2007 Interstate black/grey tank leak

[knotdonne]

Today Ed checked that the leak wasn't coming from the toilet; he checked with a test ball. Then, I drove while Ed laid on the floor looking for the leak. He had the cabinet door under the frig open. He couldn't see any leak. He now thinks it's coming from near the toilet in the tank. It's dry at the vent. He checked that also.

I think we'll have to go to repair because he thinks would have to take cabinetry out to get black tank out. UGH!

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by knotdonne

Today Ed checked that the leak wasn't coming from the toilet; he checked with a test ball. Then, I drove while Ed laid on the floor looking for the leak. He had the cabinet door under the frig open. He couldn't see any leak. He now thinks it's coming from near the toilet in the tank. It's dry at the vent. He checked that also.

I think we'll have to go to repair because he thinks would have to take cabinetry out to get black tank out. UGH!

Uuuuuggghhhh is right. I don't like the sound of this. If i am understanding correctly and if you have systematically eliminated other possibilities, it might be the line from the tank to the dump valve. That is pretty much the ONLY line that has not breached in our 2007 (yet??) and more than once I have wondered why not. I mean, if all the other connections broke, I would expect it.

Please keep us posted and if you get it to a repair shop, tell the repair person that there are folks who would be eternally grateful for a cellphone picture of what the problem proves to be. I'd almost pay money for that.

[InterBlog]

Unfortunately these tank plumbing issues are spread across multiple threads, but I thought I'd leave an anecdotal update on this one.

One of my blog "pen pals" who is not on Air Forums purchased what sounded like a very lightly used 2007 Interstate last month (July). He did several small upgrades quickly so that he could get on the road to enjoy what he could of this summer season, leaving other issues for a later date.

My husband and I had warned him about the plumbing system but, being a DIYer, he checked it out, found no breaks, and decided to let that sleeping dog lie.

It woke up and began barking quite quickly. Fourteen hundred miles into his trip, his gray tank lines were broken. All of them, apparently. He actually put together an impressive temporary on-the-road fix using bits and pieces of hardware he bought at Lowes (he emailed me photos).

Anyway, the morals of that little story are:

(1) This problem is indeed widespread. If his plumbing hadn't come apart prior to his maiden voyage, then I have to wonder whether his system had ever had water placed into it previously (some folks buy Interstates but then decline to use one component or the other... e.g., our shower has still never been used, although we intend to use it eventually).

(2) There is more than one way to skin this particular cat. The solution that my husband and I came up with is NOT the only possible way to go, especially when the need for a fix is urgent.

[InterBlog]

Yet another backfill to this important thread. With the passage of time, it's getting harder and harder for me to search it out, and I know that more T1N owners are going to face these issues sooner or later.

LB_3 and I rarely get to do the same Interstate job twice (except replace refrigerators ). We always speculate that it would be so much easier to do a job once we've already invented the method.

Such was the case yesterday when we (mostly LB_3) rehabbed our friends' gray water system, using the same methods developed for our own. Our gray water job consumed three of our weekends back in late 2014, because we had to make it up as we went along. This job? One day. One long, tiring day, but just one day.

As with our own rig, this other gray water tank had completely broken free, requiring new tank gaskets, line segments, and while we were at it, we refurbished the metal tank surround, and replaced both dump valves (gray and black). At least with respect to gray water plumbing, this rig will be good to go for another decade now.

[knotdonne]

Thank you for updating. I'm sure I have much to look forward to with leaks.

The gray has held on this unit (knock on wood) and our work around on the black tank leak was a compost toilet.

We have not been able to find good technicians locally who know Interstates, including the Airstream dealer service, who couldn't find the source of the leak in one entire day in the service bay! If you know anyone in Pittsburgh...

[InterBlog]

Refresh my memory Knotdonne... which model is yours?

[LB_3]

Originally Posted by knotdonne

Thank you for updating. I'm sure I have much to look forward to with leaks.

The gray has held on this unit (knock on wood) and our work around on the black tank leak was a compost toilet.

We have not been able to find good technicians locally who know Interstates, including the Airstream dealer service, who couldn't find the source of the leak in one entire day in the service bay! If you know anyone in Pittsburgh...

Knotdonne, if you have a front bath model, I'll bet you dinner that the plumbing to the grey tank has failed. I haven't seen or heard of a single case where an owner or repair shop has inspected the original plumbing and found it intact.

Here is my Amazon list of parts needed for the repair: http://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/26VFLGU1RA2UM

(If the nuts on your existing allthread are rusted, you may need to add them to your list.)

[InterBlog]

It's kinda (black) water under the bridge if that tank/toilet has already been replaced with a composting unit, but I was asking about model because if Knotdonne's repair shop failed to find the leak, they might not have checked (a) the sealant seating and (b) the vent line. Both of those things are configured differently on mid-baths.

With these older Interstates, depending how the tanks were put together, the plumbing sealant may actually APPEAR fully intact when it's not. Therefore, "looking" for the leak is a wild goose chase. One has to "experience" the leak, or "invoke" the leak. Trust me - the road will invoke the leak Every. Single. Time. So the repair tech has to behave like the road itself in order to elicit the same undesired result, so that it can be pinpointed and fixed.

After we got done with the gray water fix on Saturday, I started to ask a question about the vent line, and then I just stopped and went inside our friends' Interstate to see for myself. It's very difficult to explain this stuff and very easy to demonstrate it. Sure enough, I found a cracked black tank vent line, totally separate from the gray plumbing that we'd just finished. It would have taken me 500 words to explain what my finger pointed to in five seconds.

[knotdonne]

We have the 22 RD. 2007--for some reason wasn't allowed to select that from drop down when creating signature.

I'd love to replace the black tank with an additional gray tank and will pay someone to do it, eventually. For now, the compost toilet is vented through the black tank vent. The new rear windows come first, barring major repairs, and hope to order those this winter.

[Lily&Me]

You might try just a reputable RV repair place, as Class B's are pretty common and we have found help around the country on occasion thru non Airstream places.

Maggie