Fresh water tank drain dripping

[John in Santa Cruz]

found that valve in the Zurm Qest catalog. doesn't say what kind of plastic its made from, but it does say that you should NOT use Quiktite plastic male threads with metal female pipe threads. as this is a plastic to plastic join, I would suggest a couple wraps of telfon tape. rather than any sort of putty.

Qicktite valves are on page 43 of this
https://www.zurn.com/Zurn/files/65/6...aeb7f234e2.pdf
the one you mention is two pages after that.

[Great Eggstrications]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

found that valve in the Zurm Qest catalog. doesn't say what kind of plastic its made from, but it does say that you should NOT use Quiktite plastic male threads with metal female pipe threads. as this is a plastic to plastic join, I would suggest a couple wraps of telfon tape. rather than any sort of putty.

Qicktite valves are on page 43 of this
https://www.zurn.com/Zurn/files/65/6...aeb7f234e2.pdf
the one you mention is two pages after that.

Hey John in Santa Cruz,

Thanks for chiming in. Looks like yours is the only opinion, so you're the deciding vote. It's all on you, Bud.

PTFE "teflon" tape it'll be. That's what I had in mind myself.

And thanks for the Zurn catalog reference. Lots of good stuff there.

[Great Eggstrications]

Installed the new valve using 3-4 turns of "teflon" tape, and no leaks! It's just sitting there stuck into the fresh tank, peering out proudly from under the trailer, just waiting to be easily turned. It doesn't actually hang down below the bottom of the tank - the angle of the pic just makes it look that way.

Then promptly made what we're already affectionately calling the "Faucet Socket" out of a piece of 1/2" plywood with an oval cut into it, screwed onto another piece of 1/2" plywood with a 5/16" T-Nut embedded in it, and a 22" long length of threaded rod complete with a scrap of 5/6" ID clear tubing for a handle. No expense was spared - even hit it with some old hammer-finish rattle can paint.

I no longer live in fear of my fresh water drain valve.

[cpaharley2008]

Dave,
Pictures of your workbench mirrors what mine looks like......... but I know exactly where everything is.........!

[Great Eggstrications]

Yeah - I can reconstruct what I've been working on by digging down through the layers - kinda like an archeological dig. Then I can tell where stuff must be based on the depth and the nearby deposits.

[Dave & Penny Smith]

Folks:

While de-winterizing our 17B in preparation for our first trip of the year (Kodachrome Basin S.P. leaving the 20th), I broke the handle on the drain valve on the fresh water tank. I'm going to try to replace it tomorrow. I'll be using a plastic valve similar to the original as these are available locally and the original has lasted over six years. I assume that I'll need to remove the spray foam (at least under the valve). Planning on using teflon tape on the threads. Does anyone have any advice on doing this? Several of the posts seem to indicate that it is a fairly straight-forward job. Any guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Dave

[Rossue]

Many of us have gone to a lead-free brass fitting. Nice to be able to connect a hose to drain water when wanting to sanitize.

[BILLB]

Originally Posted by Rossue

Many of us have gone to a lead-free brass fitting. Nice to be able to connect a hose to drain water when wanting to sanitize.

Maybe it’s the camera angle, but this really appears to be hanging down low. I would be concerned about this hookup snagging on something when you are driving and ripping the whole corner off your water tank.

[Rossue]

Not a problem in 3 years of mostly dispersed camping. Anybody know the road down the hill to Oh Be Joyful CG near Crested Butte?

[SWCO]

Originally Posted by Dave & Penny Smith

Folks:

While de-winterizing our 17B in preparation for our first trip of the year (Kodachrome Basin S.P. leaving the 20th), I broke the handle on the drain valve on the fresh water tank. I'm going to try to replace it tomorrow. I'll be using a plastic valve similar to the original as these are available locally and the original has lasted over six years. I assume that I'll need to remove the spray foam (at least under the valve). Planning on using teflon tape on the threads. Does anyone have any advice on doing this? Several of the posts seem to indicate that it is a fairly straight-forward job. Any guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Dave

Male metal pipe threads into female plastic threaded fittings is not a great idea, though it certainly can work if one is careful; plastic male threads (1/2" in this case) would be safer. We replaced our fresh water drain with a 1/4 turn plastic ball valve made for mobile home washing machines, though the cost (at least from Amzn) has quadrupled in three years. See post 59.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/...AC_SL1430_.jpg

[Dcboyd]

Mine leaked 5 days after receiving trailer. I removed the valve. Leak was at connection. It had so much Teflon tape wrapped around the plastic valve I’am surprised something did not split. Anyway replaced the little plastic valve (properly)with a more substantial one. No problems now.

[alanmalk]

I had to replace mine a couple of years back - it became stiff and the tab broke off. The new ones were even less substantial than the one I removed - something like 2 for $5 USD on eBay.


They tended to drip but I fixed that by pulling out the moving part and packing plumbers silicone grease into the fitting. So far, so good.

[Dave & Penny Smith]

Folks:

Thanks for your suggestions. I replaced the drain cock this morning, and the job was fairly easy. Much easier than I had imagined. I may upgrade to a more substantial valve in the future, but for now the equivalent of the original is in place and does not seem to be leaking.

Thanks,
Dave

[iamunique127]

We haven't used our 2015 5.0TA in a number of years but I'm getting it prepped to go for this year. When I checked the original fresh water drain valve it was stuck solid and the handle snapped off.
I can't say I was unhappy with having to replace it, I've always been frustrated with the slow rate of flow of the 3/8" outlet when draining the tank so I looked for something better.
Sure enough, the local RV shop had a 1/2" outlet ball valve. Hopefully it will drain a bit quicker.
I only had to trim a minor little amount of spray foam to get enough clearance to thread in the valve.



The other missing spray foam is just from travel, suggesting that maybe there is debris being thrown up around the valve. I hadn't thought about that when I installed the valve but I'll check it and if it is protruding below the level of the tank I'll just hacksaw off that bottom part.

[Ooshkaboo]

Originally Posted by iamunique127

We haven't used our 2015 5.0TA in a number of years but I'm getting it prepped to go for this year. When I checked the original fresh water drain valve it was stuck solid and the handle snapped off.
I can't say I was unhappy with having to replace it, I've always been frustrated with the slow rate of flow of the 3/8" outlet when draining the tank so I looked for something better.
Sure enough, the local RV shop had a 1/2" outlet ball valve. Hopefully it will drain a bit quicker.
I only had to trim a minor little amount of spray foam to get enough clearance to thread in the valve.



The other missing spray foam is just from travel, suggesting that maybe there is debris being thrown up around the valve. I hadn't thought about that when I installed the valve but I'll check it and if it is protruding below the level of the tank I'll just hacksaw off that bottom part.

You set me out looking for the cure to the dribble…It has really improved the flow.
I did use plumbers tape, only went around the threads twice. It is not below the axel, not much lower than the original.

I had a piece of hvac hose and when draining it will slide onto the end, give a little direction to the water drainage.