grey water monitor lights

[The Lone Ranger]

First time this year to go camping and my monitor lights for the grey water tank and fresh water tank do not light up at all. The black water lights and the battery lights come on and appear to be working fine. I checked breakers and fuses and these look fine. Any one have ideas on this issue?

[Lloyd]

Tank monitor lights have been cussed and discussed on the forum for years. They are notorious for working, then not working from time to time. It's probably a connection that is corroded and not making contact. The black tank usually acts up because of junk on the sensor. Other than starting at one end and tracing it back checking for the problem, I don't know what else to tell you. Chances are the next time you use it they will be working and one of the others won't be.

[dagst1]

Ran into this over the weekend. The fresh water tank level did not light up at all. Just kept pushing the button and it started working. Tank sensors are marginal at best.

[mark5w]

Pull the button and make sure the connection is solid

[The Lone Ranger]

Lloyd must be psychic, I checked the grey water and fresh water lights and they are now lighting up! It just seems odd that the battery and black water lights were on. I plan to pull the panel as Mark seemed to be indicating just to make sure the connection on these two buttons are not corroded or loose. I know the tank sensors can be finicky but I would think the panel is solid state, but suppose that too can fail.

Another issue I have been dealing with is the black tank flush valve under the bathroom sink. It was leaking last year so I replaced it. When I dumped today, it is still leaking in that area. I have been dumping at a CEFCO station that are kind enough to offer free camper dumping and I am now wondering if the water pressure may be too high as I never had this issue when dumping at the campground dump stations that do have very low water pressure? I plan to try using the tank flush at home and see if I still get the leak.

As we all know water is a terrible foe for campers. I have also had a toilet leak that only leaks sporadically. I ran it down on this trip with the use of the wife's pocket mirror and it appears to be the Thetford flush valve and at least this looks like an easy $25.00 fix.

I have had my 10 year old camper 3 years now and I am a DIYer, but sometimes it begins to wear on you. If one is into the camping scene, you better have some deep pockets or be a DIYer. No way I would have time for all the issues if I was not retired as of 3 years ago. Oh well, it is always good to stay active and learn new things, and I am definitely doing that!

[The Lone Ranger]

While I am on the subject of holding tank and plumbing issues, I saw another camper this week with a very simple solution to the grey water tanks filling up so quickly. He had his portable dumping tank hooked up to his RV dump connection. When his grey water filled up he simply dumped it into the portable tank for another couple of days usage and dumped the portable tank when it was convenient. Duh, I only thought of using the portable tank for black water! Of course none of us would ever dump grey water on the ground, but sometimes this is not very nice if you are in close quarters or in a more resort type of campground.