Whew! Stank in basement!! - Montana Owners Club

Exnavydiver · 03-06-2008, 03:40 PM

Drove up to Brooklet, Ga. yesterday and left tanks mostly full for the trip so they would scrub themselves and put 30 lbs of ice in toilet. Got set up and opened basement and just about fell over. Had to jerk everything out of the basement as there was black tank juice and TP on the floor of the basement. There was also a lot of drainage from the bottom of the rig. Really nasty drainage. I got the black tank drained to the dump and flushed it for over an hour. I had to hose out the basement and hit it hard with Natures Miracle pet spray. Then used a steam cleaner. There was also some of the stuff in the kitchen furnace duct and that is still being a problem. Will be calling Sun Coast tomorrow in JAX and see what we can do. Glad the wife flew out to Chicago for a week, she would have had another stroke. Not sure if tank ruptured or what, the bottom seems to have drained out pretty much all the way. Only a little dripping here and there. I tried running flush into it and didn't see any increase in leaks. So if it did blow it was on top I hope... Dave and Betsy

illapah · 03-06-2008, 03:48 PM

I can certainly do without this experience.

Icehouse · 03-06-2008, 03:58 PM

YUCK!!! You have my sympathies with any black tank fiasco.

Mrs. CountryGuy · 03-06-2008, 04:15 PM

Gotta say, that it is our opinion that driving with almost full tanks is a disaster waiting for a place to happen. Also 30 pounds of ice?? that is a lot of weight bouncing around down there.

Sorry, but that is our take on it, would never do either.

When we feel our tanks need a bit of cleaning, we dump, add about 3 gallons of water per, a bit of the calgon, laundry soap, and in the toilet, a 1/3rd of a cup of bleach. We run with just those 3 gallons, and that sloshes around.

The use of ice is quite controverisal as well. Our stand is that the Calgon will do a much better job of cleaning than some ice cubes.

Again, our opinion, tho gotta say, we are rather strong in this one.

ON EDIT: One of our concerns is how much can these tanks really take, we are constantly reading here on the forum that so and so has a leaky tank, then, another, and another, and on and on. If you have 38 gallons of water/and other stuff in there, you are getting close to 300 pounds of stuff in there, and 30 pounds of ice in this case. We do NOT trust these tanks enough to haul around 300 pounds of fluids at 65 MPH down the smooth (err, read that tongue in cheek for BUMPY) roads. 3 gallons on the other hand would be about 18 pounds. Quite a difference. Until we stop hearing reports that these tanks are springing leaks and that they are correctly installed with STRAPS, as per the vendor, there is no way we are gonna haul 300 pounds of stuff around. Again, we feel quite strongly about this, I'll go duck while you flame me.

Waynem · 03-06-2008, 04:20 PM

I don't think the ice is the problem, but running down the road with a full tank is not a good thing. Best to dump at the CG, fill with 1/4 to 1/2 tank and the ice (or Calgon) The black tank is tapered, as I was told, with the big end at the drain. A full tank puts a lot of pressure on the small end with the sloshing.

Exnavydiver · 03-06-2008, 04:31 PM

I think that the term "almost full" is a relative statement. I dumped in Savannah on Sunday and was going by the useless gages, which were all lit. This probably meant that I was about 3/4 full as it has been taking us about ten days to to get the toilet to burp and the gages read full after four days. I sure hope that the converter ain't under and behind the bathroom as it is very wet back there at present... Dave and Betsy

bncinwv · 03-06-2008, 04:37 PM

I don't ever foresee us having this kind of problem. The reason being that we fully dump all black and gray tanks before hitting the road anywhere. Flush black tank with mucho water while monitoring clear elbow to make sure discharge is clear, then we are okay to travel. We usually don't even travel with fresh water but I know for some this is unavoidable. If we don't travel with tanks partially or fully full, then obviously don't have to worry about leakage or spillage. I am aware that this does not help the situation, however I do have empathy for anyone who experiences such a yucky situation.
Bingo

fulltimedreamer · 03-06-2008, 05:50 PM

Dave,

Sorry to hear about your uh ... problem! Hope you can find out where the leak is and that Keystone fixes it to your satisfaction.

As others have said, we do not carry full tanks because of the stress 300 lbs of liquid has to place on the tanks and supports. I do keep about 10 gallons in the fresh tank for on the road handwashing and flushing. It seems to me that these tanks would need a solid steel "shelf" and baffles in the tanks to carry a full load down the road. I'm hearing too many disaster stories lately with leaks.

