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ctaulborg · 09-20-2018, 11:29 AM

Hello everyone! My family took our renovated Airstream out all last summer, and this year have been out since June and are currently in Heber City, Utah. It's been very smooth sailing and we've been very blessed in our travels! Until a couple days ago

. It was then that we noticed a leak coming out near our holding tank dump valves. Thinking it was likely a leak in one of the the drain valves, I cut out a "access panel" hold near that area, only to find that the valves and connections were completely dry, and that the water was coming further "upstream" on the tank cover.

This is an odd one, and I've been racking my brain to figure it out. Here's how we can force the leak to happen:

With the drain valve closed OR wide open, we turn on both our kitchen and bathroom faucets to max, which prevents the drains from emptying into the gray tank fast enough causing the shower trap to fill up to the surface of the shower floor. We then can audibly hear a "glug glug glug" and outside the drips turns into a steady stream.
We use the shower with a lot of water or even a little - if we don't reach that "shower floor" point with the water level, it only has a small consistent drip for the leak. If we reach that "shower floor" point, it turns into a steady stream underneath the Airstream, just like the above.

This made me deduce that it must be a leak in the fittings somewhere between the shower drain and the shower trap, so yesterday/today as a short term solution (because of lack of access to the drain pipes) I was testing my theory by using some "Flex Seal", applied liberally in that general area of the drain within the shower, using a brush applicator. However, before I could confirm my findings, I saw that under the airstream today the drip had started again (without us using the shower/the water reaching that "critical" level). The tank was at 31% when this happened.

I did double check all of our fresh water connections throughout the rig, and there were no leaks in any of them.

So now I'm thinking it's likely that I have a crack either in the gray tank OR in the main "drain" coming into the gray tank... both of which are completely inaccessible from above without serious destruction.

I think my options are to either (a) rip out the entire shower, as all of the drains that lead to the gray tank are directly under it, or (b) remove and drop the shroud/tank cover from underneath to assess/correct this issue from that direction. I'm inclined to go with option (b), but I worry about that option as I can't find anyone else who has taken off their tank cover in this situation and like to know what I'm getting into.

Is it "safe" to take off this cover? I know it provides support for the tanks, and thus know we would need to have these tanks drained at the very least - but is that enough or are their other considerations I should bear in mind before undertaking this endeavor?

Thanks in advance

.

uncle_bob · 09-20-2018, 11:43 AM

Hi

This is not something I would tackle while on the road. I'd let it drip a little and move on .... Once you get back to Kansas, dig into the problem and see what's what.

Bob

ctaulborg · 09-20-2018, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

This is not something I would tackle while on the road. I'd let it drip a little and move on .... Once you get back to Kansas, dig into the problem and see what's what.

Bob

Thanks Bob, I had that same thought... My only worry is that we're booked out (and paid) here in Heber for another 4 weeks, and we were planning to head to Moab for 4 weeks after here... My gut tells me it's "fine" to let it drip/leak, because it's all under the sub floor, but I worry if I'm wrong in my assumptions

(what if it's on top of the tank and is saturating our new subfloor?) And even if we do wait until we get home, the question on what to expect when dropping the tank cover still would remain (Will the pipe connections to the tanks be sufficient enough to hold them up when empty?)

uncle_bob · 09-20-2018, 11:58 AM

Hi

Well, there's no way to really know what's what without tearing into things. I've never ripped into a 1984 trailer so just how they put them together "way back then" .... no idea. Assuming you do tear into it and it's a cracked tank .... what then? Very much a major task when sitting at a campsite in the desert.

One "intermediate" way to dig into it:

Order up a USB bore scope / endoscope from Amazon. They are pretty cheap and you can often get into odd places with them. That should let you get a better view of this or that without chopping more holes.

First one that came up on the search ... I know nothing about it other than it's $30:

https://www.amazon.com/Endoscope-Wat...th+light&psc=1

Bob

ctaulborg · 09-20-2018, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

Well, there's no way to really know what's what without tearing into things. I've never ripped into a 1984 trailer so just how they put them together "way back then" .... no idea. Assuming you do tear into it and it's a cracked tank .... what then? Very much a major task when sitting at a campsite in the desert.

One "intermediate" way to dig into it:

Order up a USB bore scope / endoscope from Amazon. They are pretty cheap and you can often get into odd places with them. That should let you get a better view of this or that without chopping more holes.

First one that came up on the search ... I know nothing about it other than it's $30:

https://www.amazon.com/Endoscope-Wat...th+light&psc=1

Bob

Thanks for the suggestion and link Bob -- purchased

.

ShullsinUtah · 09-20-2018, 12:27 PM

Go talk to Gene at Vintage Airstream in Heber. He should be able to help.

They're right on main street.

jessl_99 · 09-26-2018, 08:40 AM

Is the cover also the support. Or does the tank have retainer brackets? Do you have the schematic from a manual to look at?

ctaulborg · 09-26-2018, 12:35 PM

I have 100% deduced that the leak must be from the tank. After using the endoscopic camera over all the plumbing/drains, there are zero leaks above board.

I called Inca Plastics hoping they made a replacement, but they must not be the original manufacturer of my particular tank, which looks like this:

Anyone have any ideas on who made this tank, if not Inca? I know that repairing the existing tank is also an option, but given that this one is >30 years old, and the amount of effort just getting it out will take, I would feel better about using a new one if available.