally in Elkhart/Goshen. Drove from there to NY and arrived with all the water we put in at Columbus. Less some for a shower etc....Tank monitor still reads full.. What did I do different than the others ??

 

[timk]

clean living?

Seriously, if you are NE of Alabama water will tend to flow away from the true magnetic north which will cause water to flow away from the vents.

Or..

Perhaps yours is plumbed correctly ? Can we take it apart ?

TimK

 

[jbeletti]

Tim,

At the rally, Clarence (Wild Wind) was showing me the vents on his tank. His underbelly was open (it's returning to LSI after the rally). He showed me the vent connectors on the tank. They are plastic (4 of them) and are 90 degree connectors. His were rotated in a downward position. He rotated them upward, then tie-wrapped the vent hoses to frame members above the tank. That should really help. He mentioned that that a factory employee said that they rotate them upwards before putting the floor on, but his were not.

Can you take it apart? You certainly can take down your underbelly but be prepared with a plan to put it back securely.

Jim

 

[Scott]

Heartland is in the process of making sure all vents are above the tank to eliminate any possibility of cyphoning. It is already completed on some models, and will be on all models within a month.

ST

 

[L'l John]

Being built this week!

Heartland is in the process of making sure all vents are above the tank to eliminate any possibility of cyphoning. It is already completed on some models, and will be on all models within a month.

ST

I hope my 3400RL is one of the models that already have the vents in the proper place . It is scheduled to come of line this coming Friday 6/9/06.
None None

 

[ChopperBill]

Heartland is in the process of making sure all vents are above the tank to eliminate any possibility of cyphoning. It is already completed on some models, and will be on all models within a month.

ST

How can I tell if mine has the new vents? Thanks