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TNGW1500SE's avatar
TNGW1500SE
Explorer
Jul 05, 2016

Do the people that build them ever use them?

I wonder sometimes!

I've got to vent!!!

I was leaving the CG today and thought I'd put 10 gallons in the fresh water tank for the trip home. I had the hose still hooked up to the RV so I just flipped it over on "Tank fill". Then I got busy and forgot it. So, it filled the tank all the way up until it came out the overflow. The overflow is just a 1/2 pipe and it couldn't handle the volume of water so it backed up the fill tube on the side of the RV and was spraying out around the locked door. Under that locked door there is no cap on the fill tube and a hole is molded in next to the fill tube. That hole is not capped either and is open to the inside of the RV. So,,, you guessed it,,,,, water sprays out under the nightstand and goes under the bed.

Wonderful!

You'd think that after you built a few of these, you'd learn a thing or two! How many thousands of Winnebago's have they built!!!!

A simple home style toilet shuts off when it's full. How hard can it be???

A bigger overflow would fix it!

A float valve would fix it!

No stupid hole to the inside would even be better!

Next time I'm standing there the whole time!!!!

Ran the wet & dry vac and am running the A/C for a week to dry it out!

The guys at the factory must laugh when they see the plans!
Class A

66 Replies

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  • Effy's avatar
    Effy
    Explorer II
    Jul 05, 2016
    I think the overarching point is this; There was a water overflow installed on the RV. It didn't work. I think some people are confusing this with enabling willful disregard of the task. But that's not the issue here. The issue is whether or not the overflow installed on the RV was engineered to actually perform the task it was designed for. The answer is no. Fail. We could go on all day with straw man arguments about what if, and what else can we ignore etc. But the fact is, a system designed for a specific purposed failed at performing that purpose.
  • rgatijnet1's avatar
    rgatijnet1
    Explorer III
    Jul 05, 2016
    msmith1199 wrote:


    You fill the fuel tank with a special nozzle that shuts off when full. They designed it that way in case somebody walks away and forgets. That way the motorhome cabinets don't fill with fuel.


    As an ex-cop I would think that you would know better and also have heard about what has happened when an unattended fuel nozzle did NOT shut off automatically. But if it helps you make your point, go for it. Intelligent people know better than to trust the fuel fill nozzle.
    The same goes for filling your water tank. Intelligent people pay attention to the job they are doing.
  • Two_Jayhawks's avatar
    Two_Jayhawks
    Explorer
    Jul 05, 2016
    2oldman wrote:
    rgatijnet1 wrote:
    So you are saying that you think it should have been designed to be completely ignored during the filling process? Does the same go for filling the fuel tank .or the LP??
    I set the latch on the pump handle and while I'm doing something else it stops when it's supposed to. It's designed that way.

    Now I suppose they'll be a bunch of responses about how they spilled fuel all over the ground because the latch failed and I'm not supposed to trust it.


    Not looking to hijack this thread but NO you are most certainly NOT supposed to "set the latch" on a fuel pump and go do something else. I believe there is even a law on the books that says one needs to tend to their gas pump.
  • msmith1199's avatar
    msmith1199
    Explorer II
    Jul 05, 2016
    rgatijnet1 wrote:
    Effy wrote:


    Straw man argument. Mine can handle high pressure overflow. I would imagine most can. No reason why Winnie couldn't have made an overflow to accommodate it. After all , it's an overflow, not a "sorta overflow if the pressure isn't too high otherwise let it run into the cabinets" . In this case the intent to prevent overflow was too poorly designed to actually accommodate the task. I seriously doubt he intent of the engineer was to make it so it only allowed for moderate to light pressure ergo a half way job. To me, an overflow is sort of all or nothing kind of thing. In this case, I think it's wasted pipe.


    So you are saying that you think it should have been designed to be completely ignored during the filling process? Does the same go for filling the fuel tank or the LP?
    I mean if you are going to ignore one thing, why not design the RV so that one can ignore everything. :?


    You fill the fuel tank with a special nozzle that shuts off when full. They designed it that way in case somebody walks away and forgets. That way the motorhome cabinets don't fill with fuel.
  • msmith1199's avatar
    msmith1199
    Explorer II
    Jul 05, 2016
    rgatijnet1 wrote:
    msmith1199 wrote:
    dougrainer wrote:
    I guess my take on this is very different. EVERYBODY does something DUMB, not just once but some of the time. My take is this, The OP did something DUMB, instead of then thinking, "jeez that was dumb", he decides to post his stupid mistake, but instead of posting it as a warning to be carefull when city filling your water tank, he makes it about SOMEONE else. THEY were dumb, not me. Why should I be responsible for my inattention and carelessness. Doug


    Why does the tank have an overflow? It has it just in case you overfill the tank the tank doesn't expand a tear up everything around it and eventually rupture. So don't you think if they are going to anticipate that happening, that the overflow should actually be designed to do it's job properly? They did it correctly on my Tropical, seems like Winnebago could do the same thing.


    You read what happened entirely different from what I read happened.
    The OP said that Winnebago DID provide an overflow pipe, just like most every other coach has. His complaint was that it was only a 1/2" overflow and could not handle the pressure from his incoming hose at full shore water pressure.
    It seems to me that Winnebago DID provide an over flow and that all it required was for someone, anyone, hanging around to shut the water off when the tank was full and started to overflow.
    I would not expect ANY manufacturer to design against an owner completely ignoring a high pressure hose when it is filling the water tank. Obviously it happened but Winnebago gave him all of the tools needed to prevent it from happening, and he was too busy to use them.


