Black water rinse system

[Wconley]

We have a recently purchased 2013 23D. When using the black water rinse system I get water coming out from around the drain area, and from around the body seams at the bottom of the trailer both forward and aft of the drain. Our manual says to close the black water valve for a few minutes before opening the valve to properly flush the tank. There is a warning label where the hose hooks in that the valve must be opened when using the rinse feature. When the black water flush valve is open, we don't have the leaking problem. Has anyone else ran into this and know what's going on? Thanks in advance.

[LAWBC]

The reason to add more water to the black tank is to fill the tank to capacity creating a higher flow rate to purge all that stuff out.
But if you are seeing water leaking out of areas as describe when the drain valve is closed while your adding water I'm thinking you have a leak somewhere in your black tank, possibly where the blank tank flush enters the tank

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by Wconley

We have a recently purchased 2013 23D. When using the black water rinse system I get water coming out from around the drain area, and from around the body seams at the bottom of the trailer both forward and aft of the drain. Our manual says to close the black water valve for a few minutes before opening the valve to properly flush the tank. There is a warning label where the hose hooks in that the valve must be opened when using the rinse feature. When the black water flush valve is open, we don't have the leaking problem. Has anyone else ran into this and know what's going on? Thanks in advance.

Welcome to the forum, Walt!

You probably have one of the old plastic vacuum breaker anti-siphon valves inline in the water supply to the spray heads that flush out the black water tank, and the plastic valve is leaking. We have one but it is so buried under our bath vanity counter that I have not replaced it with the brass one sent by the dealer under warranty. [too far from dealer to justify the trip for installation]

Search results vacuum breaker bad:

https://cse.google.com/cse?cx=011403...eak&gsc.page=1

Check out this thread:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f163...-143133-2.html

especially Post #2 which has a photo of our vacuum breaker.

You will have to find yours per your owner's manual's plumbing schematics. They are buried all over in different models, with some being almost impossible to get to. They are usually pretty close to the black water flush fill port on the side of the AS.

Good luck!

Peter

PS -- We just take care of our black water tank the old-fashioned way, as we did in the 90's with our 25' AS. Dump -- put in 2-3 gallons of water -- drive a bit -- dump -- repeat if winterizing, but once is enough during the camping season with a new batch of chemicals and water for the next trip.

[Wconley]

Fantastic information - thanks all. We are definitely learning as we go. This may be a project for this summer when its warmer. Following the links, the brass valve is available on Amazon for $21 so I may just order it up as incentive to do the job. For now I will rinse with the black water tank valve open or the old fashioned way. I probably would have been wise to follow the warning label on the trailer and not the owners manual that covers multiple models.

[gecko]

We definitely had the same problem, with water coming out near the black water flush input at the bottom of the trailer. A quick look behind the input and tracing the plumbing, we found that the valve was the culprit. Replaced, and all good!

[Wetfeet]

Walt,

We have a 2015 FC 20 and our black water flush line rather suddenly stopped working. I found we have a brass anti-siphon valve, but the check valve is rather cheap plastic, and the plastic slide piece inside the check valve broke, which allowed the broken piece to completely block all water flow.

If the anti-siphon valve fails like it sounds you have, water can spray out through the openings in the valve and end up going inside the coach. The leaking water can then find its way through pipe openings down to the area around the black water tank where you see it.

To access the anti-siphon/check valve, you just need to remove the toilet, which is actually a lot easier than it looks. Once you have the toilet out of the way, there is an aluminum cover behind and to the right of the toilet that comes off with a few screws, and then the anti-siphon/check valve can be found and it's even visible. The valve can then be removed from its hiding place up under the bathroom counter.

The anti-siphon/check valve is assembled on a section of pipe that is removable so you can fairly easily take it out of the coach to work on.

[Wconley]

I haven't verified that the check valve is the problem that I have. To help others, I found that on the 23D the check valve resides within easy access behind the vanity sink on the left side. No need to remove any panels for access. The next time I get the trailer out of storage I will hook up the flush and observe where the water is leaking from. I fear that since there hasn't been any water on the floor or under the vanity the check valve is not my problem. I will still replace the plastic valve with the brass one to be safe down the road.
(For some reason my iPhone picture appears rotated - top is to the left)

[OTRA15]

Your logic seems sound, Walt, so maybe anti-siphon valve is OK? You may have a cracked plumbing line lower down, perhaps from a freeze at some point, with a low point drain not being opened before winterization? Look forward to further report pinpointing leak.

Good luck!

Peter

PS edit -- the black water supply line may not have its own low point drain, so if that line was not blown out during winterization, it is a prime candidate for being cracked IMO. Hopefully you can see the entire line from inlet to vacuum breaker. Or from vacuum breaker to black water tank spray nozzles? This latter portion may also have a hidden low point which incomplete winterization would result in freezing.

[RFP]

I would just replace the valve with a simple elbow. Oh, as a matter of fact, I did just that ... and while I was at it, I also replaced the entire outside hose connection to one that is all-brass. The exterior trim piece is black plastic (instead of the "chrome" factory fitting), but the guts of the fitting are brass (instead of the plastic of the factory fitting). It has been stated several times, if there is no permanent connection of the black tank rinse to the water supply, there is absolutely no need for the 'anti siphon' valve. I'll buy that.

Rob

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by RFP

. . .
. . . if there is no permanent connection of the black tank rinse to the water supply . . .

Actually there are a couple of threads discussing what happens when you accidentally charge this system with city water wide open!



Then there is the movie RV also . . .

[RFP]

Originally Posted by OTRA15

Actually there are a couple of threads discussing what happens when you accidentally charge this system with city water wide open!



Then there is the movie RV also . . .

Bur OTRA, I read it on the internet, it MUST be true!

Oh well, at least my new brass water inlet fitting has a built in check valve (it's brass, too). Maybe I'm OK.