2016 Classic Water Tanks and See Level II Monitor

[jeff4506]

I thought my tank monitor readouts were suspect so I thought I'd take measurements using an inline water meter. I was surprised with the results and thought others may be interested.

The "Gallons" is the amount of liquid added to the tank. "Observed" is what I observed pressing the tank's monitor button. "Theoretical" is what the readout % should be based on tank size.



On the Fresh tank I was only able to put 45 gallons into the 54 gallon tank. Trailer was completely level. I can only imagine the tank is not mounted level perhaps causing an unusable air pocket. The sensor could be mounted incorrectly too. I did question the accuracy of the inline meter, so I measured out the water to test the Grey and Black tanks as I pumped it from the Fresh tank. I was only able to pump 40 gallons out of the Fresh as about 5 went into the hot water tank. I believe the inline meter is pretty accurate.

I'm inclined to think too that the other 2 tanks may not be level and/or have unusable space due to mounting and/or the sensors are mounted incorrectly. I did not try to fill the Grey and Black though.

Like most, would be nice to be able to rely on these tank capacities and the monitors. Disappointing... especially the Grey tank. The others I can deal with fine. I'm going to see what the dealer thinks but I doubt it will be fruitful. Sadly my 2005 Micropulse was more accurate despite their lack of user popularity.

Well, at least I have a cross reference to have an idea of the liquid situation.

[alano]

Jeff, this is really interesting. What in-line meter did you use? If this result is typical, then perhaps my wife could have taken a shower after all!

[switz]

We have used a one gallon bucket with a hose with shut off valve at the end.

With the new Seelevel systems Airstream is finally instilling in 2015 and later models, the correct placement of the sensing strips on the tanks is very important.

With the sloppy work being done and poor quality control at the factory, it would not be surprising these senders are not properly placed. Having said that, the SeeLevel will, after several cycles, supposedly "learn" the tank capacity to some extent.

Using the one gallon bucket to see where the 100% level is in reality, one can then safely gage how much more "contents" could be put into either the gray or black tanks.

Our experience has been the gray tank fills more than twice as quick as the black tank.

[jeff4506]

What in-line meter did you use?

It's an "Orbit Water Flow Meter" I got on Amazon for about $14.

switz - can you elaborate more on how you use the bucket to gauge remaining capacity?

[ghaynes755]

I had the same types of results, focusing on Fresh and Grey. 2015 Classic. I was back at the factory for some warranty work last summer. They had to cut an access portal and move the sensors. Fresh is now spot on. Adjusted grey so that it was 100% with about 5 gals remaining.

I drained all of the tanks, like winterizing, then used a similar flow meter to fill the Fresh and for the the Grey filled through the kitchen sink.

Didn't bother with the black. Seems accurate and can always visually check it.

Ditto to Switz, Grey 2x faster than black. Do remember that the bathroom sink drains to the black tank, not the grey tank.

[Zybane]

The bathroom sink goes to black? That is a strange design decision but also very good to know. I guess I will be brushing my teeth and washing hands in the kitchen whilst boondocking.

[Zybane]

Woops, reverse that. Use the kitchen sink less and the bathroom sink more if people say the grey fills first.

[jeff4506]

... then used a similar flow meter to fill the Fresh and for the Grey filled through the kitchen sink.

ghaynes755 - did your meter come close to 54 gallons when filling fresh? Also, how did you find out the bathroom sink goes to black tank?

[Jim Arnold]

Newbie here. I have had my 22 SportFB plugged in for couple of days. Now when I want to run off the battery I just unplug, turn on switch down by the bed and I am ready to go? This is a question!!

[Dingram/Colo]

Jeff,
Try lowering then raising the tongue jack to see if you have a "burp" at either position, and see if you gain capacity.

[ghaynes755]

Jeff when I filled this spring I put in something like 52.5 Gals before I hit the overflow. Factory tech told me about the bathroom sink. Makes some sense since the grey tank is on the curb side along with the Kitchen/Shower. Don't have to run a line across the bottom of the trailer. Since there is a p-trap on the sink doubt that you would ever get a backup from the black tank. Toilet bowl lip is lower so would overflow there before the bathroom sink. Gross to even think about.....

[ThomasHoward]

Confirming Classic water tank capacity..... Using the Ministry of Highways truck scales I have confirmed that the textbook 54 USgal, or 45 Imp gal or 204 litre capacity of my 2014 Classic is precisely correct. Of coarse the Micro-Pulse level indications need calibrating but so far I can live with them as is.

