fleetwood grey water drain problems

[thompson60]

I have a 2009 fleetwood terra 29vs.If I leave the grey water gate valve open and drain the kitchen sink it drains ok.If I close the gate valve and drain the sink some water comes up into the shower. Have checked tank roof vent,changed the small vents on kitchen and bathroom sinks. Does anyone have other suggestions. Thanks

[thompson60]

I got the camera and checked the vent all ok. Drilled a hole in the tank and checked in the tank. Some sediment in the bottom. Flushed tank with a garden hose. Took slide valve apart and checked drain pipe Wondering if there was more sediment took a pail and slowly filled the tank through the kitchen sink, amount was right at 45 gallons. Drained tank back into a pail. Parts of a pot scrubber with sediment came out,from Where?. Installed a black water flush system to grey water tank to seal the hole I drilled in the tank. When it drains now it comes out with force and no problems with back up in shower drain.

[thompson60]

I bought this unit in June and did not seem to have problems at first. It only has one grey and one black water tank.

Fleetwood said the problem might be the vent pipe has slipped down.

When I get home I will do more investigating. First talk to the previous owner if he had this problem.
A plumber friend has a camera to check out drains etc and the tank. Will advise what I find. Thanks for all your help.

[Koop]

dougrainer wrote:
Thru the roof vent by running water down thru it from the roof is NOT always a good check of venting. It depends on how FW plumbed the system. They sometimes run vent AND drain plumbing 1.5 inch pipes thru the same wall connection. Ideally, you have the sink/shower 1.5 inch drain pipes run to the tank and then the 1.5 inch vent stack pipe is seperate and goes up thru the roof. But, they don't always do that (run a seperate vent stack pipe. Also, IF the roof vent stack pipe is inserted INTO the top of the tank and DOWN TOO FAR, then it may not vent air correctly(this is what is indicated by leaving the Gray valve open and the sink drain normally). I would see if you can go on the roof and see if you can pull the roof top pipe UP a little bit. If so, then retest. Doug

Right on.

[hershey]

To the OP? How long have you had this RV? Have you used it more than a couple times?
If its a new (or new to you) RV and use has been limited, I'm still betting that you have two gray tanks and one is full and your draining the other one. Look under the RV and see how many train valves you have. If there are only two, then my theory is zilch. If there are three, you may not be draining all tanks. Are you still reading the thread to your query????? Response???

[dougrainer]

Thru the roof vent by running water down thru it from the roof is NOT always a good check of venting. It depends on how FW plumbed the system. They sometimes run vent AND drain plumbing 1.5 inch pipes thru the same wall connection. Ideally, you have the sink/shower 1.5 inch drain pipes run to the tank and then the 1.5 inch vent stack pipe is seperate and goes up thru the roof. But, they don't always do that (run a seperate vent stack pipe. Also, IF the roof vent stack pipe is inserted INTO the top of the tank and DOWN TOO FAR, then it may not vent air correctly(this is what is indicated by leaving the Gray valve open and the sink drain normally). I would see if you can go on the roof and see if you can pull the roof top pipe UP a little bit. If so, then retest. Doug

[lanerd]

Jeff.. the op said he ran water through the roof vent and it emptied out the gray tank drain... me thinks the vent is not clogged.

Ron

[Spizzer]

This is an interesting problem. I agree with Koop that it could be a clogged vent. As the water enters the tank, air pushes the p-trap water into the shower. Easy to test....use a plunger and go after the shower drain to get water out of the trap. Then run some water and see if you get gray tank odor out of the shower.

Keep us posted....

Jeff

[KO]

This is an interesting problem. If/when you discover problem or fix - please do post.

[lanerd]

I didn't think of that. Our previous TT had two grays...one for the galley and one for the bathroom. Funny how you forget things like that.

OP...is the case for you?

Ron

[hershey]

Sounds like you have two gray water tanks and one is full, thus causing it to flood the shower. The other is the one your draining.

[thompson60]

I don't understand it either, grey water tank is mty, I put a garden hose down the vent and water ran out of the gate valve drain so the vent is clear. It is plumbed the same as a house sink drain plumbed with a vent stack. The water to drain is 1/2 tub of one side of a double sink. Seems if the water will not let air go up the stack. I even instead of plugging the stopper right out, just only lifted a bit but did the same thing. Quess it is a good question for a Fleetwood factory rep.

[lanerd]

The shower drain is much higher than the gray tank drain valve. I agree, unless the tank is full, I don't see how in the world the water can back up to the shoer drain. Doesn't make sense.....even with the roof vent clogged and not allowing any air to escape. The air in the tank (if empty) would definitely push air up the shower drain as the water flowing into the tank displaces it, but I just don't see how the water could do that. Got me stumped.

Ron

[Koop]

Maybe you have a gray water tank vent problem. When you checked the roof vents, are you sure the tank is actually venting? If the vent is plugged, when water from the sink enters the tank, it vents through the shower drain - pushing liquid from the P-trap into the shower pan.

[trop-a-cal]

Need more information , as to volumes of water draining, what valve you are opening and closing, as no logical conclusion can be drawn from an empty tank allowing water into shower, only full tank overflowing would do that.