2023 23bhe water tank dumps water out of over flow during travel.

[Deveasey]

I have a 2023 23bhe and we use harvest host often but our fresh water tank “leaks” out of the overflow during travel.

I topped off before leaving a KOA and 4 hours later when we arrived at the harvest host we had 1/4 - 1/2 tank. I lost 1/2 a tank while on the road. I’m assuming this is the sloshing coming out of the over flow can you prevent this?

[Deveasey]

I could put a shutoff on the pex tube coming from the over flow but is it safe. Thinking if I forget to open it and the tank gets over pressurized.

please advise.

[acoleman43]

I could put a shutoff on the pex tube coming from the over flow but is it safe. Thinking if I forget to open it and the tank gets over pressurized.

please advise.

I put a shutoff valve on mine. I'm willing to take the risk due to many experiences of losing half my fresh tank before getting to camp spot.

Just leave the valve open as a default. Close only when needed.

[COReflection]

I put a shutoff valve on mine. I'm willing to take the risk due to many experiences of losing half my fresh tank before getting to camp spot.

Just leave the valve open as a default. Close only when needed.

I added a valve to mine too. No issues.

[Country Campers]

I have added the valve as well and have left it closed when it should not have been but have learned from that, also a risk I am willing to take. Add the valve position to your departure and arrival check list.

Brian

[howson]

Deveasey -- add me to the "added a valve" list. I have a large red V? sticker next to the pump switch, so that every time I go to turn on the pump I'm reminded to ask myself if I've opened the valve.

Cate&Rob (I'm tagging you a lot lately, Rob!) added an electric valve to his water inlet that is tied to the water heater switch. When he departs the camper the WH is turned off which in turn shuts off the city water inlet supply. I wonder if his setup could be adapted to the fresh water overflow? Turn off the water pump and the valve defaults to closed. Turn on the water pump and the valve is powered open.

EDIT: Nope--this won't work. The valve would be closed when filling the tank. Maybe Rob will think of something else...

For a lengthy discussion on a related topic, see https://gdrvowners.com/forum/operati...problem-solved

Howard

[Cate&Rob]

Deveasey Do you have the twin overflow tubes as described in the link referenced in post 6 . . . or has Grand Design gone back to one?

Rob

[Scott'n'Wendy]

open.
EDIT: Nope--this won't work. The valve would be closed when filling the tank. Maybe Rob will think of something else...
Howard

Tie it to a relay from the Unity 'lockout feature. When the vehicle is in motion, valve is closed. When the "vehicle in motion' lockout is released, relay switches and opens the valve.
Just an idea. Feel free to shoot holes in it.

[Cate&Rob]

howson The solenoid valve could be wired through a relay to close when the pump was shut off, but this would not cover remembering to open it when filling the tank. Routing the vent line to a higher point would be the only “fail safe” way to prevent slosh pumping and/or siphon overflow with a single tank vent pipe.

Rob

[howson]

Tie it to a relay from the Unity 'lockout feature. When the vehicle is in motion, valve is closed. When the "vehicle in motion' lockout is released, relay switches and opens the valve.
Just an idea. Feel free to shoot holes in it.

Interesting idea. For those of us without a Unity board, I'm thinking a separate power switch (near the Nautilus) could manually trigger the valve. I'd also add a green and red LED to indicate status of the valve near the Nautilus as yet another indicator to try and avoid leaving the valve closed during use. (I admit to forgetting once...but caught it in time so the tank was not damaged.)

Cate&Rob -- yep, after posting I realized that it won't work without additional modification, thus the edit to my original post. If configured correctly, though, your basic idea could be adopted thus (almost) eliminating the "forgetting" part which WILL bite someone.

[Sasquatch]

I'm new to the Grand Design line. We bought a Reflection 297RSTS last spring, 2023, and we experienced the same thing. Arrive for 8 days of dry camping with a half tank of water. Not cool. Our previous RV for 18 years was an Arctic Fox Silver Fox 32D and we never had that problem. With the Arctic Fox, the tank vent is just above the gravity fill port which is above the tank so nothing sloshes out during travel. With our Reflection and the crazy nautilus system, the tank is a pressure fill so I can see how the tank could get over pressurized and damaged. There are two short vent tubes that hang down below the bottom level of the tank which creates the siphon during travel. I didn't want to install ball valves and take a chance of damaging the tank so I got the necessary pex and elbows.

I "replumbed" from the vent tubes, keeping each line separate, by adding an elbow to each and a straight section of pipe over to the driver side of the RV, keeping everything tucked up just below the side skirt as much as possible. Then two more elbows turning the plumbing toward the front of the RV and ran it up to the bottom of the front left outside storage compartment. Then I drilled two holes just barely larger than the pex in the bottom of the plastic for that compartment, between the back wall of the plastic and the round access port. I then added two more elbows to bring the plumbing up inside the side compartment and above the top level of the tank. Then I plumbed each with a couple more elbows to turn each pipe horizontal and then down so nothing would fall into the plumbing and then covered each with a screen.

The tank is still open to atmosphere as designed from the factory but the vents are now above the top of the tank to eliminate the siphon. If any water were to slosh that far out and get out of the end of the plumbing it would just go to the bottom of the plastic in that storage bay. I have to admit that I haven't taken the RV out since I did that work late last fall. I also want to mention that I used a heat gun to soften the pex so it was far more pliable so I could get it routed and mounted easily without adding any sideways force on the existing vent pipes. I did not want to damage the connection of those pipes to the tank. If I find that I'm still losing water this spring/summer then I can easily cut each line and add a ball valve to each line.

Edited 4/12/24. Last night after work I went out and modified the connection to the factory vent lines. See photo 3. Didn't have enough Pex and it was too late to hit the hardware store so I used the clear tubing that I had. Shortened the factory overflow lines. Added two 1/4 turn ball valves which are the low point for draining any water that ends up in the lines. Both lines are still open to atmosphere as designed by the factory so there's no way to pull a vacuum on the tank and if I happen to forget to open the valves during filling I can't over pressurize and damage the tank. The bottom of the ball valves is about 1.5" lower than the bottom of the factory overflow lines. Now it's time to hit the road!

[TedS]

Nice work. I would add low point drain valves to drain the water trapped in the drain lines at end of season.

[TenOC]

I'

I "replumbed" from the vent tubes, keeping each line separate, by adding an elbow to each and a straight section of pipe over to the driver side of the RV, keeping everything tucked up just below the side skirt as much as possible. Then two more elbows turning the plumbing toward the front of the RV and ran it up to the bottom of the front left outside storage compartment. Then I drilled two holes just barely larger than the pex in the bottom of the plastic for that compartment, between the back wall of the plastic and the round access port. I then added two more elbows to bring the plumbing up inside the side compartment and above the top level of the tank. Then I plumbed each with a couple more elbows to turn each pipe horizontal and then down so nothing would fall into the plumbing and then covered each with a screen.

.

I am think about somewhat the same replumbing but plan on using flexible vinyl tubing. Much easier to route.

[Cate&Rob]

Sasquatch Getting the vent above the tank is definitely the best way to solve this issue.

The reason for the twin overflow/vent tubes is described in the thread referenced in post 6 of this discussion. If this vent/overflow is routed to above the tank (as Sasquatch did) there is no reason to do this with both lines. One would be sufficient. The other could be plugged but be cautious not to create water trap that cannot be drained when winterizing.

Rob

[JBill9694]

I agree with TedS about adding valves to drain the line. Not only for freeze protection, but to restore the overflow function while filling the tanks. The tank level monitors are not reliable or accurate and I would whether the overflow empties under the trailer than into the storage compartment.