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Old 05-30-2005, 10:29 PM   #1
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Black water indicator gauge not working?

We just bought a 2004 25' Safari ss and the balck water gauge shows eather empty or full with out much in between.

When I empty it it shows empty and after a couple of flushs it shows it is full again.

How can I check it to see if the gauge is wrong or could my tank have a build up in it?

Thanks
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Old 05-31-2005, 01:58 AM   #2
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You're not alone ... if that makes you feel any better.

Mine does the same thing ... sort of like an on/off switch ... indicates empty or full with no in between lights.

Airstream sent me a new calibrated Systems Monitor ... but it was the same. I also tried to recalibrate the Monitor ... no luck there either. Now I'm wondering if the sending unit is bad.

I'm sure others will chime in with their advice and experiences ... but I've given up.
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Old 05-31-2005, 05:58 AM   #3
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Had the same thing happen on our 2005 Bambi. We've not used it enough to know if it's a consistent problem, but so far it will register Full if there's only a couple gallons in the BW tank.
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Old 05-31-2005, 07:31 AM   #4
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Yep, have this problem with the older units too

And not just Airstreams. Family members with SOB white boxes complain of the same problem. We've had the sensors replaced and they worked great just once. I guess the sensors get "blinded" after just a flush or two. Our grey water sensor is also not dependable, we only really know when this tank is full when water stops draining from the shower pan.

And I'm with Porky Pig, I've gotten over my obsession with the gauges not working.
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Old 05-31-2005, 07:56 AM   #5
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From day 1

My black water indication was indicating full when I picked up the trailer and it has remained at full or near ull ever since. The gray water display is better, but not terribly reliable. The fresh water sensor seems to work fairly acceptably.

The propane sensors show red long, long before the tanks are empty, but with the auto switchover that's no problem. If I'm near a Flying-J where I can buy propane by the gallon, I go ahead and fill when it turns red. If I have to use a flat-rate propane outlet, I let the changeover occur before I fill the tank. With 30# tanks, I only fill two or or, at most, three times a year.

When you look at the tearing up of the trailer to get at the tank wiring, it is better to just accept that the sensors are wonky. With care, the two of us can spend close to a week without ever dumping. Plus, in my 25, I can see the black level through the toilet and that's the critical one.
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Old 05-31-2005, 08:01 AM   #6
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Once the sending units get coated with the contents of the holding tanks, they tend to work erratically. The only way to make them work again is to remove and clean them, and then they only work a couple of more times before acting goofy again. Our tank monitor consists of the old Mark 1 eyeball. It works well for us, but I don't think newer coach owners would be able to use this feature, as the tanks are not visible from inside.
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Old 05-31-2005, 08:26 AM   #7
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Good to know . . .

I'm new here, having purchased a '66 Safari late last fall. It is the first RV for me.

I am rebuilding my Gem and thought it would be nice to put gauges in both the fresh and black tanks (it doesn't have a grey tank, and have been told the frame isn't strong enough for one to be added).



After reading your comments, I'll just worry about the fresh water tank.

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Old 05-31-2005, 11:08 AM   #8
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I had similar issues and also recalibrated the unit. When I was in Jackson Center for some work, I added it to the list with little hope....we'll I was very happy to find that they got it to work just fine!

As of this moment, full is full and empty is empty nearly across the board. The only exception is that the fresh tank reads empty before it's actually empty...which to me is a small plus.

You can get some good reading on the subject here:

http://www.airforums.com/forum...ht=tank+sensor

Right now my server is off, so the downloads won't work, but if you PM me your email address, I'll send you the manual recalibration .PDFs
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Old 05-31-2005, 11:23 AM   #9
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Spiffy Gem

A gray water tank "can" be added to your trailer, very safely.

The trick is proper design and installation.

Along with the proper design, the location is very important, so as to "not" appreciably disturb the tongue weight, from a full to an empty gray water tank.

Andy
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Old 05-31-2005, 11:27 AM   #10
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Please contact Rod at C & G trailer in Bellfower for advise theri phone numer is 562 634-6286 and ask for info more than willing to give info for FREE.
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Old 05-31-2005, 11:58 AM   #11
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Andy,

Cool. Can you give me more information on the "design and installation" part and also some information on tank size (as in gallons)? Is there a thread that addresses this?



I had planned earlier on installing an 8-12 gallon tank between the cross members of the frame just behind the axle section.



