Galley tank leak 3800re

[jcurtis934]

Well, the tank demon has gotten us. The galley grey tank on our 3800RE decided that it was going to do a major dump onto the ground this morning. I had just opened the dump valve and water was flowing out as normal. Walked around to the door side and heard a noise under the rig. There was the plastic bottom hanging down on the front axle and a water fall cascading down onto the ground. After removing a section of the back bottom under the kitchen area, I could see nothing wrong. Closing the valve and running water into the kitchen sink SLOWLY revealed a leak on the bottom of the tank right on one of the molded in areas that make the tank stronger so there is less flex in the bottom of the tank. Yes, I do have pictures that I will post later. My tank is made by Ameri-Kart Corp of Cassopolis, Michigan and its part number is HT541-2. I assume that this same tank will be used in all of the 3800 models and maybe used in other models as well. AND there was no side to side strapping on the tank and there is NO area/s on this tank where a strap or straps are meant to be installed. BUT you can sure bet that I will be installing several side to side straps with some kind of support material between the strap/s and the tank bottom. Interesting to find out that there was very little sag in the tank as we put water back into it. I DID NOT refill the tank to the point that the crack opened up wide...seeing it start to drip water from the bottom of the tank was enough for me. Supporting information - I never travel with water in any tank! Dump often. And have been sitting here in Florida since October of last year. Life is being mean... John

[1retired06]

Sorry to hear! Sounds like you are on top of it and fixes.

[Montana3800RE]

So far so good with our 3800, I guess I better keep my fingers crossed, sorry this had to happen, what a pain

[Ozz]

Cut the drain line and install two flexible rubber couplings about 1' apart. This will take the strain out of the tank/drain line assembly. If the tank sags, the rigid drain line acts like the Lever/Fulcrum, and something gives with the weight of the liquid in the tank. Even if fixed or replaced, the tank needs this Modification.
Good luck with your fix.

[jcurtis934]

Today's job is to pour in water from 1 gal jugs so that I know when I have reached the 40 gallons that this tank holds. This should also let me see if the area on the bottom is a good size crack or just an area with a small pin hole that may have been there since the unit was built AND what it takes to show some real signs of leaking of water from the tank. I get this nagging feeling that there could be a crack on the top of the tank or the inlet isn't water-tight now...but I should be able to tell with the full water test. And then it is cut the outlet pipe and cut the inlet pipe in the cabinet (for rubber boots to reconnect) and drop that piggy out of there if the whole problem isn't on the bottom. Couldn't get to sleep again last night after waking up...plastic-mend on order...going to fix this for sure. John







(Edited for spacing, three photos in a row was causing scrolling
Webmaster).

[davidaf]

Looking at the picture and having never taken my plastic stuff down to investigate I have to ask, how on earth is the tank being held up?

[richfaa]

Had the gray and galley tank fail while on our lot in Florida last winter.

[steelpony5555]

Welcome to the club....definitely do the mods like Ozz said or one day you will have a gusher....

[jcurtis934]

The tanks have about a 1 inch lip on each side. In my picture, the side you can't see is held up by being under one of the steel frame joists. The side that you can see is held up by the steel channel that uses two screws per side. That is all that holds it. I will add several straps from the steel frame joist that you can see the the steel frame joist that is out of the picture towards the front of the rig. PROBLEM UPDATE - I put in water, 7 one gallon jugs at a time, to see what happened to the drip on the bottom of the tank and how the tank handled the weight of the water. The water drip did start to drip faster when I got up to about 20 gallons of water weight. The tank did sink lower on the bottom and it got a lot harder to push up on the bottom of the tank (to see if I could deform the tank at all). It wasn't until I got up to full tank volume of 40 gallons, that I had my answer for my big leak. Although I do have the leak on the bottom...there is something big on the top!! As the wife poured in another gallon so that I could watch closely under the trailer...water started to pour down off the top near the door side of the trailer. So now I am waiting for my ABS repair kit to arrive (ups ground) so I have several days before I can drop the tank and begin the repair journey. It will be interesting to see if I have to enlarge the hole inside the cabinet where the sink drain pipe goes through the floor. My guess now is that I will have to cut out part of the floor just to be able to get the tank to move sideways enough so that it will be off the frame joist and be free to move down and out. I just love the thought of fitting myself in through the outside cabinet door so that I can cut through the floor and nothing else...maybe also remove the built-in vacuum for more room. John

