The Flood

[Bikerbill]

Yes there is a pump on-off switch right over the kitchen sink. Remembering to turn off when driving or leaving for the day is the issue.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by polarlyse

I suppose from these postings that the Interstates don't have a pump on/off switch ???

They do. But these events happen mostly in campgrounds, not on the road, and as often as not while we're hooked up to municipal water so we don't even have the sound of a pump to warn us.

[avanti]

Well, I have no dog in this race, but if you of a mind for a technological solution, here's a suggestion:

Get one (or two) of these



one of these



and an automotive relay and you could arrange to cut off the water supply to the faucet whenever the glass top is closed.

Kind of extreme, I admit. But you guys sound desperate.

[73shark]

Then you can't use the lavatory or flush the toilet.

[avanti]

Originally Posted by 73shark

Then you can't use the lavatory or flush the toilet.

That's why you need the solenoid valve(s). I meant to put the valve(s) at the sink, not at the pump, so the rest of the system would be unaffected. If it weren't for the "use the bathroom" issue, you could simply have the "cover closed" sensor turn off the pump.

[Boxster1971]

Originally Posted by avanti

That's why you need the solenoid valve(s). I meant to put the valve(s) at the sink, not at the pump, so the rest of the system would be unaffected. If it weren't for the "use the bathroom" issue, you could simply have the "cover closed" sensor turn off the pump.

I think there is a simpler solution. When I get home from this Alaska trip I'm going to shorten the faucet lever just enough to clear the glass cover when closed. I think that might do the trick, but it might take some tweaking.


- - Mike
2013 AS Interstate on 2012 MB Sprinter

[lamato]

Originally Posted by kaylorsan

I did the same thing. However, mine was on day 1. Day 1 we pickup the AS. Go thru a worthless overview of the van systems. We head to a local RV park and hook up for our 'shakedown' night. Later in the evening, we go out for a walk around the RV park. Come back 30 min later to water running down the street. Turns out it was coming from our RV. I was not a happy camper (no pun intended). The design flaw is inexcusable. I cannot believe it has not been addressed yet.


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The EXACT same thing happened on our first day in our 2013 Interstate. After reading this thread, I don't feel so bad.


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[scarletbison]

Hopefully all of those of us reading the forum before we sign the purchase agreement like me are taking note!

[jerhofer]

After reading this post, I immediately checked out the sink faucet and can see why flooding could happen. Thanks for posting.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Protagonist

...It's like that on EVERY Interstate with a glass cover on the sink....

Woooowww.... I am SO GLAD that I noticed this thread.

We have the well-known leaking gray water tank issue on our recently-purchased 2007 AI and we are in the process of DIY-ing a solution (we discovered a few days after purchasing it a month ago that all three pipes had sheared off our tank - the galley sink, the shower, and the vent line).

Our reconfig'd grey water tank is currently sitting on the floor of our storage unit, waiting to be re-installed on the vehicle as soon as my husband's work schedule allows. However, after reading this thread, we now realize that we need to retrofit a relief port on the tank itself for emergency overflows. To heck with the faucet - in the absence of a totally redesigned fixture, that just sounds like it will continue to be an accident waiting to happen. Too much at stake here - this situation demands an engineering fail-safe even if there is a way to improve the faucet (trust me - I am absent-minded and would find a way to screw up a faucet solution).

I will blog our retrofit once we get it finished (thus far I have two posts on this issue - one describing the tank / line failure and the other describing tank removal). I read somewhere that gray water tanks were redesigned specifically because of the 2007 breakage debacle (Airstream had to do a lot of warranty replacements). Still, folks might find some ideas for later AI models in our DIY retrofits.

Alison and Lawrence
League City, TX
THE INTERSTATE BLOG

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by jkinglet

... You must push the faucet handle down to the cold water position and in the off position before lowering the cover. I forgot to explain to the lad that if you lower the cover over the sink, and the faucet lever is up (hot water) in the OFF position, the faucet will turn on -- and (the bad part) if there is any ambient noise you might not hear the faucet come on. ...

... Any quick remedies out there? Or is it file-down-the-lever handle time?

OK, folks, this post linked below is our best guess at a reasonable interim mitigation of this substantial flooding risk.

Someone might want to use this as a conversation-starter in dealing with their own situation and I would love to eventually hear what Airstream would have to say about it.

