2020 5.0 sink fitting to gray tank (Leak??)

[flyingg103]

We have a new to us 2020 5.0 that has water leaking from the gray tanks when 2/3 to full. The water is dripping from both the left and right side of the gray water tank. Its noticeable near the top of the foam covered part of the tank and not at the very top. Of course we have the foam insulation which makes things complicated. While investigating if the leak is at the sink or the bathroom ( Likely both ) I find the sink fitting very tight to the bottom of the shell see pics. When looking at a repair done on a 21C from the following thread by Johnk #41 it appears different. The 1.5 PVC goes through the bottom of the shell and i guess into the gray tank from there. Not sure I have access to the broken thread if that is the case or not. The blue highlight shows what should be the bottom shell fiberglass. Is the fitting for the gray tank just below this or does this extend down further into another trap etc??

Anyone had gray tank leaking issues similar and how did you approach finding the issue. I have reached out to Escape for guidance but still waiting to hear back from them.

 

[flyingg103]

Update, after further review it does appear that the flange is just below the fiberglass shell and the 1.5" pipe appears to be intact at that fitting. So the search goes on for the source of the leak. Any and all ideas are appreciated.

 

[LarryLSB]

I'm working on three leaks on our 2020 E19. All three (two in, one out) pipes were dripping. I was able to reseal two, but the kitchen sink slightly drips. I contacted Escape via the online form, didn't hear back, so I followed with an email to parts and service. Jamie responded and the result was they sent 3 repair kits that included a rubber coupling, male adaptor, and a short piece of pipe. The 19's sink drain terminates on the side of the tank near the top. It's just a minor drip now, so we will live with it and I'll do repairs in the fall. I don't have insulation, which made it easy to find the leaks.

 

[Chamberman]

I haven't seen many reports of breakages in the 5.0. It seems the E19 and 21NE are the more reported models, but that's just a passing observation. This gray tank thread here details some of the repairs owners, including myself, have performed.

LarryLSB, you should plan to open up the lower portion of the wall on the outside of the bathroom and repair the vent connection. The link above will detail that repair. The vent line will likely shear off even with the top of the tank. Mine and several other E19 owners have had this problem. You'll only notice it if you fill the tank completely and it'll begin leaking from the top of the gray tank, OR you'll notice foul odors inside the trailer when you're sitting in the dinette. This was the symptom I noticed was the bad odor on the first shake-down trip after we purchased the trailer used. When the vent line shears off at the floor then when you run the maxair fan air will be drawn in through the hole in the floor that ETI cut for the vent connection. The vent is no longer connected so foul odors from the grey tank will mix with the air being drawn in. Some gray tanks can smell as bad as a black tank, ours certainly did. I shocked the gray tank with bleach on that trip to stop the odors and then planned out a time for the repairs later. Our trailer had two drain lines broken and the vent line, so 3 of the 4 were compromised. I repaired and upgraded all 4 connections with flex couplings.

 

[LarryLSB]

I haven't seen many reports of breakages in the 5.0. It seems the E19 and 21NE are the more reported models, but that's just a passing observation. This gray tank thread here details some of the repairs owners, including myself, have performed.

LarryLSB, you should plan to open up the lower portion of the wall on the outside of the bathroom and repair the vent connection. The link above will detail that repair. The vent line will likely shear off even with the top of the tank. Mine and several other E19 owners have had this problem. You'll only notice it if you fill the tank completely and it'll begin leaking from the top of the gray tank, OR you'll notice foul odors inside the trailer when you're sitting in the dinette. This was the symptom I noticed was the bad odor on the first shake-down trip after we purchased the trailer used. When the vent line shears off at the floor then when you run the maxair fan air will be drawn in through the hole in the floor that ETI cut for the vent connection. The vent is no longer connected so foul odors from the grey tank will mix with the air being drawn in. Some gray tanks can smell as bad as a black tank, ours certainly did. I shocked the gray tank with bleach on that trip to stop the odors and then planned out a time for the repairs later. Our trailer had two drain lines broken and the vent line, so 3 of the 4 were compromised. I repaired and upgraded all 4 connections with flex couplings.

Thanks for the heads up, after reading that thread, I have no odor issues that would indicate an issues with the vent pipe, yet! Looks like a doable repair though. I was thinking about replacing the kitchen sink p-trap with a hepo-valve, as others have done.