Again, I hope you can get this taken care of and cleaned to your satisfaction.

exav8tr · 03-06-2008, 05:54 PM

I do, and have always done, what Bingo does. I have readso many horror stories about the dreaded black tank, that I am very cautious what goes in it and how I dump it. I always "Flush to Clear". I have never put ice in mine and always dump at the first burp.......

bsmeaton · 03-06-2008, 06:32 PM

Boondocking in the National Parks mean you haul your waste home in the tanks. No way to avoid it, but It has always worked OK for us in 5ers, TTs and MHs.

I've never tried ice though, and I think I'll avoid it. Hope you can find out what happened so you can avoid it happening again!

As far a partial vs full tanks - full tanks might be heavy, but 10 gallons of water in a 40 gallon tank is an 85 pound bag of bowling balls bangin in the bilge without baffles. A full tank generates no kimetic energy.

gkbutler · 03-07-2008, 12:15 AM

Dave and Betsy,

We are sorry to hear about your issues. Like the others, we always empty and flush out our black tank prior to pulling out. We then put in about five gallons of water and the calgon and haven't had a problem yet. As for the sensors, most of us ignore them completely.

stiles watson · 03-07-2008, 02:12 AM

With these plastic tanks, I wonder if the ice bringing the temperature down had the effect of making the tank more brittle. If so, perhaps it was more vulnerable to whatever stresses were being exacted during transit.

richfaa · 03-07-2008, 03:11 AM

Because of the way they are installed those tanks tend to spring leaks at the very top were the tank lip fits into the bracing.having 40 gals of liquid bouncing down the road will not help. Mine sprung a small leak a couple of weeks ago because I let it overfill. You may have to drop the underbelly and check for cracks. A small crack is a easy repair.Dropping the underbelly is not a fun time.

Exnavydiver · 03-07-2008, 03:50 AM

Stiles, I doubt that ice had anything to do with it. We haven't been in a freezing situation for a month and the local temp was and is around 70. This trip was only 60 miles and not on bumpy roads. This was the first trip that I ran with anything in the tanks, I always dump everything before we hit the road. I was just doing a scrub job on the black tank with ice. I have done this many times before on this rig and our other one and never had a problem. The only thing different this time was that I had a much fuller tank. That obviously wont happen again. Of course it is pouring outside today and everything that was in the basement is sitting under the awning getting damp

... Dave and Betsy

SlickWillie · 03-07-2008, 06:46 AM

Perhaps I am missing something; but is the black tank on this unit not under the basement floor? (I'm just going by the way our Mountaineer is plumbed) If that is the case, how does the sewer get in the basement unless the toilet drain line (instead of tank) is leaking?

richfaa · 03-07-2008, 06:58 AM

It could be leaking from the vent pipe.If it did not come up through the john that may indicate the crack I was refering to.

SlickWillie · 03-07-2008, 07:48 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by richfaa

It could be leaking from the vent pipe.If it did not come up through the john that may indicate the crack I was refering to.

Yep, I didn't think about the vent pipe. I would suspect either a loose joint in either the drain line or vent line for the sewer to be in the basement. Our leak was on top of the black tank, and we only had sewer water draining out of the belly (never in the basement). Makes me ill to think about it!

tbhd · 03-07-2008, 11:36 AM

Evnavydiver

Sorry, about all your trouble;sure hope tomorrow is a better day for you. Good luck!!!

HamRad · 03-07-2008, 02:10 PM

Exnavydiver,

I think Slickwillie is on to something. Unless your black tank sits above the basement you must have a leak coming from somewhere between the actual commode and the entrance to the black tank.

Exnavydiver have you actually checked to see if a connection has come apart? Or maybe cracked? If you had actual toilet paper then the crack would have to be fairly large. If it was just "juice" then it could be a much smaller hole.

I can't imagine the stuff sloshing up from the top of the tank under the basement. You would had to have really hit a big bump in the road to cause that sort of thing.

Good luck and please let us know when you have found the actual cause of your problem.

Thanks,

HamRad

Exnavydiver · 03-07-2008, 03:01 PM

Hamrad, the paper was concentrated around the base of the vent pipe which comes through the basement ceiling and goes down through the floor into the black tank. It looks like the ride up caused a lot of sloshing to get that much stuff up through that hole... I have most of it cleaned up and there isn't much smell left in the basement although there is still a bit of underbody odor floating around outside. I think that should go away after a day or two of airing out. If not the it will after I get done at the dealer... Dave and Betsy

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