Black tank vent stack clogged

[Aage]

Originally Posted by Re-Pete

I can't remove and replace without removing the cast aluminum TeePee, which is riveted and well sealed to the roof. Has anyone encountered this issue.

I would drill out the rivets and find suitable screws to get back to serviceability. The original screen and rubber seal between the T-pee and roof can be replaced with simple things you can easily find (rubber or neoprene, metal window screening) and they seem to give up the ghost fairly frequently on many trailers.

If the block is fairly near the top, perhaps the unlocking hook you got with your Zip Dee awning can be used to dislodge it. Over the years I can remember seeing more than one person suggest that curious (or just plain dumb) birds had become stuck in there.

If nothing else works, I suppose you could get drastic on it by cutting the black pipe and replacing some, most, or all of it. I've never heard of anyone that had to do that, though. Most of mine is visible in one of the closets, and plumbing with black pipe is pretty easy to do so as a last resort....

[Re-Pete]

Originally Posted by Foiled Again

Hey Pete! Don't ask how I know this works. Empty and rinse your black tank, fill the toilet bowl qitj water, wrap an OLD wet towel around the wand on your small wet dry vac so that it will plug the drain pipe when inserted. Open the black gate and suck. A dab of VapoRub under the nose can help stifle any gag response. Don't be too persistent, the clog could be beeswax and you'll have to cut the screen to get that one.

Paula

PS: if the toilet drains then you need a new seal there too.

Hahaha, Yeah that all totally makes sense, gotta have air flow for the vacuum to work. I'll just put a clothes pin on my nose. The toilet seal works like a champ. I replaced the entire toilet about a year ago. Good to hear from you Paula! I hope all is going well.

Pete

[Re-Pete]

Originally Posted by Aage

I would drill out the rivets and find suitable screws to get back to serviceability. The original screen and rubber seal between the T-pee and roof can be replaced with simple things you can easily find (rubber or neoprene, metal window screening) and they seem to give up the ghost fairly frequently on many trailers.

If the block is fairly near the top, perhaps the unlocking hook you got with your Zip Dee awning can be used to dislodge it. Over the years I can remember seeing more than one person suggest that curious (or just plain dumb) birds had become stuck in there.

If nothing else works, I suppose you could get drastic on it by cutting the black pipe and replacing some, most, or all of it. I've never heard of anyone that had to do that, though. Most of mine is visible in one of the closets, and plumbing with black pipe is pretty easy to do so as a last resort....

Aage, No doubt, you're absolutely correct. I haven't mentioned my actual hesitation yet though. I had to remove the Refrigerator vent cover last fall and discovered that it had been removed before and who ever did it, I believe it was whom ever installed the solar panels, botched up drilling out the original rivets pretty badly, using to large of a bit and leaving very large holes. They fixed it with a lot of caulk. It didn't leak and I had no choice at the time other than to fix it the same way. The T-pee is also sealed with a lot of caulk. I'm worried about what lies beneath that caulk. I'm guessing that should the vacuum method fail I'll be finding that out pretty soon.

Thanks,
Pete

[Aage]

Originally Posted by Re-Pete

Aage, No doubt, you're absolutely correct. I haven't mentioned my actual hesitation yet though. I had to remove the Refrigerator vent cover last fall and discovered that it had been removed before and who ever did it, I believe it was whom ever installed the solar panels, botched up drilling out the original rivets pretty badly, using to large of a bit and leaving very large holes. They fixed it with a lot of caulk. It didn't leak and I had no choice at the time other than to fix it the same way. The T-pee is also sealed with a lot of caulk. I'm worried about what lies beneath that caulk. I'm guessing that should the vacuum method fail I'll be finding that out pretty soon.

Thanks,
Pete

Pete, it's a simple fix: find a small scrap of aluminum from your dealer, and trim it up to patch over the entire mess you inherited. Take out all the bad caulking first, and find some properly-sized screws to hold the tee-pee on again. Drill good holes in the patch before cutting the new hole for the tee-pee before riveting it on.