Any information or direction to another thread would be great.



Also, my Gem, as indicated earlier, doesn’t have a tank reader on any tank. I’ve had problems ordering newer parts from Airstream, as they must have a serial number of a modern unit before doing business. This makes it difficult to order more modern parts from them for an older unit!

Does anyone have a 'part number' for the tank gauges?


For the rest of the readers - sorry to intrude and divert the thread.



Calvin
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Old 05-31-2005, 01:20 PM   #12
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What would be the worst case scenario?

We have taken our '05 out on two short trips now, a 2 night stay and a 3 night stay. Our black water doesn't seem to be accurate either. A few flushes and it shows near full. My question is, where will the water go if you do to accidentally overfill it. Maybe I don't want to know the answer on that one!

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Old 05-31-2005, 01:29 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by redeagle313
We have taken our '05 out on two short trips now, a 2 night stay and a 3 night stay. Our black water doesn't seem to be accurate either. A few flushes and it shows near full. My question is, where will the water go if you do to accidentally overfill it. Maybe I don't want to know the answer on that one!

Randi
It will simply not flush down the toilet. You can see it getting full if you look in when you flush. You will see the tank level in the pipe before it backs up into the toilet.
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Old 05-31-2005, 01:33 PM   #14
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Whew....

that is somewhat of a relief. At least we will have a "visual" warning.

Randi
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Old 05-31-2005, 02:03 PM   #15
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Here's the poop....

I have a set of incredibly calibrated sensors....my own eyes! With the exception of the fresh water and battery indicator, the gray and black are most certainly wigged out...

Like Pahaska, I do a "visual" check down the poop chute of the toilet. To give you an idea, we have gone out for 5-6 nites without dumping.

You may not want to hear our method, but it is what my wife and I call the "every two tinkles" flush, and rinse bowl sparingly. Not real pretty, but that is how we spread out the use of our toilet. BTW- the black tank is just the toilet stuff. Gray is kitchen, vanity, and shower.

Obviously it really helps to have an understanding partner in crime!!!

As far as the gray water tank, we use the shower drain as our guide. It ussualy makes an audible gurgle just before the shower base/pan starts to show gray back up.

It is at this point I may descretly drain off a couple of gallons so we can make it through our trip.

Jonathan
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Old 05-31-2005, 04:29 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by redeagle313
that is somewhat of a relief. At least we will have a "visual" warning.

Randi
Yes ... and your nose will "see" it too.

I should mention here that my fresh and grey water tanks are quite accurate.

Also, while wintering in AZ ... I won a door prize. It was one of those tank ream out services ($175 value) ... where they stick a camera up inside your tanks and show you what it is like ... then blast it clean.

My black tank was cleaner than my grey tank ... both had mostly calcium deposits ... but very minor. However, after a thorough cleaning ... the black tank is still goofy.
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Old 06-05-2005, 12:32 PM   #17
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Our black water sensor is always "full". We've tried flushing from the top, using the built in flush valve, etc. Nothing helps. After 3 warranty repairs, nothing helped.

Gray water sensor seems to be pretty good.

73/gus
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Old 06-05-2005, 12:46 PM   #18
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I was concerned about were the overflow might go, seems like the guy at the RV dealer said that the blackwater would backup into the shower .

We have not been using it much and empty it after every couple flushs to make sure it's not going to overflow into the shower, but if you can see it backing up In the toilet I will keep a eye on it there.
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Old 06-05-2005, 06:10 PM   #19
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I too have been told that the shower is where you'll get "notified" of a full black tank, which is called "main holding tank" in the book. The grey is called an "auxillary holding tank". My indicator board ALWAYS shows empty for all tanks, incl. propane, and the battery lights say they are all dead. So I mainly use it as a visual display to show people how the nice red lights are supposed to work. I check propane every trip with the visual gauge on the tank. The book says that the fresh water is 50 gal., and the black is 25gal. and grey is 35 gal. capacity.
So I suppose I'm lucky that if I use all the fresh water, if I measure the input into each tank correctly, they will NEVER overflow.
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Old 06-05-2005, 07:20 PM   #20
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I may be wrong here, but the shower only "gurgles" when the gray tank is full on newer coaches. The black tank is seperate from the gray tank. This might not be the case with older coaches. I say this because I'm not sure about the threads direction....having started from what I thought was a newer coach, to possibly a vintage.

At any rate, that's the story I'm stickin' with!
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