Fresh Water Tank Issues

[BR549]

The specs for our 2022 280 RS show that the freshwater tank capacity is 56 gallons. I drained the tank and connected a flow meter to the hose. The tank began overflowing at just over 49 gallons. The meter in the trailer “Convenience Center” showed the tank was full.

We drove to our destination and the meter shows 1/3 and there is leakage around the low point drains - not from the drains but from around the drain tubes.

I really don’t trust the meters in the trailer. I dumped, rinsed, and drained the black tank this morning and the meter read empty, but it now shows 2/3 full.

So I have two puzzles - how to determine how much water is in the freshwater tank and what is the source of the water dripping from around the low point valves? Could it be overflow from the freshwater tank inside the coroplast?

[howson]

The specs for our 2022 280 RS show that the freshwater tank capacity is 56 gallons. I drained the tank and connected a flow meter to the hose. The tank began overflowing at just over 49 gallons. The meter in the trailer “Convenience Center” showed the tank was full.

We drove to our destination and the meter shows 1/3 and there is leakage around the low point drains - not from the drains but from around the drain tubes.

I really don’t trust the meters in the trailer. I dumped, rinsed, and drained the black tank this morning and the meter read empty, but it now shows 2/3 full.

So I have two puzzles - how to determine how much water is in the freshwater tank and what is the source of the water dripping from around the low point valves? Could it be overflow from the freshwater tank inside the coroplast?

Does your Reflection have a 6 gallon water heater or is it the Furrion tankless? With the tank water heater, that capacity is added to the fresh water total (in the marketing materials).

For the water spilling out...typically that's water coming out the low point drain as it "sloshes" around while driving. But the water shouldn't build up under the coroplast...that indicates something is leaking. Unfortunately the only way to isolate is to pull down the coroplast (as little as practical to do an inspection) to try and find the culprit.

My opinion only so feel free to take or toss, but the tanks used in these RVs are not the most robust. There are some styles of camping that require full water tanks upon arrival, but the distance traveled should be kept to a minimum. In addition, usually the payload capacity of our trailers is so small that loading down with a full tank of water results in exceeding the rig's GVWR (have you weighed the unit at a CAT scale with full tanks?).

[BR549]

Does your Reflection have a 6 gallon water heater or is it the Furrion tankless? With the tank water heater, that capacity is added to the fresh water total (in the marketing materials).

For the water spilling out...typically that's water coming out the low point drain as it "sloshes" around while driving. But the water shouldn't build up under the coroplast...that indicates something is leaking. Unfortunately the only way to isolate is to pull down the coroplast (as little as practical to do an inspection) to try and find the culprit.

My opinion only so feel free to take or toss, but the tanks used in these RVs are not the most robust. There are some styles of camping that require full water tanks upon arrival, but the distance traveled should be kept to a minimum. In addition, usually the payload capacity of our trailers is so small that loading down with a full tank of water results in exceeding the rig's GVWR (have you weighed the unit at a CAT scale with full tanks?).

It has the tankless heater. I weighed with a full tank before leaving home and it was under GVWR. But I’m thinking your point about loading and distance may be the problem. We were planning on 5 nights of dry camping so I was carrying a full tank. My guess is it may have cracked during transit.

before I can get to the coroplast, I need to wash about a half inch of caked mud off the underside from about 2 miles of muddy road construction detour. We won’t be at a campground with water at the site for seven days so that I can take a look.

[howson]

BR549 -- please let the forum know what you find. (Pictures are always great.)

[Yoda]

The specs for our 2022 280 RS show that the freshwater tank capacity is 56 gallons. I drained the tank and connected a flow meter to the hose. The tank began overflowing at just over 49 gallons. The meter in the trailer “Convenience Center” showed the tank was full.

We drove to our destination and the meter shows 1/3 and there is leakage around the low point drains - not from the drains but from around the drain tubes.

I really don’t trust the meters in the trailer. I dumped, rinsed, and drained the black tank this morning and the meter read empty, but it now shows 2/3 full.

