HELP WITH WATER LEAK - WATER EVERYWHERE.

[maynardcaster]

OK I need some help. This morning I was hearing a humming noise between my kitchen and bathroom. Probably should have stayed home from work and dealt with it, but I didn't. Anyway, got home from work and the nice gentleman across the way came over and said he turned off our water cause it was gushing from underneath our rig. So we went in the RV and the kitchen sinks were full, as was the toilet. I immediately went and opened the drain on them. We keep the shower one open anyway. That emptied the sink and toilet, then I proceeded to mop up the floors. I am wondering if anyone has any ideas on what happened. All faucets were turned off. I verified that. So whatever it is,somehow it allowed a grey and a black tank to overflow.

[Allworth]

It is a good rule to always disconnect the black tank flush hose when not actively using the flush. Been there! Have the Tee Shirt!

The CG valve did not completely shut and trickled into the black tank from about 4PM until 3AM when DW went potty and saw it backing up in the toilet bowl.

I got outside (in the dark; in my sleep-shorts; barefooted; 40 degrees in Canada) and jerked the Black Drain handle before if ran over. Another half hour would have been a disaster.

I now carefully disconnect the hose at the trailer. EVERY TIME!

[RollandB]

You may need to contact a professional to have the cleaning of the black tank dealt with if it escaped the toilet bowl. The same company can probably deal with getting things dried out. A combination of air movement, heat, and dehumidifying plus removing insulation as you noted will get things dried out. With all that equipment it will sound like an airport in your RV and should be very warm. Good luck!

[colliehauler]

You may want to get a dehumidifier to help dry out the rv.

[Roger10378]

Look and see how many vents are on top of the roof. If you have 3, one for each tank, then there is no cross venting. If there are 2 roof vents with 3 tanks there is.

[dapperdan]

minnow wrote:
You may want to consider calling your insurance company. You possibly have some serious water/mold/bacteria issue now. Especially with the black tank backing up and overflowing.

X2 That had to be a mess! SORRY :E

And it's going to take quite a bit to get it cleaned up not to mention all that saturated insulation down below that's probably going to need replacing. Sounds like a pretty big job to me. Good luck.

Dan

[khalsey]

I installed a 12 volt selonoid that was made for a washer on my fresh water hookup and installed the switch on panel with monitor and other switches. I always turn switch off when leaving campsite. Through the years I have turned water off to two campers that had water running out of them.

[spud1957]

If your black tank over flowed on to the floor, you have to do more than mop it up. That's nasty liquid and unhealthy. Might want to call your insurance company if that's the case.

[Old-Biscuit]

Waste tanks do not have overflows..........they have drain lines from sink/shower/toilet and vent lines that go in the top of tank. They have dump lines that come out of each tank......they may tie together thru a common header but that is after the individual dump valves.

Check valve??????

Black tank flush system has an anti-siphon/vacuum breaker to stop any backflow from black tank thru flush line into water connection. But if black tank filled and push water up thru flush sprayer and line to anti-siphon/vacuum breaker it would have run all over the floor cause they are open to atmosphere (breaks vacuum that way)

Black tank could have filled and overflowed up thru toilet IF flusher system was allowing water into tank.
But galley tank and kitchen sink overflowing.........????????????

Only possibility I can think of would be galley tank vent line 'T' into black tank vent line way below roof line (which would be why black tank didn't spew up out/down off roof when it overfilled.


Just can't go with mobile rv guy's scenario about the check valve and tank overflow lines.


I'd also be checking the install on waste tanks.....when overfilled they bulge and can break straps or deform/split. Don't want them falling out later on.

CONTACT JAYCO
Inquire about vent line on galley and black tanks
Ask them HOW both black and galley overflowed

[youngone]

I always turn off the outside water connection when ever we leave the camper. And also turn off electric water heater switch.

[maynardcaster]

I had the mobile repair guy come out and he said the noise we heard was the check valve. That even though we have different drain valves, they are all tied together for overflow purposes. He said we probably hit the black tank flushing shutoff by accident and it all overflowed. Now to dry everthing out. Hard to do in the Northwest where all we have is rain rain rain. LOL. But we will get it done. May have to replace the insulation under the tanks also depending on what kind of insulation it is. Will check that tomorrow. No wet carpets so that is good. I am gonna get a gift certificate for the guy across the way that turned our water off, though.

[RustyJC]

OK, now I'm wondering if the black tank and the kitchen sink gray tank share a vent line. If so, the black tank could have filled up and then filled the kitchen tank through the vent.

Rusty

[minnow]

You may want to consider calling your insurance company. You possibly have some serious water/mold/bacteria issue now. Especially with the black tank backing up and overflowing.

[maynardcaster]

Thanks for trying. I am at a loss also.

[RustyJC]

OK, then I'm at a loss to explain why the toilet and the kitchen sinks would both fill up, but not the shower or the bathroom lavatory.

Rusty