Another broken tank?

[DonandBonnie]

We've recently noticed water coming from between the frame and the underneath cover roughly under the shower location. With the trailer level its only a slow drip. With the trailer not level the water gushes out on the entry door side. When we dump, all three tanks appear to be emptying properly (no empty tanks). Also there is no appearance of excessive sagging underneath. We pulled the side wall out of the pass through and found nothing wet and nothing appearing out of the ordinary. The next thing to check are the tanks themselves. BTW, odor says that the water is not coming from the black tank.

What all is involved with dropping the bottom cover? Is this something that "Joe average" can accomplish with a minimum number of tools or should it be left to a technician in a repair shop?

[1retired06]

Dropping the belly is no big deal. Socket wrench is all you need. Reinstalling can be tricky. For the support bars for example, pay attention and mark the DS/ODS ends so when you reinstall, the holes line up.

[bigskyjimmy]

Yes any Joe average can do it .it is just a bunch of screws on each side and a couple of cross braces and peel back the black undercover and the foil insulation and it is all there to see,while you are in there you might want to zip tie all of the loose and hanging hoses and wires nice and neat as you will see they are just laying around loose in there but yeah no big deal just time consuming

[richfaa]

the inlet has probably popped loose and liquid is getting into the underbelly. You have a underbelly full of liquid and it holds a lot.

[richfaa]

The replacement of our two failed holding tanks is progressing well. We will have supporting strapping and flexible inlet piping to prevent further failures. Big thanks to Steve Holmes and Nicholis Cotnor owner relations for their understand and help in this matter. All parts are ordered and on there way. The Montana is at the dealer waiting.

[DonandBonnie]

Rich, is Town & Country in Clyde doing your work?

[richfaa]

Yes they are Don. The only dealer I would trust to do the work properly. Tom the service manage is on the phone with me nearly every day with updates and progress. Took the Montana in Tuesday. The parts were ordered and verified Thursday and Tom thinks they should be in his shop Tuesday Received verification From Keystone that the parts are ordered and shipped. Everyone involved at the dealer and Keystone is doing a great job......So far.....

[Gcasta]

quote:Originally posted by richfaa

flexible inlet piping to prevent further failures.

Do you know what flexible pipe they used or have a part number?

[jcurtis934]

There could be many things going on here. 1- could be water out of hot water pressure vent finding its way into bottom 2- could be slightly loose connections on water heater 3- could be loose connection on shower plumbing 4- could be infamous black tank rinse vaccum breaker spitting out water when tank being rinsed as mine did or putting out lots more fresh water 5- could be water leaking from drain assembly when shower being used or even water from lip of shower base leaking past screw and into bottom 6- could even be a leaking t connection in a pex line as keystone loved to t off a pex run in my rig and I am sure in yours as well. Just takes some looking with passthru wall removed and while shower is running, black tank being rinsed, etc. Make sure you check those shower base lips well (mine has two screws with rubber washers under screw heads right on entry area). I would do that prior to dropping bottom, but that is easy as well. Just be prepared for lots of sawdust, dropped fittings/screws, and things you can't imagine dropping out. And thr rats nest of electric lines, hydraulic lines, etc will be part of your cleanup work. John

[richfaa]

My tanks and related parts are in the mail .E mail from Keystone today with the UPS tracking number.

[DonandBonnie]

Tomorrow is the day that we plan some exploratory work to see where the water is coming from.

[richfaa]

1 1/2 by 1 1/2 flex pipe.

[DonandBonnie]

The fun has started. The belly cover is now off of the rear two holding tanks. Bet the cover was holding over 5 gallons of water. Soap suds and no bad smell says it's gray water from the shower tank. The old look and feel test shows that you can't see or feel any signs of water running over the tanks or fittings. We are now in the process of filling and draining the tanks to see what happens.

We are also seeing a lot of rust. The frame where the cover bolts on and the propane pipe is showing pitting. Some rust preventative will be in order before it all goes back together.

[richfaa]

My bet is it popped loose at the input. Fill the tank and as it fills it will begin to sag you may hear a "pop" sound as the inlet pulls out of the tank.

[DonandBonnie]

Is there an easy way to inspect the top of the shower tank and is there more than one top intake location?

With the tank full, water cascades from somewhere on the top. There is a drain that passes through the floor of the pass through storage into the front of the tank. All of the fittings on that drain are tight and dry. If there is no other intake location the only thing I can think of is a split tank. Any suggestions? The short term fix is to keep the shower tank drain open.

[richfaa]

Did I say the tank sags or what.???? That is why we are having strapping on our replacement tanks. Very poor design... IF you can see the inlet pipe is NOT pulled loose then I would say the tank has split around the inlet fitting. Mine did the same thing.
You are gonna have to drop the tank to see the problem.

[DonandBonnie]

Yes, Rich I see your point. There is nothing to support either the black or shower gray tanks. There are two "C" channels that bolt across the bottom side of the belly cover. They would support a fallen tank, but certainly don't touch or give support to a sagging one.

[richfaa]

The support that we are adding are two more "C" channels on each tank plus the flex input pipe. The dealer knew exactly what to order as other brands do that OEM.

[richfaa]

Update on our two failed tank problems. UPS advised that the parts shipment from Keystone were delivered to our dealer. The dealer will check that they are the correct parts and they are all there. So far everything has gone according to plan as Keystone promised. We are due for replacement May 18th.

We dropped it at the dealership May 5th and if all goes well should have it repaired by May 18th. We are having the dealership do some other work for us like routine miant, etc and installation of two batteries.

[bigred715]

Rich, are you paying extra for the strapping, c-channel and the flex connector? Sounds like you have a good dealer. Did Keystone help you with the problem even though you were out of warranty?