Slow Grey Water Tank

[islandr]

We were out for our first trip in our 05 17B.

Our grey water tank seems slow. The kitchen sink drains slowly and sometimes burps. I have not tried the shower.

I looked under the sink and there is no vent to the roof like in a house. "Air behind water". Once past the trap as water enters the tank is water pushing the air out of the tank through the vent out the wardrobe?

When draining the grey water tank it seems slow as well. When draining the tongue was raised as the drain is in the rear of the tank. I wonder if the vent that runs through the wardrobe may be plugged?

Anyone else deal with this situation or something similar with their grey water

Thanks for any info

 

[escape artist]

Hi: islandr...We have a slo drain too!!! Our trailer needs to be quite low on the drainside when dumping. The vent for the grey water tank on our 5.0 is between the door and the wheel so we can spray a jet of water in there, with the garden hose, to clear it...but the drains are still slo and the older I get so am I!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

 

[islandr]

I called the factory today and spoke with both Tammy and Reese. They are very good with customer relations and a pleasure to speak with on the phone about the trailers.

After speaking with Reese, I have a rough idea on how the plumbing is routed. I bought a small plumbers "snake " and will do a little gentle cleaning of the pipes in question. The 1/4" size shouldn't be hard on the pipes.

 

[Thane-ESC]

If you take out the drawers and look to aft side of the furnace you will see the drain line vent. On top is a screwed in adaptor as shown in the attached picture.

Remove the adaptor and the sink will drain much better. The adaptor is a vent and also prevents water from coming out of that vent I think if you remove the adaptor the possibility of water backing up that high is very low. If you make a small extension so that the vent opening is above the bottom of the sink, then the possibility of a water problem is very low. The shower would also back up before the vent will.

The adaptor also keeps sewer gases from the grey water system from coming in the trailer but I keep the tanks clean and do not leave the drains open when hooked up, so odor is not a problem.

I took out my vent widget when I added the folding sink shown here http://escapeforum.org/index.php?topic=1550.0 and the galley sink flows better and I have not had any backflow or overflow problems.

 

[barry-ESC]

I have a 2005 17B and my "cheater vent" is behind the sink not in the area behind the drawers. My grey water also drains slowly but only at the end of the dump. I could wait another 5 minutes while the water drains but found that only about a gallon of water comes out in that time so don't bother.

I bought a sewer cap that has a hose thread on it and made an adapter so that I could back flush the grey water tank (with both the sink and shower drains locked!) until the water comes out of the vent that routes through the wardrobe beside the outside door. My thought for doing this was to clean out the grey tank but I found that the water came out very clear right from the beginning so I discounted that as the problem for the slow draining. I have come to the conclusion that the cheater vent doesn't allow enough air into the system as Thane suggested but am not brave enough to remove it for fear of flooding the trailer.

Barry

 

[Thane-ESC]

Flooding is a reasonable fear, I am careful when I backfill the tanks for dumping with my Flush King. The grey water tank is a slow drainer. I also sometimes backfill until the vent overflows on the opposite side.

 

[thoer]

I think one of the jobs of that one way air valve (cheater) is to keep any bad smells from decomposing "stuff" in the grey water tank out of the trailer. If you are out long enough and wash dishes, etc there could be enough bits from dishwashing etc in there to cause some odor. Those valves are used extensively in various parts of the US to minimize the number of vent stacks that have to go through the roof (where code permits) . Rather than remove it, an option would be to replace it with another brand/model than might let more air flow through.

Eric

 

[islandr]

I too am afraid of completely removing the one way valve for fear of water and odours getting outside the system.

In the next couple of days I will ensure the pipes are not clogged.

 

[hippo]

When the gray tank is empty at home I have used the toilet wand. I put it into the the sewer line on the trailer opening the gray tank valve and let the water wash all around in the gray tank. It seems dirt and other scum builds up at the exit pipe and washing it has worked. You might have to do it several times until the water runs free.