Cannot open grey or black tank

[samsontdog]

A Lady rented one of my RV Sites yesterday here in Yuma and when she tried to empty her tanks the handle that you pull out would not budge. I tried pulling each handle and I could not pull it open. I called a friend and he tried and could not open either one. I called another friend and he could not get either one to open. The Lady just arrived here two weeks ago and a drunk driver hit her p/up and totaled it. No insurance by either her or the drunk driver. She had PLPD only. She is 60 and very little money. Every thing from the handle back is built in or covered, not easy to get to. Anyone have any suggestions how to get the handles to move as they should? She needs help as she does not know anyone here as does not have transportation or very little money as she just got out of an abusive relation

[Lynnmor]

You might want to call the county assistance office for aid. We had a family living in an old motor home that the local church members helped, so that too may be an option.
The problem is simple, take down the cover and repair the valves, it ain't rocket science, anyone with an bit of ambition can make the repair. Surely there are folks that would be able to help if only they knew about the problem.

[samsontdog]

Thanks, everyone for your suggestions. She had several RV Guys check the problem out and said it would be $250 to $325 and would have to be towed into their shop. Her truck was wrecked so she has no transportation, she is disabled, does not have a pot to pixx in until the 10th of Jan when she gets a check. Thanks all. Happy New Year

[JBarca]

samsontdog wrote:

The Travel Trailer is and has been in Yuma Az for the last 6 months in storage. The plumber cut a large section of sheet metal trying to get to the valves and gave up and said to call a RV Place that works on RVs. So that is what she is against at this time. I am out of the picture as I am just the owner of the property that she is renting

I have an option, it may or may not work but I had a similar situation one spring.

The dump valve was left open over the winter to air out the tank. That year, I did not spray silicone on the valve blade, I forgot and it left my thought process until spring. Note to self, don't forget next time...

Come spring, the rubber was so grabby, I could not pull the valve closed or open. It was like it was welded shut almost. I had a pull rod valve setup and the valve is buried under the coroplast cover. The rubber dried up with no lube on it and it was locked up from being stored with the valve open.

I used my spray silicone "device" to blast liquid silicone up the center of the 3" dump pipe, around a 90 degree bend (5 feet from the inlet) from an aerosol can with a straw up into the valve gaskets. Kept spraying and wiggling valve in and out and it finally worked the silicone into the gasket and it broke free.


Here is the "device" to get the silicone up 5 ft to the valve on the black tank. I use this as my normal lube setup. 6 foot length of 3/8" polyethylene tubing, silicone in a spay can, blow gun with compressed air behind it.

Shove the hose up the pipe until it reaches the valve, spray in some silicone, blast it up the hose with the air. Repeat a few times while working the valves.





I never tried shoving a hose up the grey tank pipe, it had 3 hard 90 degree bends. It might work with a 1/4" hose. Here is what I did for a permanent lube setup

The grey water tank valve is buried up a lot longer. For this one, I dropped the cover, drilled and taped in a fitting on the elbow downstream of the dump valve. I ran the long hose out of the cover and attached it to a fitting just upstream of the dump cap so when I dump, any water if it gets in the hose, will stay contained in the dump system.

Been using that for the last 12 years and it works flawlessly. Need to lube the valves 1 to 2 times a year, takes about 5 to 10 minutes and the longest part of the job, is getting the air hose to the camper. When the rubber gets dry, full or empty tank even in the camping season, the valves can work real hard. A little silicone in the right place and 6 to 8 months works great. Do the spray job when you start to feel excess drag.

With the cover off





Outside the cover


Just unhook the polyflow fitting, (push lock Legris style), and squirt the silicone in that long tube and blast it up to the valve.

Something like this may help the lady with the camper. Or the plumber/RV guy coming to help.

Hope this helps

John

For more tank compartment pics, see my Flickr page here https://www.flickr.com/photos/camper-johnb/sets/72157688819813792/

[Gjac]

It sounds to me that the seals inside are stuck to the plastic slider it self inside the valve body. What I did with mine when they became hard to open I drilled a small hole in the top of the valve body and screwed in a grease fitting. Using a regular grease gun the grease under pressure has no where to go but through the seals freeing the seals from the blade slider inside. It is usually the black tank that gets hard to open. When ever the handle gets hard to open I pump some grease into the fitting and all is well for a couple of more years. If you pull to hard on the handle and the threads pull out of the slider there is no other way to get that slider to move. I hope this helps. It is a very easy fix.

