Best pay attention to your Gray Tank Dump Valve T-Handle
We just returned from THE best RV trip ever to Oregon. However, a problem 4 days into the trip threatened to put a serious dent in our plans...
Just before leaving Ainsworth State Park in the Columbia River Gorge, I went to dump the tanks and, lo and behold, I fell backwards when the Gray Tank T-Handle came out! A close inspection revealed that the end of the handle is threaded (female). I stuck it back in the 3/8" diameter hole and could feel the male end in there, but it was impossible to rethread these 2 together with no visual contact. NOW WHAT? I called local mobile RV repairs and they were backed up anywhere from 2 to 9 weeks! I called the local Camping World store in Wood Village (just east of Portland) and, of course, this time of year they are also backed up. I made the decision to continue to our next campground at Ft. Stevens State Park just outside of Astoria.
The Gray Tank is enclosed within another shell, through which the T-Handle passes through, which insulates the tank in cold weather. This hole is very tiny and you can't see into it, even with a flashlight, much less with the T-Handle in it. I made one last desperate attempt to not only "find" the male end, but to somehow get both ends threaded together by "feel" only. SUCCESS! How lucky! If that failed, I was going to drill a bigger hole in the tank enclosure until I could actually see the male end and work with it. Let this be a lesson to all that each time you dump your Gray Tank, be sure to turn it Clockwise to verify it is not coming unthreaded, with disastrous results!
Just before leaving Ainsworth State Park in the Columbia River Gorge, I went to dump the tanks and, lo and behold, I fell backwards when the Gray Tank T-Handle came out! A close inspection revealed that the end of the handle is threaded (female). I stuck it back in the 3/8" diameter hole and could feel the male end in there, but it was impossible to rethread these 2 together with no visual contact. NOW WHAT? I called local mobile RV repairs and they were backed up anywhere from 2 to 9 weeks! I called the local Camping World store in Wood Village (just east of Portland) and, of course, this time of year they are also backed up. I made the decision to continue to our next campground at Ft. Stevens State Park just outside of Astoria.
The Gray Tank is enclosed within another shell, through which the T-Handle passes through, which insulates the tank in cold weather. This hole is very tiny and you can't see into it, even with a flashlight, much less with the T-Handle in it. I made one last desperate attempt to not only "find" the male end, but to somehow get both ends threaded together by "feel" only. SUCCESS! How lucky! If that failed, I was going to drill a bigger hole in the tank enclosure until I could actually see the male end and work with it. Let this be a lesson to all that each time you dump your Gray Tank, be sure to turn it Clockwise to verify it is not coming unthreaded, with disastrous results!