It was always done with screws, of course, right from the factory, since it is an area that needs regular attention. I would err on the side of a little too big a patch, since you will be making plenty of holes in it, and who is ever going to see it, in any event?

The patch will need to be riveted on, of course (with aluminum rivets) and sealed with one of the better caulks, and now you have a nice clean area to do it right with screws and a little caulk, keeping in mind that you will probably need to re-do it in another 3-5 years.

At that time you'll be very glad you did it right and put things back the way they were designed to be.

[Re-Pete]

Originally Posted by Aage

Pete, it's a simple fix: find a small scrap of aluminum from your dealer, and trim it up to patch over the entire mess you inherited. Take out all the bad caulking first, and find some properly-sized screws to hold the tee-pee on again. Drill good holes in the patch before cutting the new hole for the tee-pee before riveting it on.

It was always done with screws, of course, right from the factory, since it is an area that needs regular attention...

The patch will need to be riveted on, of course (with aluminum rivets) and sealed with one of the better caulks, ...

Aage, that there's some good advice. I will certainly do that if it's necessary for the t-pee, that said I who'll be doing it for my refrigerator vent. No leaks, but knowing what's under all the caulk make me suffer. Hahaha

I have Olympic Rivets and a cutting tool to smooth them and I'm not afraid to use it. [emoji12]

Pete

[Re-Pete]

So, a couple of things to update where I'm at.

Phyllis and I have been totally immersed in stripping the failed, patchy clear coat off the body for the past week. We've more or less finished with that today, more or less. It just occurred to me that we still need to do some work on the front lower quarter panels behind the rock guards. For some reason they're been real badtards. Also, we really need to remove the awning fabric from all three awnings to properly clean and strip the upper area just beneath the awning cover slats.

We're leaving the Excella here in Thornburg, VA and driving down to Virginia Beach tomorrow to spend a few days visiting friends, kids and grandkids.

I'm also meeting up with another Streamer to check out the beautiful polish job he's done on his 97 Excella.

When we get back I'm going to empty the black tank, turn off the water and climb up on the roof with a house and just slowly add water to the vent pipe to see if it fills. Then I'll listen through the toilet tio see if I can hear any water dripping.or even running into the tank.

The more I've thought about the two 90 degree elbows that it seems may be in the vent stack run, I started wondering if maybe the 12",' or so, section of horizontal pipe runnin near the roof might not be a bit backwards slanted below the first 90 degree elbow allowing it to hold water and causing it to act as a p-trap. This would effectively hamper the function of the vent stack without the help of acorns, mud daubers, etc. So, before I get carried away, I think I'll do a bit more investigating.

Thanks for all the contributions and advice so far. I love how creative and helpful everyone has been.

Thanks,
Pete

When I know more, I'll follow up. It will be several days before II'll get to check this out.

[kellycox7]

Originally Posted by Foiled Again

Hey Pete! Don't ask how I know this works. Empty and rinse your black tank, fill the toilet bowl qitj water, wrap an OLD wet towel around the wand on your small wet dry vac so that it will plug the drain pipe when inserted. Open the black gate and suck. A dab of VapoRub under the nose can help stifle any gag response. Don't be too persistent, the clog could be beeswax and you'll have to cut the screen to get that one.

Paula

PS: if the toilet drains then you need a new seal there too.

Foiled Again, after growing tired of my stinking toilet every time I step on the foot valve to flush, I've determined that I "must" have a partially malfunctioning black water tank vent. Also, I researched the various "miracle vents" on the market, and mine has the "supposed" best one (360 siphon), so I'm not ripping that off yet. Anyway, I DID try your suggested trick yesterday, and got about a half gallon of additional fluids out after I had drained the tank thoroughly, so I'm hoping this extra bit that got pulled out was somehow trapped in the vent stack. Am I reading your trick correctly? (that pulling a slight vacuum on the black tank moves a bit of trapped fluid in the vent stack?). I cannot imagine why they would intentionally build an open vent system with any possibilities of trapping fluid, but maybe that's what Airstream has done for some strange reason (?). Anyway, wish me luck and thanks for the tip.