Toilet clogging - Montana Owners Club

Montana_1162 · 07-31-2004, 05:50 PM

All jokes aside here My 2002 Montana 2850RK seems to have a clog prone toilet. This is my second 5th wheel so I have done this before.

I noticed the drain goes on a 45 degree angle to the black tank as opposed to straight down into the tank. This violates standard plumbing procedure.

Any ideas here. I already have a nice roto rooter.

Thanks in advance for your help.

HamRad · 07-31-2004, 06:13 PM

diesel biker,
Sorry to hear of your problem. We have a model 3295rk and it has the same type toilet drain. We have had our rig for a little over two years and have never had a problem with it clogging. And certainly not up where the 45 degree pipe is located. If you're clogging up there then you may be using a lot of paper and or not enough water. We have started filling the bowl at a minimum of half full when we flush. This is our first 5er so I didn't realize it was in violation of the plumbing procedure. When you think about it I'm actually sort of glad it doesn't go straight down into the tank! Not sure I'd want to see the process and secondly there might be some "splashback". Definitely do not want any of that!

Good luck.

HamRad

Northstar · 07-31-2004, 09:10 PM

Sounds like you need to use more water. Happy rving....

kdeiss · 08-01-2004, 02:25 PM

We had a Jayco with the 45 and had a problem dealer advised use lots of water that solved the problem,

ols1932 · 08-07-2004, 03:46 AM

More water solved our problem. I think we RVers have a tendency to use as little water as possible in order to conserve. But I've found that although I have to dump a little more often, I no longer have the clogging problem.

Montana_462 · 08-07-2004, 02:14 PM

I too had the same problem trying to use as little as water as possible so the tank wouldn't fill up so fast. I started flushing with more water and haven't had the problem since.

CountryGuy · 08-07-2004, 02:25 PM

Ya got two choices: More water or less paper. We go with less paper and can stay in a state park for 15 days (use the public facilites some, but truthfully, not a lot) and only dump at the end of the stay.

Our previous unit did not have this 45 degree thingy, and we could see directly into the holding tank. Sounds yucky, but we always knew when it was cleaned out and when it was not. Very little splash back until almost full.

I miss the knowing if the tank is cleaned out.

Ewwww, and Happy Camping to all!

Montana_1908 · 08-08-2004, 03:13 AM

The only time we have had a problem is when my mother in law is along and the amount of paper used goes through the roof. We have her use a trash can for the "lightly used" paper. Has worked so far. Plugged it up 4 times before figuring that out.

Random Line · 08-08-2004, 03:41 AM

plumbing procedure.

Any ideas here. I already have a nice roto rooter.

----------------------------------------------------------

Knock on wood. We have the same 45 degree been and have not yet had a clog. (Two years) We do use plenty of water, RV brands or Angel Soft paper etc.
Kleenex or any extra paper always goes in the little trash can in the corner. But I think you are doing that too.

Have you checked to insure that the vent is open? I expect that you know with the aid of that roto rooter that there are no rough spots in the pipe, no screws through it or any gluesickles hanging down in there.

If you learn something new in the line of problems let us know.

"Experiece is what you get while you were expecting something else."

awaywego · 08-08-2004, 03:26 PM

Diesel biker,
Do you leave the dump valve closed so the tank doesn't drain all the water?
I met a couple in fla. that left the valve open and the waste and paper piled up to the bottom of the flush pipe.
They had to have a service tech. put pressure in the toilet drain and blow it out with water.

Just a thought.

Montana_120 · 08-08-2004, 04:11 PM

We had the same poblem, and two snakes and a camera later, we found it was all paper. So we switched to RV paper and lots more water, seems to work. Happy camping...

sreigle · 08-20-2004, 12:03 PM

We had a bad clog in our first Montana. Someone pointed out we needed to put more water in the bowl, get the paper fully covered, before tripping the flush valve. No problems since. Apparently there was not enough water to wash everything all the way into the tank. Paper was getting part way down and sticking there. When it dries it's like concrete and just keeps building up. I like to never got that toilet unclogged. Now we're careful to cover all the paper before letting 'er rip.

