Leak from above grey water tank

[Gumpdad714]

Originally Posted by Chamberman

This was a normal failure of the 2019 models. It was a result of the ABS pipe connections ETI was using when combined with a lack of rubber flex couplings the 1.5" threaded pipe fittings would shear off right at the threaded outlet of the gray tank. This will leave about 1/2 - 3/4" inch of the pipes threaded portion still in the gray tank outlet.

The gray tank vent in an E19 comes through the floor directly behind the toilet. I'm not 100% certain where it comes up in your 5.0. If the gray tank vent breaks off in the manner described above then the broken gray tank vent will become the lowest overflow point in the system. If the tank gets overfilled at any time the excess will come flowing out of the broken vent fitting and this happens well before it begins coming up into the shower pan.

The problem is that those people with spray foam have no good way for the water coming out of this vent to drain away so it back flows up onto the floor of the trailer. The folks without spray foam aren't a lot better off. This is because the gray tank is pressed so tightly against the floor that even without spray foam and depending on the flow rate of the water filling the tank, I believe its possible to still wind up with water backflowing up onto the floor. Its just less likely without spray foam.

The reason for the breakage is either stress due to vibration or if the hole is off center and the gray tank shifts in its positioning. Once the tank shifts it can allow the 1.5" vent fitting coming out the top to come into contact with the floor and then a great deal of side stress will be placed on the fitting. This is what happened with our gray tank vent. The gray tank had shifted rearward to where the 1.5" vent fitting was hard up against the side of the hole in the floor. This caused the vent fitting to shear off flush with the gray tank due to normal movement while traveling.

It was too hard to get into the small access hole I cut to try and open up the hole in the floor. How I got around this is to put a 1.5" to 1.25" reducer in the gray vent hole and then used a 1.25" threaded street ell to go into a flex coupling. Dropping to a smaller 1.25" fitting out of the gray tank vent gave me a good gap between the fitting and the floor. My gray tank is now sitting against the rear stop which is a piece of angle iron under the trailer if I remember correctly so I do not have to worry about the gray tank moving any further rearward and having the fitting hit the edge of the hole in the floor again.

I read through your other thread where you described your problem on your 5.0 and it does sound like the gray tank vent fitting may have sheared off on you. The only way to know is to get into the location that they have the vent pipe routed through the floor and check it. Others with a 5.0 will have to guide you as to where that is at.

Good luck and let others know what you end up finding and what the resolution is. You may ultimately help someone else out with your findings.

Thank you very much for that info. Wish you lived in Queens - I'd pay you to diagnose and fix it. I'll keep you posted.

[Chamberman]

It's my understanding that ETI began using flex couplings on the drains somewhere around 2020 or 2021 because of these issues. I do not know if the vents are receiving flex couplings as well.

[MrLynn]

Originally Posted by Chamberman

It's my understanding that ETI began using flex couplings on the drains somewhere around 2020 or 2021 because of these issues. I do not know if the vents are receiving flex couplings as well.

I wish there were someone knowledgeable at ETI who would be charged with monitoring threads like these and responding with definitive information. You'd think their marketing people would realize how important relations with owners are, especially since they have no authorized service centers outside of the factory.

[Rossue]

Don't remember anyone with Gen1 trailers having this problem. Is it exclusive to Gen2 trailers? If so, why?

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by MrLynn

I wish there were someone knowledgeable at ETI who would be charged with monitoring threads like these and responding with definitive information. You'd think their marketing people would realize how important relations with owners are, especially since they have no authorized service centers outside of the factory.

Nearly since the moment Reace & Tammy sold ETI, the manufacturer has dropped paying attention to the EscapeForum. They hang over at Facebook occasionally though.

[Gumpdad714]

Originally Posted by MrLynn

I wish there were someone knowledgeable at ETI who would be charged with monitoring threads like these and responding with definitive information. You'd think their marketing people would realize how important relations with owners are, especially since they have no authorized service centers outside of the factory.

Couldn't agree with you more Mr Lynn. They really need to address the issue about authorized service centers. Can't leave us hanging to fend for ourselves out here.