[guskmg]

I too, have spent time and money on the Micropulse system. It seems pretty accurate now. The Factory Service Center re-calibrated it with a new electronic calibrator they can use on the later model Micropulse I have. A note of humor, I had complained about the fresh water reading being intermittent. It turns out that I had sheared off a fresh water drain valve a few trips back. The empty readings I was getting after the full reading during night fillups were actually correct. I could not believe I was actually out of water. Fortunatelly, Walmart had drinking water I could use for coffee on a hurry up trip to meet lewster in Florida.
guskmg

[switz]

Filling the fresh water tank one gallon at a time with the unit level one can see if the gage reads correctly. Using the kitchen sink faucet to fill the gallon bucket and transfer the water to the shower for the gray tank allows for the same process of watching both the fresh tank level go down and the grey level go up. It also allows one to see if the full is really full per the gage or a little below full.

Use the remaining fresh water a gallon at a time into the toilet. Then get the hose to fill the bucket and pour into the toilet watching the full indication versus the real number of gallons.

The exercise in a 2014 31' Classic uses 54 gallons for the fresh water tank and after putting 39 gallons in the gray tank there should be 15 gallons left for the black tank which needs about 22 more gallons to be full. So all in all, about 76 gallons of water are used for this test. Kills an afternoon.

As contrasted to the Micropulse level system which has an actual probe inside the tank, the SeeLevel system uses an external flat panel that sticks to the side of the tank. Adjustment is removing and raising or lowering to get a better reading after a known level is in the tank. Folks would like the zero point on the fresh tank to be accurate and the full level on the gray and black tanks to be accurate.

[jeff4506]

Thanks switz. I did a similar process. Carefully measured from the sink tap into a stopped sink up to 5 gallons, then marked and pulled the plug. The level helped for faster fill in subsequent cycles. Measured similarly into toilet but that was tedious. Now that I know the bathroom sink drains into blank tank I can take a faster approach. Assuming my dealer adjusts the sensors next week I'll go though this 1 more time to check his work.

[FreshAirStmr]

Originally Posted by jeff4506

The "Gallons" is the amount of liquid added to the tank. "Observed" is what I observed pressing the tank's monitor button. "Theoretical" is what the readout % should be based on tank size.

Jeff,

This is very interesting and what we have suspected now having full-timed in our Classic since the beginning of February. The times we've haven't had full hookups for days at a time in one spot, we've taken big conservation steps with our gray tank (shower in bathhouse only, catch kitchen sink water in tub that we dump outside) so that only incidental water goes down, and we've been amazed at how our gray tank percentage increases.

We've suspected that at 100%, we still have a lot of gray tank capacity. One of these days when on full hookups, we'll ignore the indicator and keep going until the shower doesn't drain anymore and that should give us a good idea at how much longer we can go in spite of the 100% indicator.

Joanne

[jeff4506]

Yes, very common theme and apparently something that can be resolved by physically moving the sensors (hard part is getting access). I'm taking it to the dealer next week - I have a 10-item defect punch list to get addressed. I'll update the thread when I get the unit back.

Preparing for this weekend, I did just now again try and fill my Fresh tank and was overflowing again at 45 gallons. I tried tilting the tongue up and still couldn't add more. Tried tongue down with same result. Hopefully the dealer will solve this mystery as well.

[CDONA]

My Seelevel 11.
I've noticed that my grey reads 100%, and nowhere close to overfilling into the shower.
I can get three showers/days into the grey @ 100%, but maybe 1/2 shower or 3 day load of dish wash to overfull.
This is daily, no conservation, living in a stick house style of use.
Black tank, up to two weeks.
Fresh tank, it starts sucking air @ 10%, leveled rig.
I looked into my manual, no way to recalibrate, need to relocate the sensors.

[greghoro]

Originally Posted by jeff4506

Yes, very common theme and apparently something that can be resolved by physically moving the sensors (hard part is getting access).

Several have mentioned needing to move the sensor to re-calibrate. Perhaps just semantics but I thought that the sensor strip was a one shot deal when installing. That it could not be removed and re-positioned once applied and that a new one would need to be installed.

If true, something to keep in mind if doing it yourself.


Greg

[KJRitchie]

What a shame, all the posts about the issues with the Micropulse system and then Airstream announces using the SeeLevel system and it doesn't meet expectations due to improper installation.

The several forum members who have retrofitted a SeeLevel systems themselves report better results.

Kelvin