Eliminating one grey tank?

[AuntSmurf]

We have a 94 hitchhiker fiver. We have 2 grey tanks---one for the shower and vanity and a separate one for the kitchen sink. The one for the sink has ruptured. Not sure how bad as we haven't had a chance to look. Does anybody know if it would be an option to replace that grey tank with PVC? We don't do anything but full hookups and if we had to we could always wash dishes using a dish pan. We're thinking this would be a cheaper way of going. Hubby isn't the handiest person, so we would most likely hire a plumber and/or handyman to either do the job or at least help us.

[okiejoe]

X2 on the plastic weld

[myredracer]

RV holding tanks are typically ABS or low density polyethylene (LDPE). ABS is easy to work with and easy to glue. Patching or gluing polyethylene is not easy and is best left to a pro. - that is, *IF* the LDPE damage can be repaired. If the tank is ABS, depending on the location and size of the rupture, you *might* be able to get some sheet ABS and glue a patch on. Patching may not last though, esp. if LDPE.

Depending on how bad/big the rupture is and the type of plastic, you can buy patch kits like this one: PPL Motorhomes You might be able to get some sheet ABS from a plastics shop and make a patch to suit the actual sixe of the damage.

If you google "RV holding tank repair", you will find lots of info. on repairing tanks such as this one: Everything about RVing.

New tanks aren't all that expensive and are in the $200 -$400 range. They come in a large assortment of shapes and sizes and you should be able to come up with one that will fit. If the existing tank is ABS, I would stay with that because the inlet and outlet fittings can be glued on and less likely to leak. Using an LDPE tank would require using mechanically attached fittings. For all the effort and cost of trying to deal with the existing tank and piping, it might be easier to just replace the tank. I see that there are a lot of vendors at the moment that have tanks on sale.

One source of ABS tanks: ICONdirect.com

One source of polyethylene tanks: plastic-mart.com

[AuntSmurf]

Thanks everybody! We have a moble rv tech coming out in the next couple of days. He was highly recommended by the campground owner, so we're sure he's trustworthy. We will bounce options off of him. Hopefully we will be able to get this taken care of without having to mortgage the grand kids! 🙂

[64thunderbolt]

If not too bad most rv shops can plastic weld it. 2 of my friends had their fresh tanks welded @ min cost. Something to look into.

[sausageking]

Depending on how badly the tank is cracked you may be able to patch it with an epoxy.

[phillyg]

If you're asking if you can bypass the busted tank by running some drain pipe (PVC) from the sink to a location just downstream of the tank, I suspect that should be fairly easy as long as the underbelly of the FW is easy to get to. So yes, any reasonably competent handyman should be able to do that.

[n7bsn]

You probably don't want to hire a "plumber", as they often don't understand the oddities of RVs, hire a -GOOD- RV Tech

[Old-Biscuit]

By the time/effort is put forth getting to/removing bad galley tank it would probably be easier to replace the bad tank then 're-plumb'