Sticking Lever

I once had some cable operated valves that were always really tough to open and close. It seemed no amount of grease on the rod would prevent them from occasionally getting stuck closed. One day I went to take the take the cap off to hook up the hose and I unleashed a brown volcano. My wife was absolutely no help since she was completely incapacitated by laughter. Laughing myself, I frantically tried to contain the brown beast with the hose. I eventually got the hose on, but the laughing continues to this day.

Anyway the handle was pushed in as far as it could go, to the point that I would rock the trailer pushing it in, but it would not stop the flow. At this point I was sure that there was something stuck in the valve preventing a complete closure. This could also explain why I had such a hard time opening it. I took the valve apart and it was clean as a whistle.

After investigating a little more it turns out the problem was that the cable was far too long. The handle was located about 12" away from the valve location, but the cable length was actually 36" long. The loop that the cable made was much too tight and that made it really difficult to open and close completely close the valve. Instead of trying to make the curve more gradual it was easier to just shorten the cable to the proper length. Never had a problem after that. Something to think about if you are using cable operated valves.

I just had a valve problem last week when we went to leave. Went to drain the tanks and one of the handles and associated rod came unscrewed from the valve so it would not open. While I did not know that was the problem at the time when I got home and cut open the coroplast or whatever it is that encloses the underside of our trailer to try to gain access to the valve I found the rod was unattached and had just come unscrewed from the valve. That rod was a good 36 inches long. The rod attached to a stud coming out of the valve assembly. All this to say that just lubing the rod at least on my trailer wouldn't do much at all if anything. However trailers are different and may not be the same.

Parker Olube is made for orings. If anyone uses it be sure you use rubber gloves.

Great responses! I will start with the lubricating the shaft after pulling the levers out. I will also use the treatment that gets poured into the tanks. If that fails, will make a trip to my repair shop and replace them (I am not mechanically inclined at all)
Thanks!

sac89 wrote:
(although difficult to close when the weekend was over)

You sit on site with the black valve open? I think you're causing your own problem. Leave the valve closed. Only open it to dump when the tank is filled at least half way, then close it again. Otherwise stuff doesn't get flushed through all the way through. That includes stuff building up in the area where the gate valve closes.

The gray tank is a bit more forgiving, since there are less solids. But, still good to collect then flush, especially before leaving so you can use the gray to flush the hose after dumping the black.

I tried the usual and was unable to free the valves. I ended up replacing them with new valtera parts. Mine were in a very difficult area to get to so I bought new valves to be safe. If yours are fairly easy to get out and you don't have luck with the other suggestions, you can pull em, clean em and lubricate with vasaline. You can also replace just the rubber seals. The valves are different sizes.

rrupert wrote:
After emptying the tanks, with the handles pulled out, give the rods a good spraying with silicon lubricant. Run them in and out a few times. That should help unless the valve seals are messed up in some way. It always works for me.

Same for my valves. I spray them with either silicone or CRC power lube, and it's always frees them up.

Don't put bleach or chemicals in the black tank other than those intended for black tank treatment. I bought a used 5th wheel years ago that some clean freak had ruined the roof, interior and holding tank valves with bleach. It sure was clean though.

After emptying the tanks, with the handles pulled out, give the rods a good spraying with silicon lubricant. Run them in and out a few times. That should help unless the valve seals are messed up in some way. It always works for me.

sac89 wrote:
Any thoughts as to why the black tank would be difficult to open and close during the summer?

A bit of debris build up, seals that may have dried a bit ... just add some Drain Valve Lubricant ... works well for me.