[SDcampowneroper]

thank you Op for working so hard to help out someone so needful
Now you mention the unit has been unused, parked in a Yuma summer for 6 months, an idea comes to mind. could it be that it has dry solids blockage on the tank side of the valves? Soaking for some time might be enough to soften the dried waste and loosen them, A power jet from the load side should speed that up if one could guide the pressure washer to the load side of the valves.
Many times when I owned our camp we used our wacker honey wagon to suck out contents of waste tanks through the toilet , a roof vent or sink after trap.apapted down to a 1" hose We also used it this way to break up the dreaded Poop pyramid. What the vacuum pump sucked out and cleared the blockage was always young girls clothing.
as both dump valves are stuck with the unit unused for a long time, it looks to me to be a dryed out waste issue that may release given some time.
Marry christmas to all!

[samsontdog]

valhalla360 wrote:
First question: What's the recent weather? If it's been well below freezing, it could simply be that they are frozen. If that's the case, once it's warmed up, they should work again.

As someone else mentioned, it's odd that both failed simultaneously. Really with the remote valves, you have to open up the bottom to get at them. Sometimes, they will have a cover you can remove to get at them. Once you get at them, it's pretty straight forward to unbolt and not to expensive to replace...it is a messy nasty job...particularly if the tanks are full.

Not that it helps but I really dislike the remote valves for just this reason. Much better to have everything right there where you can get at it.

The Travel Trailer is and has been in Yuma Az for the last 6 months
in storage. The plumber cut a large section of sheet metal trying to get to the valves and gave up and said to call a RV Place that works on RVs. So that is what she is against at this time. I am out of the picture as I am just the owner of the property that she is renting

[CA_Traveler]

If all else fails then gain access to the valves and then consider:

1. A catch basin etc under the valves.
2. Loosen the bolts and let it drain.
3. If the gate valve slide can be reached with a long drill from the outflow pipe then drill a hole in it to drain. After drilling reattach drain hose.
4. Cut off the outflow pipe and proceed as above.
5. Drill a hole through the outflow pipe and through the valve so that it can drain through the hose. Cover the pipe hole with Gorilla Tape ASAP.
6. Repair/replace as required for the above.

Needless to say all of the above has to be done in a clean and sanitary way. And there can certainly be time and cost involved.

[Lwiddis]

When this issue is solved and the lady recovers some ask her about roof maintenance, tire inflation and age, fresh water tank sanitation etc. I’m betting she doesn’t do anything.

[12th_Man_Fan]

If the valves are cable operated I don't know of any way without exposing the valves.

If they are just a straight rod, if you can get a pair of channel locks around the rod and turn it back and forth as someone pulls on the handle it might open. Depends if it is stuck at the valve or there is some corrosion on the rod and handle.

Good luck, wish we could help more.

[valhalla360]

First question: What's the recent weather? If it's been well below freezing, it could simply be that they are frozen. If that's the case, once it's warmed up, they should work again.

As someone else mentioned, it's odd that both failed simultaneously. Really with the remote valves, you have to open up the bottom to get at them. Sometimes, they will have a cover you can remove to get at them. Once you get at them, it's pretty straight forward to unbolt and not to expensive to replace...it is a messy nasty job...particularly if the tanks are full.

Not that it helps but I really dislike the remote valves for just this reason. Much better to have everything right there where you can get at it.

[Lwiddis]

If the RV park manager figures she can’t dump, she’s a goner. Or that she has no insurance. One way or the other suck it all out and replace.

[spoon059]

Any idea how much stuff is in the tanks? I might suggest pumping out the black tank through the toilet to get most of the stuff out. If there is any way to pump out the gray tank, try to empty that through a sink drain somehow.

Then your valves should be screwed on to the pipes. I would put a big Rubbermaid container under the pipes and remove the valves completely. See if you can fix them or else just replace them. If you're able to pump most of the stuff out through toilet and sink drains, there shouldn't be too much spilling out.

Best of luck. Situations like this are tough, which is why I cringe when I see people trying to use campers to "save money". Unless you park it someplace cheap and can fix things yourself, they are going to consistently cost money. Hate to see people live beyond their means when the luck runs out. Hopefully you can find a way to fix this situation for her in the short term.

Merry Christmas.

[Huntindog]

With both valves not opening.... That is very unusual to have both stick at the same time... I think there may be another reason than the valves themselves. Can you post up some pics?

[Guy_Roan]

samsontdog wrote:
Thank you all, I will pass the info on.

The first person I called yesterday was a plumber who tried for an hour which I paid for.

He tried drilling a hole etc.

The caps were off. I really feel sorry for the lady plus she has broken ribs,
no transportation, very little money, and Christmas time. My wife called Helping Hands but they are off until Jan 4th

I can't help you, but I would like to thank you for your generosity in paying for the plumber.
We need more people in the world like you !

If all else fails and it was mine, I guess I would have to take the valve apart -very slowly with rubber gloves, a bucket and lots of water to rinse with.

Good luck

Guy