azstar · 08-20-2004, 03:33 PM

Mike,
Looks like your getting some good ideas. We use plenty of water and use only Scott Paper. Have read several reports in RV mags. which have tested T/P for best break down and Scott was right there with the RV special types. As a matter of fact, Scott says right on the cover RV safe. Always leave valves closed until you are ready to dump and never dump until you are 3/4 full. It's not a bad idea to travel with tank at 3/4 and dump when you arrive at next destination. The extra weight your carrying really is no big deal.
I should also tell you about my RV Tech's. experience. Some people leave the valves open and he told me, they have cut tanks open that had to be replaced and found the waste had turned into concrete. That's why they recommend the 3/4 rule even for full timers who don't move often.

sreigle · 08-21-2004, 05:34 AM

Azstar. I agree with you. I rarely dump ours other than when it is full since we're fulltiming, even when we're traveling. Occasionally I'll dump a day or two early if I know we're going to a park with no sewer hookup and we'll be there long enough I don't want to hitch back up to go to a dump station. We can go 6 to 9 days, with 7 days being by far the most common length, between dumpings. There's just the two of us and the variation in days depends on how much we're out sightseeing and how much we stay home.

When we were weekenders we'd sometimes fill the tank to half or so with fresh water before heading to the dump station. Sometimes if we were in a hurry I didn't do that even though I knew I should.

Montana_1787 · 08-31-2004, 02:33 PM

We had a similar problem even with adding lots of water. So just this past weekend I climbed up on the roof to check out one of the vents and decided to pull the cover off the black tank vent while I was up there. Almost all of the vent was covered with sealing compound for some reason. I pulled that off so it's completely open and we've not had a problem since. I agree with everyone about using lots of water, but check your vent on the roof to make sure it's not plugged. It sure seemed to do the trick for us....and we've got two adults and two teenagers full timing in our rig right now. Jim

Chuck and Carol · 09-01-2004, 02:12 AM

We don't have a clogging problem. Our problem is the water won't stay in the toilet. It keeps leaking out. Chuck fixed it once but the problem is back. Any suggestions?

Montana_621 · 09-01-2004, 04:45 AM

EWWWW! Nasty, nasty mental image!

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by HamRad

diesel biker,
Sorry to hear of your problem. We have a model 3295rk and it has the same type toilet drain. We have had our rig for a little over two years and have never had a problem with it clogging. And certainly not up where the 45 degree pipe is located. If you're clogging up there then you may be using a lot of paper and or not enough water. We have started filling the bowl at a minimum of half full when we flush. This is our first 5er so I didn't realize it was in violation of the plumbing procedure. When you think about it I'm actually sort of glad it doesn't go straight down into the tank! Not sure I'd want to see the process and secondly there might be some "splashback". Definitely do not want any of that!

Good luck.

HamRad

Trailer Trash 2 · 09-01-2004, 05:32 PM

Well if you have 45 degrees on your sewer line that is 50 times more than your house has the normal rate of decent is 1/8 th inch per foot residental. you have 12 in 12 drop. try putting more water in the bowl, I can see where the TP probably gets stuck on the pipe with minimal water use. I am going to put a T conector in the feed line with a button I can push and it will put more water in the bowl while I'm useing it. or one of those kitchen sink sprayers to hose the bowl when cleaning it.

TT2

HamRad · 09-05-2004, 07:32 PM

crlly6,
Is the water leaking onto the bathroom floor? More likely it is simply leaking down into the toilet, correct? If the latter is the case then the valve may need to be replaced. Or perhaps it's as simple as a little something stuck to the valve and keeping it open just a little bit. If under warranty I'd definitely get it back into them for a fix. If not under warranty then start trouble-shooting and then fix whatever needs to be fixed. Nothing too difficult in this area..... just sort of smelly.

Heck while you're at it you might want to install the riser. I know that will be one of the improvements I do when it comes time to put in a new toilet. It makes getting up a LOT easier. Good luck and let us know what you find out.

HamRad

LEN QEA · 09-05-2004, 08:05 PM

crlly6.
Check in the center of the seal for a buildup of paper that may have been trapped in the seal as it coming closed and now is holding the valve open so that it leaks.

Len

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