Grey water tank sensor

[2Highplains]

We are new to Airstreams. We are semi-dry camping in Nebraska. We are connected to 50 amp power, but are not connected to water or sewer.
Our SeeLevel tank monitor tells us we have 100% fresh water in our tank and 0% in the grey tank. Yest, we have showered, done dishes, etc. I know the fresh water tank is not full and I know the grey water tank has fluid.

QUESTION: Anyone know why the tank level readings are not accurate? Thank you.

[SeaLevel]

I can only tell you about my experience with our 2016 25' Flying Cloud. We haven't had too much of an issue with the fresh tank, mostly because we just use it to flush etc. between campsites with water hookups, or when boondocking for a short time - 1-3 days. If we run out, we can normally add water using the 5 gallon containers we carry with us.

The grey tank has been more of an issue, and I recognized it was way off pretty much right away. It would get to 100% pretty fast, and then you didn't know how much capacity was left before it was really full. To verify, I went to our local State Park with full hookups and did a test. I completely drained it first, and then I poured 5 gallons at a time down the shower - keeping track of the % full on the monitor. It showed full at about 23 gallons, and it's a 37 gallon tank. I would prefer it to be accurate, but if it has to be a bit off, I would prefer it be more off at a lesser capacity, and show 100% full when there is a bit of room left.

When we took it to JC for warranty work, I had them move the sensor more to the top, and now it takes a while to register anything, but when it gets to 100% there is about 4-5 gallons of room left.

It sounds like your sensors aren't working properly. Even with the new position of the grey tank monitor, we would show at least 6-13% after taking a quick shower or two - maybe more.

[Martee]

I assume you have a close to level trailer; so Perhaps your grey monitor is just stuck and not providing any reading. Knowing you have fluid in the grey tank, see if it unsticks and adjusts during movement and transport to a dump station.

I have a new Flying Cloud 25FB and my fresh and Black tank monitors always read accurately when level...and my grey tank typically shows 10% remaining after a full drain.

[Minno]

On ours (retrofitted when we put in new tanks), the monitor reads in 1/3 tank levels. So, fresh water will read "full" until it drops below the "full" sensor placement. The grey tank will remain empty until the water level in it reaches the 1/3 full sensor. So, it depends on where your particular tank sensors are placed, and how big the tanks are as to when the sensors start reading levels of fluid. We are used to gauging our tank levels based on use more than on the sensors.
That's an experience thing. We haven't heard of sensors that are totally accurate yet.

Kay

[AirstreamAbe]

It could just be that the sensor is not attached to the tank properly. In our Bambi, it's basically a long strip that gets siliconed to the tank. If there were/are air pockets, then that could be enough to make the tank reading inaccurate/nonsensical. At least in the Bambi, the tank is not 100% rigid, and "deforms" as it fills up, which can pop off the sensor even further if it was not installed properly to begin with.
For us, our fresh water sensor would only read 5%, and sometimes jump to 10%. Being fairly new to this as well, I relied on it and assumed that I had basically no freshwater... until about 250 miles and two stops later.
Felt REALLY special.

[accordionman]

This may or may not be the issue that you are having, but I did have some issues with my tank sensors where they were giving me inconsistent readings; sometimes saying 100% when I knew that they were empty and other such strange readings. I spoke with the people at "Garnet" ( sp?), the tank sensor mfg in my Classic, 2015. They told me that they have had the best luck with "Extreme Cleaner" by Happy Campers; clearing up sensor issues. I bought two containers and used one in the grey tank, the other in the black tank. Filled per instructions and took them on a four hour trip to my first stop on my last trip. Flushed out the tank and have not had a problem since. Got them on Amazon. Hope that helps.

Ed

[JohnTF]

A possibility , have issues with 2 tanks at the same time and be either extreme .
Would indicate to me , that it would be an electrical issue upstream from the sensors .
With out a schematic its hard to say , but in many other sensor systems in general , in a circuit to sensor , either no power or no ground will show either extreme , so with problems to 2 separate tanks sensors , maybe something has happened to the wiring to the tanks , not in the tanks .
Manly because 2 sensors give either extreme , occurring at the same time .
Just something to look out for while trouble shooting .
Any work / change , or possible bumping wires for these happen recently ?

[PatLee]

SeaLevel - I love your tag line quote!

[Sportcenter]

To all with the newer tank sensors:
I upgraded our 2011 Bambi from the old MicroPulse system to the SeeLevel unit.
Remember that most grey and black water waste tanks are very irregular in shape. They are most likely much deeper on the drain end and can be wider toward the top. Because of this the SeeLevel sensor strips will read high at first and take longer to read accurately toward the full reading. Also, SeeLevel recommends using more the one sensor strip if the tank is taller than one strip, so it can give a more accurate reading from top to bottom. Lastly, when I did my upgrade, I re-used the existing wiring and at first was getting very false readings. I found that the wiring had a large amount of slack tucked away and when I shortened it to just the length required, it fixed the problem. Hope this helps!