Tank Never empty!!

[rhiltz]

We are new to the Heartland Family,but not new to the rv world. We recently purchased a 2010 Sundance 2800 RLS fifth wheel and love it!! I have read the post's about sticky valves and purchased the valve so that i don't get covered in you know what. We like to stay at State Parks where we always have to dump never sewer hook ups.
OK to the problem, the first time i got covered, hence the valve. it seems to take forever for everything to dump and then i drive 40 miles, hit a rest area, open valve just to check and out comes more junk!! 40 miles later same thing!! get home same thing!! Black water valve seems to work, both gray water valves are very hard to push and pull. I live in Orlando, never see freezing weather and was thinking about pulling down the bottom and just cutting the valves out completly. Any suggestions? It's about to go to camping world to put awnings over the two slide outs, should i just pay them to work on the plumbing also, no warranty here?

 

[Invizatu]

Welcome to the forum! It might just be gunked up. I would try putting about 10 gallons of water in each tank and a healthy serving of dawn dish soap and drive it like you stole it. Slosh it around really good. Let it set overnite, add another 5 gallons of water and some more dawn and do it again! Day 3... Hook up to sewer and drain black tank first and hook up the black tank flush and let it run forever (with drain open!!!) and then follow up by draining the grey tank. Always keep some water in both tanks ( a couple of gallons) with a little soap to lubricate the valves. Good Luck.

 

[mnkamper]

Invizatu has a great suggestion that we've used to get our tanks to read empty....... finally! A alternative to Dawn is also a liquid dishwasher soap..... that doesn't suds up like Dawn does.

Always a good feeling when those pesky tanks finally say empty!

 

[Garypowell]

Couple of thoughts:

1 you did not say anything about your dumping routine. Being a veteran I would think you would know to use lots of water...but maybe this rig needs more during the dump.

2. Is it possible that this is your first trip and maybe the black tank was not clean in the first place.

3 it could also be I did not fully understand. Maybe your concern is that stuff keeps leaking down to your safety valve.

4. If #3 is the case then yes I would think about changing out the valves. There is usually some price to pay for PRE owned.

Couple of suggestions if you change out.

1. Obviously do a good flush but lift up that side of the trailer where the valves are. Besides giving you a little room to work any junk is moved over to the other side of the tank.

2. When I had a valve that always leaked I used rubber repair boots to join the lines back together.

I was only working on one valve so I just cut the coroplast away and then repaired the cut...on multiple valves you might be better off dropping the whole section.

 

[GOTTOYS]

Be sure you are keeping your black tank closed while in use and only dump when full. Forget the tank gauges. They never work. I leave my gray tank valves open when hooked up and the black tank closed. The toilet will "burp" at you when flushing to let you know the tank is full. I might close the bathroom gray tank the day before I leave to get a good flush on the hose after I dump the black tank. It's possible there is some residue in the black tank that still needs to be flushed out. Just use a lot of water when you use the trailer and flush it out when you dump. You might also try a Flush King attachment on your sewer outlet and flush out the tanks with it. I do mine about once a year that way...The spin on valve you put on at your sewer connection is the best thing you can buy. If you open the bottom spray some WD-40 around the valves. That may help. Some say to dump oil or soap in the tanks to lubricate the valves..The oil will float on top of any water. What good will that do? My guess is that the cables are sticking not so much the valves..Good luck...Don

 

[Toy1Ton]

my black valve was sticking real bad, I put 5 gal of water in the tank along with a bottle of Murphy soap work the Handel in & out 10-15 times, now it is as smooth as butter

 

[Toy1Ton]

the problem you may have is the tanks aren't pitch wright and all isn't coming out when you dump

 

[danemayer]

Sounds to me like maybe you have something keeping the black tank valve from making a tight seal; maybe toilet paper jammed into the mechanism. Because the tank leaks a little into the drain lines, solids build up on the floor of the tank and don't dissolve very well. A few days later when you dump the tank, the solids block the gate valve early in the dump process and the drainage slows to a trickle. Maybe it speeds up a bit for a while and then goes back to a trickle.

