Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
RV Trip Planning Discussions

Go Back   iRV2 Forums > THE OWNER'S CORNER FORUMS > Winnebago Industries Owner's Forum
Click Here to Login
Join iRV2 Today

Mission Statement: Supporting thoughtful exchange of knowledge, values and experience among RV enthusiasts.
Reply
  This discussion is proudly sponsored by:
Please support our sponsors and let them know you heard about their products on iRV2
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 09-23-2017, 12:53 PM   #1
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Hickory, North Carolina
Posts: 61
Another Water Disappearance Mystery

Hello All,

I am having a time trying to figure out what happened to my 3/4 tank of fresh water after I use the dump station. When I dump my grey and black holding tanks upon leaving an RV park, I use the jacks on the opposite side of my Adventurer so that both holding tanks are completely empty. (Then I use a special hose to run a small amount of water into the black tank and then drain it). My fresh water tank always empties completely at some point after dumping my grey and black tanks, though I do not know where the water goes or when the emptying occurs!! Upon stopping again after my day's travel, my fresh water tank (which is usually at least 1/2 full) is COMPLETELY empty! I'm very careful what kind of water I put into my fresh water tank, and I do not like to have it disappear! What is going on? Can anyone tell me if they have experienced this and how to remedy it?
Al Spivey is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 RV Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

iRV2.com RV Community - Are you about to start a new improvement on your RV or need some help with some maintenance? Do you need advice on what products to buy? Or maybe you can give others some advice? No matter where you fit in you'll find that iRV2 is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with other RV owners, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create an RV blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 09-23-2017, 01:16 PM   #2
Senior Member
 
BFlinn181's Avatar
 
Gulf Streamers Club
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Cincinnati
Posts: 19,925
Is the water perhaps going into the black tank? Have you checked to see if black or grey tanks show an increase? Many RVs will allow water to siphon out of the water tank through the overflow vent hoses. Maybe tilting the RV has allowed water to drain out after you get on the road. If you tow a car, does it show water spots from a draining tank?
__________________

Bob & Donna
'98 Gulf Stream Sun Voyager DP being pushed by a '00 Beetle TDI
BFlinn181 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-24-2017, 06:55 AM   #3
Senior Member
 
Freightliner Owners Club
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 218
Try not using your special hose and tilting the MH and see if the water still disappears.
__________________
2000 Itasca Horizon 36LD 300HP cat 3126B
1999 Chevy Tahoe 4x4
bsamole is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-24-2017, 07:20 AM   #4
Senior Member
 
Park Super's Avatar
 
Winnebago Owners Club
Join Date: Dec 2016
Posts: 172
Quote:
Originally Posted by Al Spivey View Post
Hello All,

I am having a time trying to figure out what happened to my 3/4 tank of fresh water after I use the dump station. When I dump my grey and black holding tanks upon leaving an RV park, I use the jacks on the opposite side of my Adventurer so that both holding tanks are completely empty. (Then I use a special hose to run a small amount of water into the black tank and then drain it). My fresh water tank always empties completely at some point after dumping my grey and black tanks, though I do not know where the water goes or when the emptying occurs!! Upon stopping again after my day's travel, my fresh water tank (which is usually at least 1/2 full) is COMPLETELY empty! I'm very careful what kind of water I put into my fresh water tank, and I do not like to have it disappear! What is going on? Can anyone tell me if they have experienced this and how to remedy it?
you do not list the year and model of your coach. this info would help. For the record our coach dumps the fresh water each time we make a left hand turn. The fresh water vent is poorly designed, the tank its self is not very tall and allows for the water to surge to vent and drain onto the road with each left hand turn. The vent should have had a riser above the tank to prevent water from draining but there is no room for this. So the vent comes directly off the top of the tank, makes a 90 and turns to the ground. Also the vent pipe is large, 1/2 inch allowing a good flow. I have made a modification to try and slow this draining of the fresh water. I installed a valve on the vent pipe so I can control the vent tube size. I will allow some venting so the water tank does not expand and contract with altitude changes. I suspect I will still lose water but I think I will slow the loss considerably. On the road day after tomorrow and we will see.
__________________
Martin & Michelle and our dog Blue, Paradise, CA.
2016 Winnebago Vista LX 27N, Sumo Springs, Safe T Plus, SS rear track bar, Dish
2017 Equinox Premier AWD V6, Blue OX base and bar, SMI Stay and Play Duo
Park Super is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-24-2017, 07:24 AM   #5
Senior Member
 
winniman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Muskoka Ontario Canada
Posts: 3,142
Dont think you need to use jacks to empty the tanks. You could possibly crack your windshield doing this as well. Maybe this is tilting it higher than the vent and siphoning out. You should see water on the ground if this was the case. Im not aware of any direct lines from the fresh to waste tanks.
__________________
2000 coachmen santara 370 5.9 cummins isb
winniman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-24-2017, 07:47 AM   #6
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Hickory, North Carolina
Posts: 61
Another Water Dispperance Mystery