 

[FFPaul]

I had the same thing in my 5.0. What I found was my 28 gallon grey tank only holds about 20 gallons. When it gets 18 gallons in it I hear gurgling in the kitchen sink. At 20 gallons the shower quits draining and grey water starts dripping out of the foam.

 

[flyingg103]

I haven't seen many reports of breakages in the 5.0. It seems the E19 and 21NE are the more reported models, but that's just a passing observation. This gray tank thread here details some of the repairs owners, including myself, have performed.

LarryLSB, you should plan to open up the lower portion of the wall on the outside of the bathroom and repair the vent connection. The link above will detail that repair. The vent line will likely shear off even with the top of the tank. Mine and several other E19 owners have had this problem. You'll only notice it if you fill the tank completely and it'll begin leaking from the top of the gray tank, OR you'll notice foul odors inside the trailer when you're sitting in the dinette. This was the symptom I noticed was the bad odor on the first shake-down trip after we purchased the trailer used. When the vent line shears off at the floor then when you run the maxair fan air will be drawn in through the hole in the floor that ETI cut for the vent connection. The vent is no longer connected so foul odors from the grey tank will mix with the air being drawn in. Some gray tanks can smell as bad as a black tank, ours certainly did. I shocked the gray tank with bleach on that trip to stop the odors and then planned out a time for the repairs later. Our trailer had two drain lines broken and the vent line, so 3 of the 4 were compromised. I repaired and upgraded all 4 connections with flex couplings.

I had the same thing in my 5.0. What I found was my 28 gallon grey tank only holds about 20 gallons. When it gets 18 gallons in it I hear gurgling in the kitchen sink. At 20 gallons the shower quits draining and grey water starts dripping out of the foam.

I did find the under sink was leaking. The fitting did not break off completely rather a crack in the threads. I was able to repair using a strap wrench to help remove and tighten the new fittings which make this much easier than without as there is not much room to work with.

After completing this fix I have found the leak to be present in the vent line as well although it is not as significant. Find a couple of shots taken with a borescope showing the moisture around that fitting. I have had a bad smell coming in when the max fan would run and not sure if this is due to the system sitting for a while or not. The leak is very small and just drips once every 2 seconds or so if the tank is 100% full. If the smell keeps being an issue I will open up the wall under the shower and replace that fitting as well. But since the access is so limited I am going to wait and see what happens before acting.

Here are some pics of the repair to the kitchen sink, removing the ptrap and adding a Hepvo valve as well as adding a flexible coupling.

 

[Chamberman]

I never had the gray tank level high enough to have water leak out of the vent when it was broken. Luckily I realized our gray tank vent was probably broken after reading the posts on this forum about others with similar issues. That prompted me to add the bleach to the gray tank to kill off the biologic experiment going on in there. I used about a cup of bleach added to one gal of water and poured it down the bath sink and then another gal of the same bleach mixture down the kitchen sink to get it mixed into different areas of the tank as much as possible. Within a matter of minutes the smell abated. I did have a mild bleach odor after that, but that was highly preferable to the smell we had before and the bleach smell went down as we added more water to the gray tank over the next few days.

The contents in that gray tank can smell pretty bad especially if its sat unused and untreated in the heat for a long period. Even when empty there's still a few gal of liquid left in there due to the design of the tank, so plenty of fuel for bacteria to grow. I began adding a mild bleach water mixture to our 19 after we take a trip when I park it, just to minimize any on-going nastiness. The nice thing is that after a trip when I dump our gray tank its just about odorless.

 

[Chamberman]

BTW, One other thing that I do as soon as we park is to add some water to the two sink drains to refill the P-traps before I turn on the fan. Its possible that these P-traps can slosh the water out of them while in transit. If you do not refill them and turn on your Maxxfan then you'll draw air through the gray tank from the open gray tank vent and empty P-trap, not an optimal situation.

I know you installed a Hepvo on your sink, but the bath drain will still have a P-trap.

 

[flyingg103]

BTW, One other thing that I do as soon as we park is to add some water to the two sink drains to refill the P-traps before I turn on the fan. Its possible that these P-traps can slosh the water out of them while in transit. If you do not refill them and turn on your Maxxfan then you'll draw air through the gray tank from the open gray tank vent and empty P-trap, not an optimal situation.

I know you installed a Hepvo on your sink, but the bath drain will still have a P-trap.

Certainly agree about adding water the refill the ptrap after travelling. Will be monitoring the smell, and try the bleach idea if it comes back. Thanks for the recommendation