Leaky waste tank

[Fred Hulse]

Don
Perfect post and extremely helpful,
Thanks for taking the time for the information and hope reassembly goes well.

Fred & Jeanne Hulse
Morristown Arizona
1997 Wanderlodge WLWB41

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

[Don Bradner]

Hard to explain the cracks being there, and nowhere else, otherwise. I think
that there's a good chance this particular job will not have to be repeated.

Realized my sig was missing, which is important for what vehicle is being talked
about:

Don Bradner
90 PT40 "Blue Thunder"
Eureka, CA

On 8/15/2007 at 5:21 PM Terry Neal wrote:

>Don,
>
>Sounds like the tank material was maybe weakened by the tank heater over
>the years? Good to know & certainly something to check for the rest of
>us. You should be good for another 25 years now.
>
>Terry Neal
>Bozeman, MT
>82PT40 6V92TA
>74FC34 6V53T
>
>
>
>Don Bradner wrote:
>
>> Spent the day removing the tank, just tons of fun! The bottom has 3
>> major (6 inches or more) fractures in a somewhat semi-circular
>> pattern, and numerous small cracks that don't go through yet. The
>> bottom bears the slightly melted pattern of the tank heater, and all
>> of the cracks are within that area. I have never used the heaters, and
>> hope to never be in a situation where they would be called for.
>>
>> I sanded the bottom, and the local RV outfit where I removed it will
>> fiberglass the entire bottom this afternoon evening. Hope to reinstall
>> tomorrow or Friday.
>>
>> Steps in the process, for anyone who cares:
>>
>> Remove the sensor wires, disconnect the vent pipe (which is also the
>> sink drain) then remove the shroud. I don't know if all such units
>> have a rubber coupler on the vent, but that certainly makes it easy.
>>
>> Remove the rivets holding the door frame, plus 4 screws at top center
>> inside and the gas strut, then take the door and frame off. This would
>> make the shroud removal easier, but I did the shroud 2 days ago at
>> home, and just removed the door today.
>>
>> Remove the toilet. Mine is an electric Microphor, so there are 4 wires
>> going to the control unit and 8 wires from the control. I removed the
>> control and jotted down where each wire went then removed them.
>>
>> Remove wax ring and 8 screws holding the flange, then pull the pipe
>> out of the tank. It is held by a hose clamp, and after removing the
>> clamp I found that the easiest way to pop the pipe out of the fitting
>> was with a nail bar using a 2x4 for the fulcrum and to distribute the
>> force over a large enough area. Came free easily that way.
>>
>> Remove the Dupree valve. On mine there is no way to do that without
>> irreperable damage, so first thing this morning I called Stephen
>> Birtles and got a new valve body and 2 paddles (the grey needs
>> replacing) on their way - should be here Friday. I used an air
>> reciprocating saw (one of the few tools I've not found sufficient need
>> to buy, so used the RV shop's) to saw through next to the valve body
>> on the tank side, and in the elbow on the drain side.
>>
>> Remove a second piece of shroud. Couldn't get the one screw holding it
>> to budge, either before the valve was removed, or after, so used a
>> cutoff blade to get rid of it. will drill a new hole on replacement.
>>
>> Slide the tank out.
>>
>> After that I cut off the cross-pipe from the curbside about 8 inches
>> from the Tee. Everything from there out will be rebuilt with new parts
>> - Tee, street Ell, valve body, extended street Ell, and hose connector.
>>
>>
>
>
>
>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>

[Leroy Eckert]

So the heat strips caused the problem. While you are roaming around the bus
consider removing the Easy heat wires on your water lines. They caused a flood
in my bus and they are now gone. Either that or turn off the breaker or unplug
them. Just a suggestion. I'm not going to hang around in North Dakota in the
winter time.
Leroy Eckert
1990 WB-40"Smoke N Mirrors"
Niceville, FL
Royale Conversion
----- Original Message -----
From: Don Bradner
To: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2007 5:58 PM
Subject: Re: [WanderlodgeForum] Leaky waste tank


Spent the day removing the tank, just tons of fun! The bottom has 3 major (6
inches or more) fractures in a somewhat semi-circular pattern, and numerous
small cracks that don't go through yet. The bottom bears the slightly melted
pattern of the tank heater, and all of the cracks are within that area. I have
never used the heaters, and hope to never be in a situation where they would be
called for.

I sanded the bottom, and the local RV outfit where I removed it will
fiberglass the entire bottom this afternoon evening. Hope to reinstall tomorrow
or Friday.

Steps in the process, for anyone who cares:

Remove the sensor wires, disconnect the vent pipe (which is also the sink
drain) then remove the shroud. I don't know if all such units have a rubber
coupler on the vent, but that certainly makes it easy.

Remove the rivets holding the door frame, plus 4 screws at top center inside
and the gas strut, then take the door and frame off. This would make the shroud
removal easier, but I did the shroud 2 days ago at home, and just removed the
door today.

Remove the toilet. Mine is an electric Microphor, so there are 4 wires going
to the control unit and 8 wires from the control. I removed the control and
jotted down where each wire went then removed them.

Remove wax ring and 8 screws holding the flange, then pull the pipe out of the
tank. It is held by a hose clamp, and after removing the clamp I found that the
easiest way to pop the pipe out of the fitting was with a nail bar using a 2x4
for the fulcrum and to distribute the force over a large enough area. Came free
easily that way.

Remove the Dupree valve. On mine there is no way to do that without
irreperable damage, so first thing this morning I called Stephen Birtles and got
a new valve body and 2 paddles (the grey needs replacing) on their way - should
be here Friday. I used an air reciprocating saw (one of the few tools I've not
found sufficient need to buy, so used the RV shop's) to saw through next to the
valve body on the tank side, and in the elbow on the drain side.

Remove a second piece of shroud. Couldn't get the one screw holding it to
budge, either before the valve was removed, or after, so used a cutoff blade to
get rid of it. will drill a new hole on replacement.

Slide the tank out.

After that I cut off the cross-pipe from the curbside about 8 inches from the
Tee. Everything from there out will be rebuilt with new parts - Tee, street Ell,
valve body, extended street Ell, and hose connector.





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

[Don Bradner]

Final chapter, I hope:

Yesterday I re-installed the repaired tank and everything except the lower
plumbing and the door. Among other things I replaced the toilet shutoff valve,
as it was apparently leaking.

The valve came in from Stephen this morning and I anticipated an easy day, but
it actually turned out to be the longest of the three. Mostly just grunt work
getting the plumbing put together under the coach. One interesting item: While
cleaning up the cut end of the cross-pipe under the coach I noticed something
inside the pipe. It turned out to be part of the pipe itself - there was a
vertical gash in the pipe where it has run into something, somewhere. I've never
noticed a leak there, but it must have leaked every time the tanks were dumped.
So, I cut the pipe further back and replaced a longer section than planned.

Anyway, it is done. I'm going to let it cure another couple of days before
testing (fill and dump). I still have to replace the paddle on the grey tank -
that tank has a few gallons in it so I waited until I could bring the coach home
where I have hookups.