Thanks for all help. I forgot to say that my motor home is a 2004 Winnebago Adventurer 35 U on a Workhorse chassis. Never had this problem before even though I have left campgrounds with a full tank, Could it be that there is a siphoning off of water due to a overflow pipe somewhere in the tank. Maybe others have had this issue. What did you do to prevent this and just HOW can this be fixed. I have tried leaving the exterior filler tank port open while filling to prevent any air build up but that does not seem to help. HELP PLEASE
Al Spivey is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-24-2017, 02:21 PM   #7
Senior Member
 
bruceh's Avatar
 
Workhorse Chassis Owner
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Coarsegold, CA
Posts: 917
This is a recurring topic. I put a valve on mine. You can do a search for other Solutions.
__________________
2001 Winnebago Adventurer, 35U, W-20 8.1
F+R Trac bars, F+R sway bars, SafTsteer, F Sumo Springs, 4 Koni FSDs

2007 Forest River Lexington Ford E450 Chassis
bruceh is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-24-2017, 02:25 PM   #8
Senior Member
 
PJStough's Avatar
 
Winnebago Owners Club
Workhorse Chassis Owner
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 1,718
I am curious as to what is special about the hose you use to run water into the black tank? What water supply you hook it to, and where you put the other end?
__________________
Paul J Stough Iowa
2005 Winnebago Voyage 38J
PJStough is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-24-2017, 02:57 PM   #9
Senior Member
 
Forkyfork's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 1,975
They probably mean special only for poop hose. Although I thought they had a rinse connection in the water section of the basement. Which I might add is quite effective.

My 38R of the same year has a touchy overflow. It piddles off level easily.

What can make it worse is if your overflow tube is too deep in the tank. Once it starts piddling it can suck your tank dry. So you are probably getting it started putting it off level (Hopefully your fridge is off so you don’t kill it) and then putting it straight isn’t enough to stop the siphon.

We had ours at the mech getting a once over. He parked it at a weird angle and we had no water when we picked it up.

If its not piddling out from under the coach then you need to have a close look at your process like others have said cause ur doing something wrong.
__________________
2004 Winnebago Adventurer 38R
Proud Navy Mom
Forkyfork is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-24-2017, 06:04 PM   #10
Senior Member
 
Jim_HiTek's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Full time RV'er
Posts: 5,124
Had a similar issue with my '02 Journey. The fresh water tank has a 1.5" drain directly underneath the middle of the RV, to dump the tank when winterizing. Hard to see any drip or puddle in the best of circumstances without crawling under the rig. It also had a remotely actuated drain valve. A mini guillotine valve that was notorious for leaking in this application.

What would happen is when the tank was filled, as you drove down the highway, the suction caused by the slipstream would siphon water out of the drain. And when arriving at your next destination, the occasional drip had become a fairly constant drip. Or the tank would be empty.

Once I figured that out, I just got an expanding rubber stopper and stuffed it in the drain pipe. No more lost water.
__________________
'02 Winnebago Journey DL, DSDP, 36' of fun.

Visit my RV Travel & Repair Blog at : https://chaos.goblinbox.com
Jim_HiTek is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2017, 07:12 AM   #11
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Hickory, North Carolina
Posts: 61
Thanks Jim, I think this will solve my problem. Stuff the overflow pipe with a stopper is by far the easiest and less invasive way to stop any water siphoning. I will have to always remember to not overfill the tank with the initial water fill up. Most logical repair. Keep the exterior tank fill open to allow the air out of the tank. Thus no need for the overflow pipe being used at all. Thanks for the easy fix. Al
Al Spivey is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2017, 09:32 AM   #12
Senior Member
 
BFlinn181's Avatar
 
Gulf Streamers Club
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Cincinnati
Posts: 19,925
Quote:
Originally Posted by Al Spivey View Post
Thanks Jim, I think this will solve my problem. Stuff the overflow pipe with a stopper is by far the easiest and less invasive way to stop any water siphoning. I will have to always remember to not overfill the tank with the initial water fill up. Most logical repair. Keep the exterior tank fill open to allow the air out of the tank. Thus no need for the overflow pipe being used at all. Thanks for the easy fix. Al
I'd seriously suggest you re-route the overflow/vent rather than plug it. A very small change in elevation or air pressure would allow expansion or compression of the tank. This could put pressure on the surrounding structure or the tank, causing failure or permanent loss of water. If you've ever seen large airbags used to lift a truck or car, you know a little air pressure, spread over a large surface is a powerful force.

If the problem is poor installation of the vent line caused by being inserted too far into the tank and creating a siphon effect, a plug isn't the solution. Modify the hose dipping into the tank so it doesn't dip so far into the tank. On the upward loop of the vent hose, a small hole drilled in the top of the loop will draw air in and break up the siphoning action.
__________________

Bob & Donna
'98 Gulf Stream Sun Voyager DP being pushed by a '00 Beetle TDI
BFlinn181 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
water



Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Mystery fresh water disappearance tom2500 MH-General Discussions & Problems 9 04-02-2014 09:50 AM
One thing leads to another, and another, and another..... MSHappyCampers iRV2.com General Discussion 16 08-21-2013 10:11 AM
Another mystery switch on the TOUR? Gary CA Winnebago Industries Owner's Forum 6 02-23-2007 01:02 PM
Allison Trans Question another Winnie mystery GG1 Winnebago Industries Owner's Forum 6 10-30-2005 03:10 AM
Dang..... Another Mystery Wire Found?? 56Nomad Toy Haulers Discussion 9 10-18-2005 06:07 AM

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 02:27 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.