So I have two puzzles - how to determine how much water is in the freshwater tank and what is the source of the water dripping from around the low point valves? Could it be overflow from the freshwater tank inside the coroplast?

Does your unit have the single or double overflow tubes? If it is the single you may be having the water loss while traveling siphon action taking place. (Do a search) What happens is the surging water in the tank forces a siphon effect in the tank causing water loss. There are lots of solution to this posted here.

Please post back - pictures are very helpful. FYI - on my unit the top of the single overflow tube is not the tightest connection and I could se it leaking under twisting road situations. I have posted a solution to this for a single overflow tube. Search my user name and (water loose while traveling) There are many other solutions that work too

Keith

[BR549]

Does your unit have the single or double overflow tubes? If it is the single you may be having the water loss while traveling siphon action taking place. (Do a search) What happens is the surging water in the tank forces a siphon effect in the tank causing water loss. There are lots of solution to this posted here.

Please post back - pictures are very helpful. FYI - on my unit the top of the single overflow tube is not the tightest connection and I could se it leaking under twisting road situations. I have posted a solution to this for a single overflow tube. Search my user name and (water loose while traveling) There are many other solutions that work too

Keith

It has double overflow tubes. How are those attached to the tank?

I opened as much of the Coroplast as I could given my current location and didn’t see much. The steel restraints on the tank are bowed (and beginning to rust), but I couldn’t see or feel any fractures in the tank. I made a few changes in our itenerary for the final two weeks of our trip so we will be staying at sites with water. It will probably now have to wait until we get home.

Just to hypothesize, any leak has to be above about 21 gallons as I’ve added that much to the tank this morning. If the overflow tubes are U-shaped, then maybe one is detached from the tank and water is sloshing through the opening. If it’s a fracture, then it has to be in the upper half of the tank. I’m a little concerned about the way GDRV strapped the tank in place that the 1-inch metal straps might “pinch” the plastic tank instead of distributing the load over more area. Maybe the tank straps need reinforcement.

[Country Campers]

There is a picture of the dual overflow tubes here somewhere. There is only one connection to the tank for the tubes. The port is about 1" below the top of the tank so that would not be the issue if you are getting leaks before a full tank. The manual does state to fill until the indicator on the convenience panel reads full, this is about 1" to 1-1/2" below the overflow tube, which is actually a breather tube and not an overflow tube. If you can drop the edge of the coroplast on the driver side at the end of the tank you should be able to see the breather pipe as well as the fresh tank drain. The leak could be from one of the tank level indicators or even the drain, our drain was loose from the factory, give it a turn clockwise looking from the bottom and see if it is loose.

Brian

[Cate&Rob]

The story of the twin overflow/vent lines is in the first post of this thread. https://gdrvowners.com/forum/operati...problem-solved

Rob

[BR549]

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions and observations.

After we got home, I took the trailer to a RV repair shop where they filled the tank and dropped the coroplast. The results: nothing. No leakage. No signs of cracks or holes. Everything appeared tight and intact. So I'm left with the mystery of how I could lose about 36 gallons of water enroute and arrive with water pouring out from behind the coroplast?

My next step is to begin traveling with the tank full or near full to see if the problem happens again. If the tank is intact, then perhaps the motion of the trailer during transit is causing the overflow tube or drain to flex at the tank connection, thereby releasing water but appearing to be intact when stationary.

[howson]

So I'm left with the mystery of how I could lose about 36 gallons of water enroute and arrive with water pouring out from behind the coroplast?

Got a hypothesis for you (because it could happen again). While moving the water sloshes back and forth. If there's a crack in the overflow water line or that line's connection to the tank, water could end up on the coroplast. At the same time water making it's way down the overflow could be pouring out the drain due to the siphon effect (if you don't have Cate&Rob 's brilliant dual-vent that GD has installed on most current models).

Why didn't the shop see an issue? When they did their test it was done without movement, thus any issue related to the overflow connection or line wasn't truly tested.

Howard

[Ebkent62]

I had something similar happen to me but it ended up being the fresh water tank had cracked around the drain. Couldn’t figure it out until I dropped the coroplast (sp?).Had to replace the fresh water tank.