Obnoxious plumbing

[Ryan Wright]

I'm fairly certain my shower is plumbed into my blank tank. I've taken
a couple of long showers and my blank tank is half full already; grey
shows empty.

I find this to be incredibly obnoxious. Why on earth would shower
water be going to the black? My grey tank never gets more than 1/4 of
the way full before the black is ready to overflow...

Is this going to be an easy fix? It doesn't look like it to me. I
climbed under the coach and I can't even see where the shower
discharges. It must be all hidden behind that foam insulation or
something...

-Ryan
'86 PT-40 8V92
Tri-Cities, WA

[scoggins_jim]

Ryan:
It is hard for me to believe. Just a wild guess but I wonder if someone
replumbed it. Are you making the complaint based on the gauges or
actually dumping? You could have bad gauges for both black and grey.

I had an 86PT40:
Toilet and bathroom sink went into the black water tank.
Shower and kitchen sink went into grey water tank.

Try this: Go to a dump station. Open the black tank valve and let it
drain. Flush the toilet and see that water flows out. Like wise, run
the bathroom sink to check that water runs out.

Then: Close the black drain and open the grey. Run the shower and check
for the flow. Like wise, run the kitchen sink and check for flow.

My bathroom was on the right hand side of coach. Thus, the black tank
was also on the right. When the tanks were empty I could hear the water
flowing into the correct tank.

If it is not working as described I cannot imagine why it would be
plumbed as you describe. It would be hard to fathom someone going
through the effort to goober up a perfectly good set up.

Let us know how you make out.

Regards,
Jim Scoggins
formerly
86 PT40

[bloomas]

----- Original Message -----
From: Ryan Wright
To: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com ; wanderlodge@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, July 09, 2007 1:14 AM
Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] Obnoxious plumbing
Hi Ryan Jim gave good advice.You can also turn off the water to the toilet
flush the toilet shining a light into the tank and check the level the old
fashion way..
Bob Loomas 1985 PT 36


I'm fairly certain my shower is plumbed into my blank tank. I've taken
a couple of long showers and my blank tank is half full already; grey
shows empty.

I find this to be incredibly obnoxious. Why on earth would shower
water be going to the black? My grey tank never gets more than 1/4 of
the way full before the black is ready to overflow...

Is this going to be an easy fix? It doesn't look like it to me. I
climbed under the coach and I can't even see where the shower
discharges. It must be all hidden behind that foam insulation or
something...

-Ryan
'86 PT-40 8V92
Tri-Cities, WA




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[brad barton]

Ryan,
A lot of BB's are plumbed that way. They figure the gray water will fill up
from the lavatory and sink faster than the black, so they try to balance the
drainage. But they didn't count on how my wife takes showers. Brad Barton
00LXiDFW bbartonwx@...


To: WanderlodgeForum@...: bloomas@...: Mon, 9 Jul
2007 10:41:24 -0500Subject: Re: [WanderlodgeForum] Obnoxious plumbing




----- Original Message ----- From: Ryan Wright To:
WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com ; wanderlodge@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday,
July 09, 2007 1:14 AMSubject: [WanderlodgeForum] Obnoxious plumbingHi Ryan Jim
gave good advice.You can also turn off the water to the toilet flush the toilet
shining a light into the tank and check the level the old fashion way..Bob
Loomas 1985 PT 36I'm fairly certain my shower is plumbed into my blank tank.
I've takena couple of long showers and my blank tank is half full already;
greyshows empty.I find this to be incredibly obnoxious. Why on earth would
showerwater be going to the black? My grey tank never gets more than 1/4 ofthe
way full before the black is ready to overflow...Is this going to be an easy
fix? It doesn't look like it to me. Iclimbed under the coach and I can't even
see where the showerdischarges. It must be all hidden behind that foam
insulation orsomething... -Ryan'86 PT-40 8V92Tri-Cities, WA[Non-text portions
of this message have been removed]


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PC Magazine’s 2007 editors’ choice for best web mail—award-winning Windows Live
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Ryan Wright]

Thank you all for the replies. I'll perform the tests at my next dump
but I'm 99% certain the shower is dumping direct to black. My sensors
are working properly; when I drain the tanks, the black always takes
forever and the grey always goes exceptionally fast. Best as I can
tell the only thing going into my grey tank is water from the kitchen
sink.

Question: How difficult is this to change? What's involved? Since I
can't even see the shower drain from under the coach, I've no idea how
I'm going to get in there. This HAS to be changed as far as I'm
concerned... I've got a nearly full blank tank and an empty grey and
that isn't fun. I don't want to combine the tanks; I'd like my grey to
stay grey.

