Crappy Valves

[andylparish]

Finally broke down and pulled belly down and replaced the front black and gray tank valves. These valves have leaked and never worked well since we bought this unit new. I decided to get rid of the pull cable cheap valves and I ordered valterra electric valves. Pulled the old valves and it looked pretty straight forward to replace but....because of the way the actuators work on the electric valves I had to grind off part of the flange between the bolt holes on the side the actuator was on. With my Dremel tool it was pretty easy modification, it seems the flange bows out a little farther than the bolt holes and there was just not enough clearance to bolt the valve in place. Ran a fused wire from the battery connector behind the battery through the belly and made all connections, mounted switches in the convenience center and they work flawlessly. We will see how they do in the long haul but they have to work better than the cheap CRAPPY ones.

[PeteandJoan]

Nice job. Looked into doing the same thing a few months back when I was having so much trouble with mine . The dealer did not recommend them...said they used to have problems a few years back. So, just did the Valterra brand installed . Works great. Good luck, I envy you. Still wishing I had gone ahead and installed elec.

[DQDick]

Good looking installation. We went with new standard valves on our old rig and when they don't come from the low bidder there is a big difference. We'd been parked next to someone a few years back who had is black tank electic valve fail, but they have no doubt worked the bugs out by now. Lot's of motorhomes have them.

[1retired06]

great photos

[RKassl]

My dealer changed both black and gray valves to straight solid rods and disconnected the useless cables. Works really easy now.

[andylparish]

I sure hope they have them worked out. They claim that they actuate like 6000 times, guess that's their test. I wanted to go to the solid rods but I would have had to have one on one side and one on the other because of the way mine is configured. I have 2 black and 2 gray tanks and if this works out, I will ne changing the other two out as well.

[poloace]

Yup. Replaced my cable valves with straight rods, after they failed 3 time's.
Now just pull the handle.

[RKassl]

That is sure a good feeling!

[phillyg]

Good job. Gotta love those Dremel tools.

[Lenny K]

Andy. Where did you buy the valves from? We dry camp for the winter in Quartzsite and I'm going to replace the galley tank valve as I'm sick and tired from being sick and tired of yanking on the valve to open it underneath the slide.

[andylparish]

Lenny

Best place I could find was etrailer.com, i paid like 138.00 each and free shipping. I upgraded to 2 day for like an extra $6.00. Total was 278 both valves delivered.

[Lenny K]

Thanks Andy. Didn't think about etrailer.com when looking.

[CaptnJohn]

Originally Posted by Lenny K

Andy. Where did you buy the valves from? We dry camp for the winter in Quartzsite and I'm going to replace the galley tank valve as I'm sick and tired from being sick and tired of yanking on the valve to open it underneath the slide.

That is THE ONE! Crawling under the slide every 8-9 days is a pain ~ either that or pulling the slide in. I need to learn more about these....

[travelinsparky]

Galley tank open close. I bought a lawn sprinkler 3' handle bent the end at a 90* and just reach under to open and close galley tank VALVE

[CaptnJohn]

Originally Posted by travelinsparky

Galley tank open close. I bought a lawn sprinkler 3' handle bent the end at a 90* and just reach under to open and close galley tank VALVE

I keep a boathook in the basement to reach things there and in the truck bed. The shorter handle you devised will serve this purpose better.