    And you ignored the point I made. I have a Tropical and it has a 3/4" overflow pipe and I've done the same thing the OP has done several times, yet I didn't flood my bedroom. How come National RV figured it out and Winnebago didn't? Pretty sure that's the point the OP was making.
  • phillyg's avatar
    phillyg
    Explorer II
    Jul 05, 2016
    RV designers should be forced to live in the RV and use every piece of equipment for no less than a week.
  • Effy's avatar
    Effy
    Explorer II
    Jul 05, 2016
    rgatijnet1 wrote:
    Effy wrote:


    Straw man argument. Mine can handle high pressure overflow. I would imagine most can. No reason why Winnie couldn't have made an overflow to accommodate it. After all , it's an overflow, not a "sorta overflow if the pressure isn't too high otherwise let it run into the cabinets" . In this case the intent to prevent overflow was too poorly designed to actually accommodate the task. I seriously doubt he intent of the engineer was to make it so it only allowed for moderate to light pressure ergo a half way job. To me, an overflow is sort of all or nothing kind of thing. In this case, I think it's wasted pipe.


    So you are saying that you think it should have been designed to be completely ignored during the filling process? Does the same go for filling the fuel tank or the LP?
    I mean if you are going to ignore one thing, why not design the RV so that one can ignore everything. :?


    Well yes. I mean why have it if it doesn't work? To use your own example, if I overfill the gas tank 2 things should occur, gas will run out of it's overflow onto the ground and/or the pump will shut off. I can assure you gas will not run back into the RV. In the case of LP, again, the valves present on the tank will prevent LP from filling the coach. In both cases engineers have accommodated for overflow successfully and do not allow either to re-enter the RV. I would expect the same from a water overflow. In this case the water overflow did not work. So - Yes. I expect a water overflow to actually be used as an overflow. I am not condoning the actions of the OP, but I seriously doubt his intent was to willfully ignore his water. But the questions are these; Is there a water overflow present on the rv? - Yes. Is it a realistic expectation that a factory installed water overflow would route water away from the RV? - Yes. Is it a realistic expectation that a factory installed water overflow route water into the rv? - NO. To me it's a fail.
  • 2oldman's avatar
    2oldman
    Explorer II
    Jul 05, 2016
    rgatijnet1 wrote:
    So you are saying that you think it should have been designed to be completely ignored during the filling process? Does the same go for filling the fuel tank .or the LP??
    I set the latch on the pump handle and while I'm doing something else it stops when it's supposed to. It's designed that way.

    Now I suppose they'll be a bunch of responses about how they spilled fuel all over the ground because the latch failed and I'm not supposed to trust it.
  • rgatijnet1's avatar
    rgatijnet1
    Explorer III
    Jul 05, 2016
    Effy wrote:


    Straw man argument. Mine can handle high pressure overflow. I would imagine most can. No reason why Winnie couldn't have made an overflow to accommodate it. After all , it's an overflow, not a "sorta overflow if the pressure isn't too high otherwise let it run into the cabinets" . In this case the intent to prevent overflow was too poorly designed to actually accommodate the task. I seriously doubt he intent of the engineer was to make it so it only allowed for moderate to light pressure ergo a half way job. To me, an overflow is sort of all or nothing kind of thing. In this case, I think it's wasted pipe.


    So you are saying that you think it should have been designed to be completely ignored during the filling process? Does the same go for filling the fuel tank or the LP?
    I mean if you are going to ignore one thing, why not design the RV so that one can ignore everything. :?
  • Effy's avatar
    Effy
    Explorer II
    Jul 05, 2016
    rgatijnet1 wrote:
    msmith1199 wrote:
    dougrainer wrote:
    I guess my take on this is very different. EVERYBODY does something DUMB, not just once but some of the time. My take is this, The OP did something DUMB, instead of then thinking, "jeez that was dumb", he decides to post his stupid mistake, but instead of posting it as a warning to be carefull when city filling your water tank, he makes it about SOMEONE else. THEY were dumb, not me. Why should I be responsible for my inattention and carelessness. Doug


    Why does the tank have an overflow? It has it just in case you overfill the tank the tank doesn't expand a tear up everything around it and eventually rupture. So don't you think if they are going to anticipate that happening, that the overflow should actually be designed to do it's job properly? They did it correctly on my Tropical, seems like Winnebago could do the same thing.


    You read what happened entirely different from what I read happened.
    The OP said that Winnebago DID provide an overflow pipe, just like most every other coach has. His complaint was that it was only a 1/2" overflow and could not handle the pressure from his incoming hose at full shore water pressure.
    It seems to me that Winnebago DID provide an over flow and that all it required was for someone, anyone, hanging around to shut the water off when the tank was full and started to overflow.
    I would not expect ANY manufacturer to design against an owner completely ignoring a high pressure hose when it is filling the water tank. Obviously it happened but Winnebago gave him all of the tools needed to prevent it from happening, and he was too busy to use them.


    Straw man argument. Mine can handle high pressure overflow. I would imagine most can. No reason why Winnie couldn't have made an overflow to accommodate it. After all , it's an overflow, not a "sorta overflow if the pressure isn't too high otherwise let it run into the cabinets" . In this case the intent to prevent overflow was too poorly designed to actually accommodate the task. I seriously doubt he intent of the engineer was to make it so it only allowed for moderate to light pressure ergo a half way job. To me, an overflow is sort of all or nothing kind of thing. In this case, I think it's wasted pipe. Even at 1/2" - properly sealed - would have worked.

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