In other words, I realize that most people are not going to be as into DIY as my husband and I are, but sooner or later, what I envision is someone confronting Airstream and saying "Listen, this is CRAZY - you guys put in this design flaw, and my six-figure investment is at risk because of it. If you can't replace the faucet, can you ameliorate the risk some other way? Because my kids or my guests are eventually going to accidentally flood my coach when I'm not looking. Here is one idea about how an Interstate owner installed an emergency relief valve on their tank because of this flaw [showing the listener the blog post]. Can you at least achieve something similar for me, or maybe improve upon it?"

THE INTERSTATE BLOG: AIRSTREAM INTERSTATE FAUCET DEFECT: TANK OVERFLOW INSTALL

Thank you all SO MUCH for bringing this issue to our attention. I am convinced that we, too, would have eventually suffered this flooding fate if not for this forum.

Alison and Lawrence
League City TX
THE INTERSTATE BLOG

[Boxster1971]

Back in August I said I would look into fixing this problem. Today I measured the amount that I'd have to cut off the faucet lever to clear the glass top as shown in this photo.


It looked like removing 3/16" off the end of lever would clear the lid. So that's what I did with a hacksaw on this chrome plated brass lever.


I filed the end smooth and re-colored the worn end cap. Reinstalled lever now looks like this.


Lever now clears the glass lid when closed. Should solve the annoying problem.

Hope this is useful,


- - Mike
2013 AS Interstate on 2012 MB Sprinter

[PSchw]

Thanks this real helpful I will do the same.
Peter


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[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Boxster1971

...I filed the end smooth and re-colored the worn end cap. Reinstalled lever now looks like this.
Attachment 225567

Lever now clears the glass lid when closed. Should solve the annoying problem.

Hope this is useful,


- - Mike
2013 AS Interstate on 2012 MB Sprinter

Good to know that this can be done, and we may eventually try that in addition to adding the tank relief valve. We would have added the relief valve either way because our vehicle is older and we are not sure that we trust the fill sensors in either tank (black water is definitely not reading as accurate... haven't fully tested the gray... obviously we cannot add an overflow on the black but at least with it being on the gray it becomes one less thing to worry about). Redundancy helps.

[xrvr]

I admit I haven't read the whole thread, but wouldn't turning the water pump off eliminate this problem? When camping we also disconnect the water or turn it off at the outside faucet when leaving the trailer for any time.may not be pertinent to this thread, but still good advice.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by zigzagguzzi

I admit I haven't read the whole thread, but wouldn't turning the water pump off eliminate this problem? When camping we also disconnect the water or turn it off at the outside faucet when leaving the trailer for any time.may not be pertinent to this thread, but still good advice.

Good procedures, but reportedly, this particular flooding problem can happen quickly and stealthily. There's another owner who sent me an email describing his flooding circumstances in detail, and similar to this original thread poster, he had not left his vehicle unattended at the time it occurred. He had simply failed to make the mental connection between the faucet configuration and the unhappy result.

[coder]

It is so annoying that I have to do this -- use a saw on the faucet.

Airstream couldn't be bothered to actually purchase a sink, faucet, and sink cover and put them together on a bench and try them out, before specifying these parts, ordering them and building them into hundreds of Interstates.

There's a lot about this Interstate that seems to have been designed and planned by a high school intern. Not connecting the Blu-Ray player to the overhead stereo sound system, for another example.

Really annoying in a product with a $150,000 MSRP. Airstream should take some of that lucre and buy a design engineer, or maybe hire someone who has spent a night in an RV.

Bruce


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[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by coder

Airstream couldn't be bothered to actually purchase a sink, faucet, and sink cover and put them together on a bench and try them out, before specifying these parts, ordering them and building them into hundreds of Interstates.

Don't blame Airstream. Blame Dometic— that's who makes the sink assembly. Airstream just buys and installs them. And considering how well Dometic has penetrated the RV appliance market, THEY should know better.

[jkinglet]

Originally Posted by jerhofer

After reading this post, I immediately checked out the sink faucet and can see why flooding could happen. Thanks for posting.

You're welcome. Well, here it is November and AS continues to deliver AIs with the faulty faucet and few if any dealers preview the issue with new owners. I contacted the head of AI service in Ohio by email in early September. Still no reply. Before Thanksgiving I'll revisit the contact message. Until then, "faucet lever down!"

[xrvr]

So many of these so called problems can be solved with a little common sense.