Blackwater flush vacuum breaker

[Karl]

As with others, I have experienced a failure of the vacuum breaker (under the bathroom sink) for my Blackwater Flush system resulting in a minor "flood" under the sink. The problem may have been that I hadn't winterized the Blackwater Flush (I didn't think I would need to because of the nature of the vacuum breaker) The part is made by Lakeview R.V. Supply, Inc. Model number 1000. I am in the Phoenix area, and have not been able thus far to find a replacement. I have e-mailed Montana to see if they can sell me one. I know others have had failures of the vacuum breaker and have come up with other solutions. Let me know what you have done... ...or where I might get a replacement. I have tried several suppliers including RV Traders who sell Montanas.

[DHenry]

Karl, I removed my vacuum breaker, pulled the hoses down to the basement, cut off the excess hose, installed a ball valve and open it when I need to flush and keep it closed the rest of the time. Works great for me.

[Treecounter]

We did the same thing. Dealer replaced it once and that failed. Ball valve is the way to go. Update. As most of you know we traded our Montana for a Class A coach. It also has a vacuum brake on it's flush system. This vacuum brake is made of bras and does not leak. So there other ways to go.

[Treecounter]

We did the same thing. Dealer replaced it once and that failed. Ball valve is the way to go.

[Montana_2785]

That's interesting. I didn't know about a vacuum breaker in that line. I had installed one in my old TT and it didn't have any such thing. It just had a spring loaded valve at the tank. I always winterized that one line by blowing compress air through it.

I'll add this to my list-of-things-to-check.

Eric

[MuddyPaws]

What the heck is this vacuum breaker?

[patodonn]

The vacuum breaker is an anti-siphon valve, to prevent any possibility of back flow (siphoning) from the black tank flush system back into the supply hose from the home/campground/city water system. In our rig, is is under the bathroom area sink. The valve assembly is white plastic, "L" shaped, with a little flat top, sort of like a hat the diameter of a silver dollar, on it.

Hope that helps some..



Ours also failed, so I removed it and replaced it with an elbow hose connector from CW. Just a couple of bucks..I use an anti-siphon (back flow preventer) connector on the hose from the water faucet. Also only a couple of bucks at Home Depot or WW. I only use that hose for the black tank flush.

[Karl]

Thanks for the commments. I found the tel number for the manufacturer of the breaker, and they will be sending a replacement free of charge. If that fails, I will do the ball valve thing.

[Montana_354]

Karl,

Would you be so kind as to post that number for the replacement part (company()? We're having trouble with this also. At least we think this is our problem. When we go to flush the black tank, we also get water underneath the bathroom sink area and the toilet. We didn't know we needed to winterize this area and so we never have.

Thank you for any help.

Kalamity & Bob

[Bill Hill]

I didn't know about the vacuum breaker, although it makes sense. I've always used a backflow preventer on the hose I use for flushing, and like patodonn I use it only for the flushing.

[Montana_354]

BillHill,
Thank you for your response. We'll have to check it out next week.
Kalamity

[Karl]

The company for the vacuum breaker for the flush is

Lakeview RV supply, Inc.
608 Flamingo Cove
Austin, TX 78734
(512) 261-8000

The part number is Model 1000

They will ask you who is the manufacturer of your RV, and a few other questions. Mine was sent to me in just a few days.

We had exactly the same problem as Kalamity has, water under the sink. I replaced mine when we recived it, and we have had no problem since. The company did ask me to send them the defective one so they could figure out the problem. Also, winterizing is not an issue, because one of the reasons for the "breaker" is to allow the H20 to flow back out and not remain in the line. In other words, it is a back flow preventer and a vacuum breaker combined.

[Richard]

We replaced our vacuum breaker with a pvc valve from Home Depot for less than $5.00. Our vacuum breaker started to leak just like everyone else's here but for me, the turning point was when our next door camper turned OUR 2nd "water supply" valve on, thinking it was his. (we had both hoses hooked up for easy flushing every couple of days)

lol.....it's funny to think about it now, but it scared the &*&))(* out of us when it happened, because there's no SHUTOFF safety feature for the flush tank! It just keeps filling until it starts coming up your bathroom sink! (in a 3400RL anyway) Good thing we were home!

So, the practicality of having an INSIDE shutoff valve for the black tank flush became (shall I say) fragrantly apparent.

And although I would never think of such a thing, just imagine this information in the hands of an (MmmWahaha) inveterate practical joker