Black Valve

[concreteman]

Here is a story for you. The first trip with my 305 sk was a work trip to Oklahoma. The lower part of the park I was staying in had no sewer hook ups, the owner would come aroumd 3 times a week and empty your grey tanks and once a week empty your black tank. After coming back to work after new years ther was a note on my door saying, BLACK TANK VALVE STUCK OPEN. Not having time to take to a dealer I decided to fix it my self. So, I get my screw gun and procede to open the under belly. And get covered in sewer water! Seems the valve had been leaking and the under belly was full of sewer water. You can imagine what I said! The nearest dealer was in Wichita Kansas. They said bring it up. So I did after poking a couple holes to let the water out. Everything was covered under warranty. Flint hills RV in Andover Kansas sent pics to cross roads and took care of everything. I didnt have to lift a finger, and I didnt even buy my unit there! You can bet I will give them first shot next time even if they are a few hundred dollars higher.

[geondebi]

Glad to see you found a dealer that could take of it and quickly. I am sure there are a number of great CR dealers and repair centers to take care of problems like this. But, it is to bad it had to happen in the first place.

[BDLuke]

I imagine you said, "Oklahoma! where the wind comes sweeping down the plain
Where the wav-in wheat can sure smell sweet
When the wind comes right behind the rain
Oklahoma! ev'ry night my honey lamb and I
Sit alone and talk and watch a hawk
Makin lazy circles in the sky."
I'm sorry, but I couldn't help myself.

Glad it all worked out!

[concreteman]

George, You are right about that. When you spend that kind of money on an rv you hate to have it soaked with sewer water the first time out. Im just trying to make the best of it now. I cant even begin to tell you how angry I was at the time.And Bob, Oklahoma is not bad at all. Except in july and august,

[azcamper]

We were able to take the unit out for the first time this weekend, 345rf, I noticed water dripping from the grey water pipes outside of the underbelly, I assumed the valves were not sealed or closed properly, thought when I pulled the cap off of the dump pipe , I would have a lot of water come out, but it was dry, today at home I went under the unit, if I push up on the black tarp on the underside of the unit, I can hear water moving around, how did you remove the tarp ?, did you start at the front of the unit or the sides ? is it possible to drop one side only?
thank you in advance

[Tonemeister]

........and..............while you were opening up the underbelly, did you have a hard time removing old screws that were holding it to theframe? While under my ST25RB spraying undercoating to treat/hide rusted gas line & frame, I noted screws securing underbelly cloth were all rusted pretty bad. I would imagine if I ever had to remove any of them in the future they would more than likely "snap" off, forcing me to have to re-drill new pilot holes & put in new screws (would use stainless or rustproof screws though). Edited by: Tonemeister

[Stan]

AZCamper....You can drop just small portions but it won't drop far. When I dropped my front half to get water out, I started at the very front and worked back along the sides only dropping what was necessary. Your water may not be grey water. If you have driven in rain lately, water can get up above the membrane from road spray. I duct taped my membrane along the frame after i got all the water out and have not had anymore issues.

[Smith campers6]

The person in charge of installing the pipes must be having a lot of bad days. After de-winterizing my unit (after bringing it home from the dealer), I tried to dump the tanks only to be met with a black tank valve that would not close. Not wanting to take apart the whole underbelly myself, I drove it 32 miles to the dealer. The tech removed a piece of hardened sealant used to attach the PVC pieces together. The installer got a little too aggressive with the dispenser and some dripped right on the valve body.

[concreteman]

Brett,

You will probably have to drop part of the front and part of the side where the pipes come out. Its not a real fun job. Are you sure its grey water? We found that the bolts holding the valve together were to tight and pinching the gasket. We also installed a rod on the black valve instead of a cable.

[tator447]

Thetford or one of those company's makes a "lubricant" for the valves...comes in a quart bottle and will give you I think 4 or 5 uses. You mix it with 4 gallons of water and let it sit for awhile. I had my dealer dewinterize my unit and put some in all my tanks. I will flush it out when I get to the first campground...then I'll GEO as I always do.

Jim

[azcamper]

I hope its only grey water, I hope to take a look at it this weekend, thanks for the info, sounds like I should look at everything when I have the underbelly skin off

[concreteman]

Fill everything and look for leaks. when valves are open and closed.