Install fresh water tank

d-mac1 wrote:

okan-star wrote:
I had the same , or similar thing on my Hitchhiker water tank .
Tank vent was at the side on top , and would be water logged , venting no air as tank would continue to blow up like a balloon with a huge air pocket in the top center
It cracked at an inside corner at the top , because of the stress.

I pulled it out and had a shop weld the cracks and put a gusset on it
Also had them weld in a new fitting in the top center , which I tee`d into the existing vent line
I don't fill the tank until the vent line pucks water , I stop when the panel says its full , all good now

Sounds like same thing!! Yes...vent is near top but on side. Also, the routing of my vent line goes up and down along the bottom of my trailer to an opening up by the rest of my connections on the side of my trailer. When I got the trailer, the vent line hung underneath and it would siphon. Took it back and dealer 'fixed' to like this.

How did they weld the cracks and what is the gusset? Is the latter essentially a strap around it to keep it from expanding?

Who did you find to do the work? I dunno if there is a shop in the Denver area that would do it, but I like it better than buying a new tank for around $500. Of course, my dealer wants hundreds just to install and remove so I'm hoping to fix it myself and will prolly hafta stop the fill like you do....i.e. before its really full.

I can hear my vent line go under water when filling...a vent at the top should be the only way to do things on a tank, but perhaps there is no space. I won't know until I really get in there. My tank is a 100 gallon flat rectangle the full width of my trailer between the frame. Why did you leave the side vent line on?

The cracks in mine would open up more when I filled it

I pulled the tank out and filled it on the ground , the vent on the side top would go under water and the center top would have a huge air pocket with nowhere to relive it . When the tank was installed there are steel joists that would keep it from expanding at a certain point , but on the ground a 70 gal low flat tank would keep filling until it looked round
The tank was square except for one corner that was cut out , inset for the drain , to form an in side corner and at the top , where it cracked .
Look for a shop that does tanks and other plastics for plating and such things , should be some in the phone book in the Denver area
The gusset was just another piece of plastic over the crack .
I left the vent on the side because it was there and it does release air until it goes under water
Pull it out and look at it , you have to anyway to replace it . It wasen`t easy to get mine out , but it was made to come out . I could have bought a new tank from Kansas rv they had left over but for a hundred bucks to try this and my labor was better than $500. plus truck freight