[oldwave]

The only issue we had with the 21c was the black tank drain leak that I fixed. It was documented by Reace

[Radar1]

I'm now a member of the leaking grey tank club. Noticed it shortly after traveling on a really bumpy part of I-10 East of Houston that was under construction. Don't know if that was the cause but possible.
Anyway, As I was looking at the leak where the grey tank dumps out, I realized I also had a leak where the shower drains into it.
I contacted Escape and they asked if I was going to take it to a shop or repair it myself. I'd rather do it myself, so they sent the parts out (2 threaded inserts, 2 pieces of ABS, and 2 rubber connectors).
Got under the camper today and following the experiences of others, was able to repair both leaks.
The piece near the discharge snapped off after about 2 turns with a wrench, but it was obvious looking at it that it had previously had a small crack.
The shower drain going into the tank came off completely while I was cutting the pipe, and actually had a bigger obvious crack.
Neither one was perfectly aligned with the connection, so I'm hoping that the rubber sleeves will take care of any pressure exerted from the slight misalignment.
I also added a support for the grey water discharge so it doesn't try to bounce down on bumpy roads.
The hardest part was getting the threaded portion out of the spin welded connection. Had to use a hacksaw to cut enough to allow a small section to be removed and then the rest came out easily.
Here's hoping this was a permanent fix!
I wonder how much grey water remains in the tank when it's "empty", since the lowest discharge is probably almost an inch above the bottom edge, and the middle of the tank sags.

[Chamberman]

Originally Posted by Radar1

Here's hoping this was a permanent fix!

The club you never want to be welcomed into...

You should also plan on replacing the sink drain and the upper gray tank vent at some point. Those can also be repaired with rubber flex couplings as well. Several prior posts show these repairs in photos.

Its better to plan it out than to have the sink drain crack and begin leaking while on a long trip. The vent can be worked around to a certain point by not fully filling the tank, but gray tank odors will permeate the interior.

[SuezqsZoo]

Hi,

We have a 2018 21c. We have NEVER experienced these issues. Is this only happening in certain year trailers?? Did it start after 2018?? Just curious?? Thanks, Sue
z
q

[Chamberman]

Originally Posted by SuezqsZoo

Hi,

We have a 2018 21c. We have NEVER experienced these issues. Is this only happening in certain year trailers?? Did it start after 2018?? Just curious?? Thanks, Sue
z
q

More info about 21c failures.

It appears to be a problem that primarily plagued the 2019 - 2020 model years. Although I've seen a few posts from earlier models. Escape added flex joints to the drain lines after that period and the broken pipe problem was cured. As to what changed in 2019 from the 2018 and earlier models that caused the sudden rash of failures, I'm not certain if anyone has identified that change.

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by Radar1

I wonder how much grey water remains in the tank when it's "empty", since the lowest discharge is probably almost an inch above the bottom edge, and the middle of the tank sags.

It's not only how much water remains but also about the diminishing returns as the water reaches the mid-point of the drain. From then on it slows because of the reduced cross-section and the last trickles out. I've given up waiting for it to run dry.

Many dump sites are poorly graded. We often run the P.S. wheels up on blocks and get faster and more complete draining.

Originally Posted by Chamberman

More info about 21c failures.

It appears to be a problem that primarily plagued the 2019 - 2020 model years.

My 2019 has seen it's fairly share of Forest Service Roads and Baja and has never had a problem. Remember it's only the folks that have a problem that post about it. The percentage of folks that have had a problem likely isn't all that high.

Ron

[Chamberman]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

My 2019 has seen it's fairly share of Forest Service Roads and Baja and has never had a problem. Remember it's only the folks that have a problem that post about it. The percentage of folks that have had a problem likely isn't all that high.

Three of the four gray tank inlets were damaged in our 2019 trailer. That's hard to chalk up to a random issue.


Certainly not all 2019 - 2020's will be affected, not even a majority of them will and the flip side of that is that not all pre-2019 trailers will be immune.

However, not all owners of Escape trailers post on forums in fact I'd be surprised if even 1 in 4 of them did. In addition, not all forum members post about their problems. The prior owner of our trailer had a broken gray drain pipe repaired at a local RV shop in his 1st year of ownership. He didn't tell me about it but I found the receipt for that in the pile of documentation he gave me. He posted here on the forum several times during his ownership, but never posted about that cracked drain pipe. So just being a forum member and having a problem doesn't mean they'll post about it...

Unlike many of us forum members, many owners will see a leak and just go get it repaired never checking a forum or posting about it. Most owners are not technically minded or DIY handy and as such they'll leave these things to someone they see as a professional. I see this with my coworkers and automotive problems all the time. When they tell me about their issues I'll always ask them if they've researched their issue online to see if there's a common failure item that causes their problem and I'm typically met with "No, I guess I should look at that".

[Sean Murry]

We had 4 cracked pipes into our gray tank as well. It started with the pipe from the vent. Because it was high up in the tank you wouldn't notice it until the tank was almost full. We didn't address it right away, then the leak from the shower into the gray started leaking and soon after the pipe from the kitchen sink to the gray tank,. We took it to a local shop and they replaced the pipes and put in a piece of flex pipe at all four connection points. Touch wood that this will fix the issue. We had not taken the trailer on any rough roads, but a few paved roads that were rather bouncy.