If this is what you're experiencing, you need to do a very thorough series of flushes and backflushes to try and clean the tank and the gate valve. Then I would follow the previous advice about driving with a partially filled tank, having added detergent. I'd also add Calgon water softener powder (a cup dissolved in 1 gallon of hot water). Then flush and backflush several times again.

If you get everything out of the gate valve, you can close the valve, add 15-20 gallons of water. Close the extra valve at the sewer line outlet. Wait 30 minutes. When you open the extra valve, there shouldn't be more than a few drops of water.

There's a description of some of this in our Water Systems Guide. Start reading on page 18.

 

[SD08ER]

After flushing and back flushing several times I will add about 10 gallons of water with detergent and ICE. Take it for a drive. The ice will help brake up any build up. Then do the flush and back flush.

 

[mobilcastle]

We use calgon water softener in our tanks. Never had any sticking problems with valves. Do not leave the black tank valve open when hooked up unless you want a real cleaning problem.

 

[happykraut]

I dumped once before we left the campground using a Flush King. I flushed till clear water came out of the black tank and then added 20lbs of ice. After driving home for 85 miles, I drained the melted ice and it looked nasty. And as stated before, never leave the black valve open while hooked to a sewer. I save my grey water to back flush the black tank.

 

[rhiltz]

Thanks for all of the suggestions, i will try filling up the tanks tomorrow and driving it around, but how do you fill both gray water tanks, i don't like not being able to see under the camper. i am thinking about just pulling the entire bottom cover off. We used to have a kz toy hauler with just two 40gal tanks and never had a problem. Had the valves on the bottom of the camper where i think they should be. Anyway thanks again.

 

[mallard29s]

Welcome to the forum! It might just be gunked up. I would try putting about 10 gallons of water in each tank and a healthy serving of dawn dish soap and drive it like you stole it. Slosh it around really good.

We did this once with our travel trailer. When we stopped there was suds coming out of the vent pipe. Cant image what people behind us were thinking...

Sent from my GT-N8013 using Tapatalk 4

 

[mallard29s]

Thanks for all of the suggestions, i will try filling up the tanks tomorrow and driving it around, but how do you fill both gray water tanks.

You will have to use a hose and fill through the sinks.

Sent from my GT-N8013 using Tapatalk 4

 

[danemayer]

City water hooked up. Turn on the kitchen faucet for a few minutes. Then turn on the shower for a few minutes.

 

[Birchwood]

If you mostly stay at parks without sewer your tanks are probably water deficient.These tanks require lots of water for flushing and dilution of waste.Can't see your problem ever improving staying at non serviced parks.

 

[Grey Ghost]

I'm sorry but I'm still laughing at the thought of bubbles coming out of the vent pipes as you were traveling down the road, that just had to be funny! To bad you couldn't have gotten a picture of that, priceless!!

We did this once with our travel trailer. When we stopped there was suds coming out of the vent pipe. Cant image what people behind us were thinking...

Sent from my GT-N8013 using Tapatalk 4

 

[mobilcastle]

They probably thought what a cool rig-someone is taking a bubble bath!!-with Mr bubble.

We did this once with our travel trailer. When we stopped there was suds coming out of the vent pipe. Cant image what people behind us were thinking...

Sent from my GT-N8013 using Tapatalk 4

 

[rhiltz]

Plumbing is the least of my problems now!! The entire bottom of the bedroom slide out is rotten wet wood!! Took it to camping world for an estimate and maybe trade it. I saw one just like mine there and low and behold bottom of bedroom slide out very soft!! I think i will be trading this heartland POS!!

 

[danemayer]

Plumbing is the least of my problems now!! The entire bottom of the bedroom slide out is rotten wet wood!! Took it to camping world for an estimate and maybe trade it. I saw one just like mine there and low and behold bottom of bedroom slide out very soft!! I think i will be trading this heartland POS!!

rhiltz,

Sorry to hear you're having this problem. If the wood is rotten, there's probably a longstanding maintenance issue and maybe the prior owner also traded instead of fixing. Hopefully Camping World will do something about it so the next buyer doesn't find himself in the same position.

If you decide to fix the flooring, you might want to check around for other repair shops - perhaps an independent shop that might have lower rates and more experience with water damage issues.