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bob2j8's avatar
bob2j8
Explorer
Sep 03, 2013

Trouble with black tank sprayer... baffling

I hooked up my black tank sprayer this weekend to flush, and absolutely no water was getting through to the tank. I've used this sprayer many times, but this weekend, nothing. I'm thinking it must be clogged or something. I even disconnected the vacuum breaker under the bathroom vanity and hooked it up directly to the outside hose bib, as well as hooking it up to my city water hose when I got home yesterday. Still nothing. its like the line has been completely blocked. I'm at a loss as to why this would happen. The trouble now is that my underbelly is enclosed and I have to remove a bunch of stuff just to be able to get to the sprayer. If anybody has any tips, please let me know.
  • thomasmnile's avatar
    thomasmnile
    Explorer
    Sep 03, 2013
    bob2j8 wrote:
    I hooked up my black tank sprayer this weekend to flush, and absolutely no water was getting through to the tank. I've used this sprayer many times, but this weekend, nothing. I'm thinking it must be clogged or something. I even disconnected the vacuum breaker under the bathroom vanity and hooked it up directly to the outside hose bib, as well as hooking it up to my city water hose when I got home yesterday. Still nothing. its like the line has been completely blocked. I'm at a loss as to why this would happen. The trouble now is that my underbelly is enclosed and I have to remove a bunch of stuff just to be able to get to the sprayer. If anybody has any tips, please let me know.


    Could it be the back flow preventer installed between the black flush hose connection and the tank sprayer has malfunctioned? Would seem the most likely candidate as the cause.........

    EDIT: The "vacuum breaker" you speak of, is that the back flow preventer? How do you disconnect it? On our Jayco, that thing is connected to the Pex tubing with crimp connectors. If I was to remove it, I'd be staring at two tubing ends. Did you remove it from the tubing and "bridge" the gap somehow?
  • mike-uswest's avatar
    mike-uswest
    Explorer II
    Sep 03, 2013
    Mine did the same thing years ago. I just went with one to put in from the toilet. I tried everything to break the clog down to no avail.

    Mike
  • bob2j8's avatar
    bob2j8
    Explorer
    Sep 03, 2013
    thomasmnile wrote:
    EDIT: The "vacuum breaker" you speak of, is that the back flow preventer? How do you disconnect it? On our Jayco, that thing is connected to the Pex tubing with crimp connectors. If I was to remove it, I'd be staring at two tubing ends. Did you remove it from the tubing and "bridge" the gap somehow?


    On my spree, I have 2 pex hoses with female threaded connectors. one goes from the outside hose fitting to the vacuum breaker, and the other goes from the vacuum breaker down through the floor of the bathroom vanity. I can easily unscrew the fittings. That is how I hooked up the outside hose fitting directly to the hose that goes down into the floor, bypassing the vacuum breaker. That is what baffles me. By hooking it up direct, the water should get through unhindered, but this is not the case.
  • mooky_stinks's avatar
    mooky_stinks
    Explorer
    Sep 03, 2013
    Isn't there a back-flow preventer that would be seperate from the vacuum breaker, in-line somewhere? Mine has one connected to the outside connection plus the vacuum breaker which is under the vanity. Like someone already said, that seems the most likely place to look?
  • louiskathy's avatar
    louiskathy
    Explorer
    Sep 03, 2013
    Ours got clogged with sand three years ago in CA. Never did get it to work after that. How do we know it's sand? We filter the water prior to it coming into the rig but we never thought about filtering the water when we flush the tanks. Duh. The filters were full of sand so it's a no brainer that the sprayer got clogged at the same campground.
  • Isaiah63's avatar
    Isaiah63
    Explorer
    Sep 04, 2013
    I had the problem and solved it with CLR (Ace Hardware) to dissolve calcium buildup. Poured it into the line between the backflow valve and black tank rinser and let it sit overnite and it's worked great ever since.
  • Isaiah63's avatar
    Isaiah63
    Explorer
    Sep 04, 2013
    I had the problem and solved it with CLR (Ace Hardware) to dissolve calcium buildup. Poured it into the line between the backflow valve and black tank rinser and let it sit overnite and it's worked great ever since.
  • l001952119's avatar
    l001952119
    Explorer
    Sep 04, 2013
    louiskathy wrote:
    Ours got clogged with sand three years ago in CA. Never did get it to work after that. How do we know it's sand? We filter the water prior to it coming into the rig but we never thought about filtering the water when we flush the tanks. Duh. The filters were full of sand so it's a no brainer that the sprayer got clogged at the same campground.


    I experienced the same basic problem. My use of well water at some campgrounds allowed small pebbles, shale, etc. to enter the flush system. This plugged the small orifices in the spray head. This can be prevented by using a screen washer in each water hose inlet fitting. I had an enclosed bottom shield and had to cut a hole in the tin and replace the nozzle. It's a guess where the head is located and can result in alot of incorrect cuts and patching!

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