-Ryan

On 7/9/07, brad barton <bbartonwx@...> wrote:
>
> Ryan,
> A lot of BB's are plumbed that way. They figure the gray water will fill up
from the lavatory
> and sink faster than the black, so they try to balance the drainage. But
they didn't count
> on how my wife takes showers. Brad Barton 00LXiDFW bbartonwx@...
>

[brad barton]

Ryan, I understand you want to keep your tanks separate. But as a former Newell
owner with a single 200 gallon holding tank, I had no bad experiences. I think
I've read here where some BB owners linked their tanks for the same reason. But
there was obviously a reason for BB doing it the way they did.Brad Barton
00LXiDFW bbartonwx@...


To: WanderlodgeForum@...: ryanpwright@...: Mon, 9 Jul
2007 09:57:43 -0700Subject: Re: [WanderlodgeForum] Obnoxious plumbing




Thank you all for the replies. I'll perform the tests at my next dumpbut I'm 99%
certain the shower is dumping direct to black. My sensorsare working properly;
when I drain the tanks, the black always takesforever and the grey always goes
exceptionally fast. Best as I cantell the only thing going into my grey tank is
water from the kitchensink.Question: How difficult is this to change? What's
involved? Since Ican't even see the shower drain from under the coach, I've no
idea howI'm going to get in there. This HAS to be changed as far as
I'mconcerned... I've got a nearly full blank tank and an empty grey andthat
isn't fun. I don't want to combine the tanks; I'd like my grey tostay
grey.-RyanOn 7/9/07, brad barton <bbartonwx@...> wrote:>> Ryan,> A lot
of BB's are plumbed that way. They figure the gray water will fill up from the
lavatory> and sink faster than the black, so they try to balance the drainage.
But they didn't count> on how my wife takes showers. Brad Barton 00LXiDFW
bbartonwx@...>


_________________________________________________________________
PC Magazine’s 2007 editors’ choice for best web mail—award-winning Windows Live
Hotmail.
http://imagine-windowslive.com/hotmail/?...on_HM\
WL_mini_pcmag_0707

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[mbulriss]

Ryan,

It would be unusual if it is plumbed that way, but the good news is
you should have a very clean black water tank! =8^)

Without knowing the layout of your coach, my feeling is that it will
be a very onerous procedure to re-plumb it to the grey tank, if indeed
it is plumbed as you suspect today. It might be easier to tie the two
tanks together as as been discussed here recently by some members.

Mike Bulriss
1991 WB40 "Texas Minivan"
San Antonio, TX


--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Ryan Wright"
wrote:
>
> Thank you all for the replies. I'll perform the tests at my next dump
> but I'm 99% certain the shower is dumping direct to black. My sensors
> are working properly; when I drain the tanks, the black always takes
> forever and the grey always goes exceptionally fast. Best as I can
> tell the only thing going into my grey tank is water from the kitchen
> sink.
>
> Question: How difficult is this to change? What's involved? Since I
> can't even see the shower drain from under the coach, I've no idea how
> I'm going to get in there. This HAS to be changed as far as I'm
> concerned... I've got a nearly full blank tank and an empty grey and
> that isn't fun. I don't want to combine the tanks; I'd like my grey to
> stay grey.
>
> -Ryan
>
> On 7/9/07, brad barton <bbartonwx@...> wrote:
> >
> > Ryan,
> > A lot of BB's are plumbed that way. They figure the gray water
will fill up from the lavatory
> > and sink faster than the black, so they try to balance the
drainage. But they didn't count
> > on how my wife takes showers. Brad Barton 00LXiDFW bbartonwx@...
> >
>

[nslinkman]

My 1994 had the kitchen sink running into the black water tank. I had
a plumber install a valve under the sink which turns off the water
going to the black tank. Prior to the cut off he put a 'T' and ran one
side through 3/4 pex tubing that i could connect a standard hose to
and run to septic system. We show horses and a lot of times we were at
Fairgrounds where they allowed the grey water run direct on the dirt.

[Ryan Wright]

Follow up on this: It turns out I was wrong. That's the second time
this year! ;-)

My shower is running into grey like it should. The second LED on my
gauge doesn't light when I push the grey button (it lights fine on the
others), so it looked like grey was empty when in reality it was 1/4
full. I took a few more showers and black is still 1/2 full but grey
went up to 1/2, then 3/4.

Sorry for the false alarm! I'll be dumping the tanks soon and I'm
going to run each sink with different valves open to fully determine
which one goes where while I'm at it.

-Ryan
'86 PT-40 8V92
Tri-Cities, WA

[scoggins_jim]

Ryan:
Thanks for letting us know how things turned out.

Jim