Slow leak from bathroom grey tank

[Gr8daggett]

2015 Reflection 337RLS —- It seems that the gate valve on my bathroom grey tank is slowly leaking into the drain pipe. With the valve pulled open, water will rush out if the tank is fairly full. When I close the gate valve. The drain slows to a constant flow, just a trickle. There is no evidence of leaks outside the drain system that I can see yet.

So.... Gate Valve Seals buggered up?

Can those seals be easily replaced? What size are the valves ... 3 inches??

[Cate&Rob]

Hi Mike,

Yup . . . gate valve seals are leaking. This is a common problem . . . particularly on a 5 year old trailer (ask me how I know this ).

These seals are 3" and would be easy to replace, except that the set up on our trailers is three valves bolted to the same rigid manifold. To release one set of seals, means loosening the other two valves . . . which often screws up those seals. I cut my manifold into three pieces (re-connected by commonly available rubber splices) so that I could deal with one section of manifold for each gate valve.

Cutting the manifold pipe into three sections is referenced in post 8 of this thread https://gdrvowners.com/forum/operati...le-lubrication I can probably find more detailed pictures of this, if you want to go this way.

If you are going to open up the coroplast to replace the seals on this one valve, might I suggest all new gate valves and pull cables? Not a lot of money and when you have everything apart, you might as well go "all new" and be set for another 5 years (or more). Black and bathroom grey are 3" on 6 ft cables. Kitchen grey is 1 1/2" and works better on an 8 ft cable.

Rob

[Gr8daggett]

Hey Rob,
Thanks for the head start. This bathroom grey valve leak exposed a cracked 1 1/2 “ cracked pipe coming out of the galley grey tank. When the dump pipe filled up with water it would leak at the cracked pipe. We fixed that with a rubber splice and then I realized the bath grey was leaking.

Looks like your trailer has plenty of manifold pipe to work with. I do not have that length. After the galley grey valve there is only about 3” of pipe before it takes a 90 degree turn to the 3” manifold and the black tank connection. (I will try and get a picture)

Would it be best to drop the coroplast from the front to the wheels rather than cutting an access flap? I am in Arizona now. Maybe I should wait til I get home this spring to drop the coroplast.
I like the idea of replacing all three valves. What brand valves did you use? Get them on Amazon?

Mike

[Cate&Rob]

Hi Mike,

Dropping the coroplast from the front to the front tires will give you access to everything and sounds a lot more complicated than it turns out to be. Putting the coroplast back needs a second set of hands (or a 2x4 clamped across the frame rails and worked forward as you re-fasten it. The screws go back into the same holes, so you will know when you have it back into the correct position.

Could you put the 1 1/2" rubber connector after the bend in the galley drain pipe, before it connects to the 3"?

I got Valterra brand cables and valves on Amazon. They were a little different than the OE Valterra parts, but were a direct replacement. I had to go back a second time to get a 96" cable for the galley valve. The OE was a 72" cable (same as bath grey and black) but I could not find a routing with smooth operation. Others have mentioned shortening the cables to get smoother operation. I found that long gentle bends work best. This is also the recommendation in the Valtera installation instructions.

If you have any other questions or need more pictures, don't hesitate to ask. Us 2015 (been here since the start . . .) guys need to stick together LOL

Rob

[ncitro]

2015 Reflection 337RLS —- It seems that the gate valve on my bathroom grey tank is slowly leaking into the drain pipe. With the valve pulled open, water will rush out if the tank is fairly full. When I close the gate valve. The drain slows to a constant flow, just a trickle. There is no evidence of leaks outside the drain system that I can see yet.

So.... Gate Valve Seals buggered up?

Can those seals be easily replaced? What size are the valves ... 3 inches??

As a note (you have probably already done this) but a twist on gate valve ahead of your cap will save you from a surprise when you take the cap off if your gate valves have started leaking. Especially when the black starts leaking (ask me how I know).

Something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Valterra-T58-...8280795&sr=8-1

[Gr8daggett]

Thanks ncitro .... yup, one of the first things I did was to add that extra valve at the end. Hope I can hold out til we get back home in the spring.

[Kksfish]

Yikes! I’m following this as I will need to perform it as well.

[Canyonlight]

2015 Reflection 337RLS —- It seems that the gate valve on my bathroom grey tank is slowly leaking into the drain pipe. With the valve pulled open, water will rush out if the tank is fairly full. When I close the gate valve. The drain slows to a constant flow, just a trickle. There is no evidence of leaks outside the drain system that I can see yet.

So.... Gate Valve Seals buggered up?

Can those seals be easily replaced? What size are the valves ... 3 inches??

Mike - maybe it as is simple as something is getting between the gate valve "door" and the seals preventing full closure and can be cleared out by back flushing. I have experienced this twice with our kitchen grey tank valve, having a slow leak when closed. I did a back flush for several minutes one time with just water and the second with a little dawn dumped in the end of the hose before connecting the fresh water hose. When done, no slow leak any more......until the next food particle, construction debris left in tank, or other happens again.

I was amazed at the amount of black tank drillings/shavings that we still had in our kitchen grey tank when I flushed in June, 2019. Any one of these could have (and maybe did) cause a slow leak preventing the gate and seals from sealing properly.

Here is my flush device made from a sewer pipe cap with hose connection and a foot or so long piece of old hose.

Dan

[Gr8daggett]

It may have been the simple problem for now. It seems to be working differently today. No constant trickle with the valve closed and a nice volume of water after a couple of showers and the valve open. I think I will still plan on dropping the coroplast when I get home from Arizona this spring replace the gate valves, add Horst probes to the tanks and clean up that rat’s nest of wiring. Thanks everyone. Keep the suggestions coming.