Black water tank

[SlickWillie]

quote:Originally posted by richfaa

The sensors in All of our previous camper worked. We had our Terry 9 years and they were working fine. This Montana is the ONLY camper we have had that the sensors do not work. If the fuel Gauge or some of the other guages in your truck did not work correctly I suppose that would be ok??Right.. We seem to be willing to overlook poor quality, workmanship, things that break or do not work in our Rv's. I fail that test..we do not overlook it' we paid for a service and we expect it to work. We have a dump station here at the house. Our tanks are well maintained. We dump our tanks every day when hooked up at a campground.When at the service center in April of this year they checked out ALL the sensors when they had the underbelly dropped all sensors(sensors only) checked out good yet when re connected the galley sensor did not work???

Rich, I've never even looked at any of the sensors on the two RVs I've owned. Are they through the tank? I take it they are to work on the fresh water tank and get fouled on the other tanks. I would like for ours to work too, but a company that won't warranty valve cores in the first three months of ownership is sure not gonna worry about a monitoring system. They'll let you drag it back and forth spending your money on fuel until you cave in. We love our Mountaineer, but it'll be hard for me to buy again from Keystone. Maybe DW and I need to build our own! (No way!)

[richfaa]

As seen at the factory. the sensors are inside the tank with the electrical connections outside the tank. One of the problems is loose wiring connections on the ouside of the tank and they also can become loose jolting down the road. LOCK washer may solve that problem.. For those at the rally when on the factory tour this would be a good thing to check out..we did last year.Right now my best guess is that the problem is with the sensor module itself (the one inside the camper) Only the galley tank indicator does not work..all others are normal.

[padredw]

We have had three fifth-wheels: Prowler (bought used), Jayco (bought new) and Montana (also bought new). The sensors have worked EXACTLY the same way in all three. That is, the fresh water sensor works reliably; the galley, gray, and black tanks are basically useless after the very first use. We learned on our first trailer not to worry about this at all. It is just "the nature of the beast". It is my opinion that it would take an entirely different (and no doubt far more expensive) technology to provide accurate information about the level in these tanks.

I join with all those who have said so well: relax, live with the situation, and find your own system to know when it's time to empty the tanks. Just my opinion--and practice.

[Karl]

The good news is... ...There is a better idea! The SeeLevel Gauge does work and is accurate to within 2%.

Here is a link to be able to check it out:

http://www.viprv.com/seelevel/seelevel.html

The bad news is... ...It is only presently installed on the more "high end" RV's. It seems quite simple to install, but its quite pricey (just a bit under $300)

I'll continue with my own "system" rather than spend the $300!

[sgtpp214]

I have given up on the sensors long ago. I haven't tried the GEO method yet but plan on it on our next trip. In the meantime when the DW says the shower won't drain as she is taking a shower I drain the grey tank. Then when doing dishes it won't drain I drain the galley tank. I drain the black tank with every two grey tank drains. So far seems to fit the bill and no stress.

[mallardjusted]

Our fresh water and grey water tank gages work fine, but the black water gage does not. We had the same problem on our two previous travel trailers, a Wilderness and a Prowler. I'm assuming residue is what causes the problem. Yeah, seems like there should be some better ways of monitoring (like maybe mini- depth sounders). But, I'll use my depth sounders for the more important task - boating!

[ols1932]

The sensor on our black water tank worked when new until we put "stuff" in it. So we know it worked. No loose wires, connections, etc. Then in January 2007 we had a new black water tank installed. Yep, you guessed it. The sensor worked until we put the "stuff" into it. Then it didn't work. It will work if I use my flexible wand down through the toilet and spray the side walls. But only works until we use the tank again. We just disregard it.

Orv