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Old 08-16-2008, 12:05 AM   #1
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Question Rain Water Down Vent Pipes Goes Where ?

Ok we all know about the need for Vent Gaskets to keep water from entering around the outside of the vent pipe where it comes thru the roof.

But what about rain going down the inside of the vent pipe?
I guess it finds its way to the black or grey tanks right?
In a long stored trailer it would eventually fill the tank system and would rise and expel out the lowest openings. Toilet, tub, lav, kitch sink ...?
It would of course never rise back up to the roof thru the vent but would flood the interior of trailer eventually.

Now this is assuming the drain valve from the tanks is closed.

But I have never heard of this happening. Obviously I am overlooking something here.
Oh I realize that it would take alot of rain and that some of the water might evaporate over time (or would it?). But Airstream vent pipes do not have the little awning tops, they are just open to the weather.

Just curious and do not ever remember this being mentioned before.

thanks
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Old 08-16-2008, 12:13 AM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Distantdrummer View Post
Ok we all know about the need for Vent Gaskets to keep water from entering around the outside of the vent pipe where it comes thru the roof.

But what about rain going down the inside of the vent pipe?
I guess it finds its way to the black or grey tanks right?
In a long stored trailer it would eventually fill the tank system and would rise and expel out the lowest openings. Toilet, tub, lav, kitch sink ...?
It would of course never rise back up to the roof thru the vent but would flood the interior of trailer eventually.

Now this is assuming the drain valve from the tanks is closed.

But I have never heard of this happening. Obviously I am overlooking something here.
Oh I realize that it would take alot of rain and that some of the water might evaporate over time (or would it?). But Airstream vent pipes do not have the little awning tops, they are just open to the weather.

Just curious and do not ever remember this being mentioned before.

thanks
DD,

The vents that protrude thru the roof on an RV come directly from the tanks that they are venting, whether black or grey. The rain finding it's way into the vents drains directly into these tanks. Given the capacities of the tanks, I have NEVER heard of any tanks spilling over inside the RV from heavy rain entering thru the vent.

25 gallons of tank capacity would take 40 days and 40 nights of rain to even approach filling, and that's assuming that those little raindrops have one hell-of-an aim right for the vent stack!
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Old 08-16-2008, 12:33 AM   #3
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Many areas of the country receive 40 inches of rain per year. If the vent pipe was closed at the bottom it would fill to 40 inch level (assuming the opening is the same as the pipe diameter). But when it hits the vastly larger tank area, that 40 inches will disperse to a much lower level, probably less than an inch. Mathematically it could be calculated given the area of the pipe opening and the area of the tank.
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Old 08-16-2008, 03:53 AM   #4
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rain water

Water that gets into the gray and/or black tanks, regardless of the source, also slowly evaporates.

If you don't believe that, just store a trailer for a period of time, that has sewage in the black tank.

Slowly, but surely, the water evaporates, leaving the black tank dry, and with solid sewage instead of liquid.

Andy
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Old 08-16-2008, 08:49 AM   #5
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Figure a 2" diameter vent pipe - that's about 3 sq inches cross section. That means 10" rainfall will get you about a pint into the tank. A 40 gal tank is 320 pints so that means you'd need 3200" rainfall to fill the tank through the ventpipe.

During the time you are getting that rainfall, the liquid in the tank is evaporating and the uneven humidity will disperse moisture out of the tank as Andy notes. That's a rather slow process but the length of time to get 3200" rain is probably longer.

My gray tank is only 15 gallons or about a third of 40 so it'd need only a thousand inches of rain to fill it.

Do check the arithmetic based ion "There are 231 cubic inches in one US gallon. Since a cubic foot is 12 by 12 by 12 inches, a cubic foot has 1728 cubic inches. Thus one cubic foot = 1728 cubic inches = (1728/231) gallons = 7.48 gallons." Cubic feet and gallons - 9240 cu in in 40 gal divided by 3 per inch of rainfall is 3k in - cross check ok.
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Old 08-16-2008, 08:59 AM   #6
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Drummer, Surely you have other things to worry about! Darol
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Old 08-16-2008, 09:24 AM   #7
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Another question answered here on AirForums........

Hummmm, tough to stump you guys.

OK - what is the rate of evaporation of a quart of rainwater in a 40 gal holding tank with a 1800 square inch surface area, out a 2 inch 11 foot long PVC black pipe vent at 85 degrees F and 65% humidity in south MS if the orientation of the trailer is N-NW and the sun is shining and there is a 5mph wind across the pipe opening that the mockingbird lands on 3 times daily looking for crickets in the yard below - thus blocking the vent for a total of 18.745 minutes per day...........

I'll be waiting for the correct answer........


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Old 08-16-2008, 09:35 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by clancy_boy View Post
Another question answered here on AirForums........

Hummmm, tough to stump you guys.

OK - what is the rate of evaporation of a quart of rainwater in a 40 gal holding tank with a 1800 square inch surface area, out a 2 inch 11 foot long PVC black pipe vent at 85 degrees F and 65% humidity in south MS if the orientation of the trailer is N-NW and the sun is shining and there is a 5mph wind across the pipe opening that the mockingbird lands on 3 times daily looking for crickets in the yard below - thus blocking the vent for a total of 18.745 minutes per day...........

I'll be waiting for the correct answer........


Not much.
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Old 08-16-2008, 09:43 AM   #9
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.653428567 quarts per day.that`s assuming the mocking bird is full grown and is only blocking 75% of the vent opening,further information is needed for exact calculations you`re welcome to dispute it,just show me the formula you used.LOL Dave
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Old 08-16-2008, 09:48 AM   #10
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The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything is numeric in Douglas Adams' series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In the story, a "simple answer" to The Ultimate Question is requested from the computer Deep Thought, specially built for this purpose. It takes Deep Thought 7˝ million years to compute and check the answer, which turns out to be 42.

en.wikipedia.org
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Old 08-16-2008, 10:08 AM   #11
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Arrow

Quote:
Originally Posted by Darol Ingalls View Post
Drummer, Surely you have other things to worry about! Darol
worry..? nope ..?
whats me worry ?

Unappoligetically Curious ..? OH yeah !

My trailers have always been either stored (outside) or parked in the woods (hunt lease) or doing the Driveway-Queen reign.
Actually I have worried (a little) over the years about leaves and roaches and dirt daubers and whatever getting in the vents . Washed down with rain. I even suppose mice could travel there, but unless they could come back out, they would not pose much of a problem I guess. If they could come and go they might bring all sorts of nest building stuff in, which could be bad. I know of no birds that would enter and go down to such a "lovely nesting area".
I guess if it became a One-Way street of no return for mice it might pose a prob if you ended up with 25 gallons of rodent carcasses in their Temple of Doom.

Inland Andy and the Forum math club above have convinced me that the full vent flood is not likely to happen due to Mother Nature.
However we should be careful not to ever park under a gutter drain or any place that a stream might directed into the vent pipe.
Also if you live next to Dennis the Menace or if you go up there and decide to flush out the vent with the water hose, be sure not to go in the house for lunch, nap & nooner and forget to turn off the spigot.

Oh and life and the internet have convinced me that no serious or semi serious question goes long without the class clowns, grafitti gangs or thread hijackers spinning their webs. Course it could be much worse, the "thought police" could get involved. Not that I am worring about that either. < G >
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Old 08-16-2008, 10:15 AM   #12
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Part of the gasket kit for the drain is a screen (fine) that will prevent all but the smallest bugs from entering the system. The gaskets should be replace every 5 years. If (when) the gasket fails, the rainwater that lands next to the pipe will enter the shell of the trailer. This is something to be concerned about.
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