17B, what is the box under the front driver side seat

[jxoco]

Like the subject line says,
What is in the box under the front drivers side seat on a 17B.
It seems too far away from the drains to be grey water or black water.
The fresh water seems to be under the back, if I follow the hoses.

[Ron in BC]

I taking a wild guess but it's probably the black water tank which, unlike the other tanks, isn't suspended underneath the floor. The toilet sits on one end of the tank and the other end is partly under the dinette seat. At least, that's the way it is in the 19.

Ron

[rbryan4]

Ron's right. Black tank.

[Brian B-P]

I, too, believe that Ron is right. The black tank is above the floor in all Escape models (that have a toilet); it probably extends under adjacent cabinetry in all of those models.

Unless you have the insulating sprayed-on foam under the floor, you can follow the black tank drain line to where is goes up through the floor, confirming the black tank location.

Yes, the fresh water tank is under the floor, behind the axle, generally behind the step up in the frame. The grey waste tank is under the floor ahead of that.

[jxoco]

Thanks.
That's what my wife suspected.
We have the foam so I couldn't follow the pipe and I thought the drain was far away from the area. I guess not.
So the prior owner said the heating pads were for the black and grey tanks. Based on your responses the heating pads are most likely on the grey and fresh water tanks?

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by jxoco

So the prior owner said the heating pads were for the black and grey tanks. Based on your responses the heating pads are most likely on the grey and fresh water tanks?

Likely, yes. Tank heating pads are put on the bottom of the tank, normally near the drain, and it would not be practical to do that with the black tank which sits on the floor. The fresh water tank would need it more anyway, if only because it is far more exposed.

[yardsale]

Escape 17b set up has a design flaw for below freezing operation. While all the tanks are heated and/or insulated, the black tank discharges into a 40" long 3" diameter pipe running back to the junction with the gray water discharge and then to the T valve used for dumping both tanks. The issue is that although materials in the black tank are liquid, the material in the aformentioned pipe becomes a thick slurry even with pink stuff and, while not frozen solid, won't flow along that long line of pipe which is insulated but not heated and therefore,eventually reaches outside temperature. The better way to design would have been to add a gate valve just below the black water tank such that the 3" pipe is empty until just before dumping. I may try to retrofit ours this way this fall.

[Thane]

For those looking at pre-2007 17b trailers, their smaller 7.5 gallon black tanks do not extend under the adjacent seat and a gate valve is just below the black water tank such that the 3" pipe is empty until before dumping.

[yardsale]

Originally Posted by Thane

For those looking at pre-2006 17b trailers, their smaller 7.5 gallon black tanks do not extend under the adjacent seat and a gate valve is just below the black water tank such that the 3" pipe is empty until before dumping.

Too bad they went away from that.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by yardsale

Escape 17b set up has a design flaw for below freezing operation. While all the tanks are heated and/or insulated, the black tank discharges into a 40" long 3" diameter pipe running back to the junction with the gray water discharge and then to the T valve used for dumping both tanks. The issue is that although materials in the black tank are liquid, the material in the aformentioned pipe becomes a thick slurry even with pink stuff and, while not frozen solid, won't flow along that long line of pipe which is insulated but not heated and therefore,eventually reaches outside temperature. The better way to design would have been to add a gate valve just below the black water tank such that the 3" pipe is empty until just before dumping. I may try to retrofit ours this way this fall.

I agree that this would be an issue at low enough temperatures. One solution is to heat-trace (install heating tape on) the 3" line... but that only helps if you have power.

A valve right at the tank, followed by a long and large pipe, would mean that when you close the valve the pipe would empty out... but as much as almost 5 litres (a gallon) of waste would flow out after closing the valve, which might be unfortunate if one is filling a tote which has reached its capacity. It would also place the valve handle a substantial distance from the outlet fitting. That could still work.

Originally Posted by Thane

For those looking at pre-2007 17b trailers, their smaller 7.5 gallon black tanks do not extend under the adjacent seat and a gate valve is just below the black water tank such that the 3" pipe is empty until before dumping.

The first Escape that I saw in person was a 2006 17B; I reported on that in a FiberglassRV discussion (I think this was a couple years before this forum was created). From that discussion, here is the waste plumbing... with the black tank valve positions as Thane described:

Originally Posted by yardsale

Too bad they went away from that.

Although the basic design is constant, there have been many changes in the details of Escape trailers, particularly the 17 Foot, which is the original and thus longest-running model. I can only guess that one of the other changes motivated the plumbing change, or that it was done to resolve some other issue. I note that in the 2006, the grey waste tank is at the very front of the trailer; I don't know if it is still there in a 17B.