[jcurtis934]

Rich, hope this is the only tank failure that I have. Can't imagine what it was like to have two failures during your stay in Florida or the hoops you had to deal with to get repairs done since you were living on your rig. Steelpony Dave...already had my gusher...so will have rubber boots in place to complete the repair hook-ups and I get stress relief at the same time. Next week should be a new bunch of photos and comments on what I had to go through to repair my tank. John

[Recumbent]

For our four years of being on the MOC tank failures have been reported over-and-over with no significant change in design or installation. Is there a replacement tank that will actually withstand the load, movement, and strain of being filled an emptied and loaded while being towed? We have large pesticide spray tanks on the farm and constantly fill, empty, and move while loaded with no leaks, cracks, or issues for many years. Seems there should be an alternative to replacing with another inadequate tank.

[Carl n Susan]

quote:Originally posted by jcurtis934
...It will be interesting to see if I have to enlarge the hole inside the cabinet where the sink drain pipe goes through the floor. My guess now is that I will have to cut out part of the floor just to be able to get the tank to move sideways enough so that it will be off the frame joist and be free to move down and out. I just love the thought of fitting myself in through the outside cabinet door so that I can cut through the floor and nothing else...maybe also remove the built-in vacuum for more room.

Removing the vacuum assembly will give you the best access and room to work. Be sure to use a no-hub coupler on the vent stack line as well as the tank inlet line. I just had the vent stack line break at the ABS 45 degree coupler in the wall. All the repairs (enlarging the wall opening to get to the vent stack pipe, cutting the tank input line, and re-plumbing the drain lines) were done via the vacuum hole. Not very comfortable but effective.

[DQDick]

It's got to be another low bidder situation. You'll notice the leak is almost never in the fresh water tank and most of us travel with water in that one. Different material equals less likely to leak.

[jcurtis934]

Well, after removing the built-in vac, it made a difficult job a little easier. Cut the drain pipe about 1 1/2 inches above the floor inside the cabinet, cut the tank drain line, put temporary straps in place to hold tank while removing the c channel from one side of the tank. I was able to get the tank inlet pipe stub through the hole in the floor without doing any major cutting of the floor in the cabinet. Shifting the tank sideways got the other lip out from under the steel frame joist and lowered it easily to the ground. It is actually not heavy in weight. No crack in the top of the tank! BUT the seam at the lip, where the top ABS plastic lid and the molded bottom part of tank are bonded together, was the culprit! With 10 gallons or so of water in the tank, when the tank was tilted at a 45 degree angle...it was easy to see water flowing out of the joint. Temporary drain line connection in place so wife and I can use sink while tank is being fixed by me. Will start doing the repair after I go get a set of organic vapor cartridges for my 3M face mask. Another thing I noticed before I started the take-out procedure is that the tank outlet pipe was actually pitched up towards the underside of the monty when it mated to the main drain line outlet. YEP, those fine builders on the line had installed the 1 1/2 inch 90 degree elbow too high off the main drain. So I will cut that piece of crap out and put a rubber 90 degree boot...set lower...so that things mate up better AND I bet I won't have 2 gallons of grey water left in the tank when I drain it after all my repairs. Will post a couple of pictures when I am done. Life is looking up...must be time for a beer. John

[jcurtis934]

Just lost my update...so I will do another one. Tank leak wasn't on the top of the tank, but at the seam where they bond on the tank top to the molded bottom part of the tank. With the tank on the picnic table, I put in about 10 gallons of water and tilted the tank so that the outlet side of the tank was down at about a 45 degree angle. Water came out of the seam near the corner of the tank. So I will start the repairs after I go to Home Depot to get a set of organic vapor cartridges for my face mask. ONE THING I noticed before I started to take out the tank is that whoever installed the tank on the assembly line had installed the 1 1/2 inch 90 degree fitting on the main drain line too high up, which caused the tank outlet line to rise upwards towards the bottom of the monty. This of course left about 2 gallons or so of grey water in the tank. When I cut the outlet pipe, it sank downward to a more appropriate level and grey water started to run out again. I really didn't mind getting stinky grey water down my arm...knowing I found another issue and will cut the affending part off. A nice heavy duty rubber 90 degree fitting will take its place. COOL...more isolation in the tank lines. Life is good, time for a beer. Pictures to follow when job is done. John