Weird waste connection mod

[3MonosLocos]

Hi, wondering if someone has insight as to this strange mod we found on a 2018 FC that we are thinking of purchasing . Why would they have done this? Any ideas?
Current owner is 2nd owner and has no idea

[rideair]

My guess, it's on the gray tank??

[Wazbro]

Maybe it was parked for stationary use and gray was hooked up directly to sewer or other gray usage?

[majorairhead]

Originally Posted by Wazbro

Maybe it was parked for stationary use and gray was hooked up directly to sewer or other gray usage?

Yep. Looks like it's rigged for a direct hookup to a sewer.

[Bill M.]

That is not a modification. It is just a mess. I have no idea why that was done. The trailer is not usable or towable until that is corrected. The current owners must not have used the trailer on the road. Even if hooked solid to a campground sewer the grey water needs to be connected too. I do not doubt that could be the reason but ..my second trailer is solidly connected to a campground sewer through the factory connector. I bought a Tetford to 3" PVC connector at a trailer supply store. Maybe it went to a septic tank and the grey water went on the ground? That mess would make me a bit wary of the sellers. Yes, it looks easily fixed. But since it would be an easy fix and is obviously wrong...why try to sell it like that? I have heard of blown tires wiping out the sewer connection but that does not look like what happened here.

[3MonosLocos]

Thank u so much for the detailed response. Yes, there were a few other things that were shady too…hmm…

[Wazbro]

Thinking about it the other gray usage makes the most sense. Some like to recycle gray water for things like watering plants and this setup would prevent any contamination from the black water. Still seems silly to not fix before sale.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

There are some areas that allow gray water to be dumped locally. Typically the setup is some sort of "dry well" (= pile of rocks in the ground). One would guess that as noted above, the trailer was "customized" for this sort of location. It would indeed need to be returned to the original configuration for camping in the other 99.9% of the sites out there ...

Either the current owner fixes it or you get a pretty significant ( couple thousand dollars) chunk off of the sell price. Just what a dealer will charge to "make it right" is unclear. These things never turn out to be cheap when fixed that way. Yes, you could fix it yourself. You still should get the "dealer charge" off the price ....

The risk with having the current owner do the fix is that they botch the job. Then you get to live with a malfunctioning setup or pay even more for a repair.

Bob

[spotfire]

Is that grey water or black? If I had to guess it looks like the larger pipe, so black?
It’s a hack mod. Looks like it drains straight out before the valve? If it’s the black tank, you would never normally leave that open - the liquids drain out and the solids accumulate and become difficult to remove. You have less issue with the grey tank doing that, but why cut out the valve control? Either way this definitely needs fixing asap.
I would also question what else has been done.

[dznf0g]

It appear to me that it's gray. And it appears the rest of it (pipe into a spetic??) Has been sawed off. I doubt there was ever a valve.

[Bill M.]

It certainly came from the factory with a valve. Certainly the black tank will need cleaning if it was hooked up for a while without a valve.

[dznf0g]

Originally Posted by Bill M.

It certainly came from the factory with a valve. Certainly the black tank will need cleaning if it was hooked up for a while without a valve.

None od that thing hanging out the back was from the factory. The factory valves are to the left of the pic, fed to a common drain. They cut a hole on the rear of the tank, when all they needed was this:

https://www.amazon.com/Valterra-T58-...31038926&psc=1

Edit: actually he didn't even need that valve. I don't know what in the heck he was trying to accomplish!!

[Silvr_Bullet]

The trailer was probably in a static state and the 90 degree elbow carried grey water downward to possibly a drywell, not a sewer, otherwise there would be no need to have it rerouted from original factory design for a trailer with both black and grey water waste tanks.

[dznf0g]

Originally Posted by Silvr_Bullet

The trailer was probably in a static state and the 90 degree elbow carried grey water downward to possibly a drywell, not a sewer, otherwise there would be no need to have it rerouted from original factory design for a trailer with both black and grey water waste tanks.

But why? Why wouldn't one just use the existing outlet with gray open and dump black when needed???? I'm sure it would be a lot easier to fab a hard pipe with a swivel bayonet fitting, if the idea was a hard line to a drywell, or whatever.

[Silvr_Bullet]

Originally Posted by dznf0g

But why? Why wouldn't one just use the existing outlet with gray open and dump black when needed???? I'm sure it would be a lot easier to fab a hard pipe with a swivel bayonet fitting, if the idea was a hard line to a drywell, or whatever.

Probably because the tanks would share the same exit point, this way the grey tank is isolated to dump only grey water, most likely the grey just continuously drained. Black tank May have been serviced periodically by a porta potty truck. I had my tank pumped by a company on occasion.

[dznf0g]

Originally Posted by Silvr_Bullet

Probably because the tanks would share the same exit point, this way the grey tank is isolated to dump only grey water, most likely the grey just continuously drained. Black tank May have been serviced periodically by a porta potty truck. I had my tank pumped by a company on occasion.

I still don't get it. In your scenario, why not cut the elbow off the existing gray exit, (easily replaceable) and keep the gray valve closed all the time. Rather than cutting a hole in the tank side????

[Silvr_Bullet]

Originally Posted by dznf0g

I still don't get it. In your scenario, why not cut the elbow off the existing gray exit, (easily replaceable) and keep the gray valve closed all the time. Rather than cutting a hole in the tank side????

Maybe we need another photo from the side?

[Wazbro]

Originally Posted by dznf0g

I still don't get it. In your scenario, why not cut the elbow off the existing gray exit, (easily replaceable) and keep the gray valve closed all the time. Rather than cutting a hole in the tank side????

I think they did cut the elbow off the existing gray exit, and keep the gray valve closed all the time. Rather than cutting a hole in side of the tank. At least that is what it looks like to me. Just need to cut new elbow off and reconnect. New elbow looks like PVC painted black (paint now flaking off), instead of ABS.

[Silvr_Bullet]

It looks to me that the waste pipe in the rear is a lesser diameter indicative of grey water outlet rather than a black water pipe that is much larger ( pictured in the most fore front of the photo )

[dznf0g]

Originally Posted by Wazbro

I think they did cut the elbow off the existing gray exit, and keep the gray valve closed all the time. Rather than cutting a hole in side of the tank. At least that is what it looks like to me. Just need to cut new elbow off and reconnect. New elbow looks like PVC painted black (paint now flaking off), instead of ABS.

The errant piping is on the back face of the tank. Oem pipes are intact on the side behind the tire.

Unless my perspective is all screwed up, the camera is under the LR bumper, pointing straight forward toward the LR tire.