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Old 09-24-2017, 02:48 PM   #1
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Gray water tank leak

36fds 1998, noticed a drip under coach, and investigation indicates a "rusted" area, near where it appears the tank is leaking, have always drained the tank, until Irma evacuation, when I had about 5 days of dry park, and even after draining, apparently still had water, and noticed next morning water underneath, any experience with this tank would be appreciated.
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Old 10-03-2017, 03:04 PM   #2
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gray water tank

The leak with the gray water tank, repair is not for the faint of heart!

What I found when I began the removal of the undersheeting, is that the OSB board had become brittle and the carriage bolts holding it in were turning in the boards with no way to hold them and remove the nuts..sawzall to the rescue.
Two leaks one underneath the tank on the driver side under the front corner about two inches inside, a crack approx 1 inch long, weeping until holding about 15 gallons of water, then a steady leak. Based on the condition of the rails supporting the tank and the under sheeting, I would not be surprised if it hasn't been that way from the factory in 1998, the other leak was not in the tank itself, but a worn spot on the inside of the docking light on the passenger side, would leak during rain, and leak down on the undersheeting OSB and it was rotted underneath the vinyl coating. The docking light was rubbing against the top of the blackwater tank, and had worn a hole in the docking light housing, but not the tank itself. Thank goodness.


1. removal of the undercover

2. Removal of the metal cross members and support (royal pain, rusted bolts) must be cleaned rust treated, and repainted.

3. removal of the tank itself, dropped down about three inches to free from vent pipes and drains, little challenging on the main drain side, because of all of the sealing, but after clearing the pipes, was able to slide the complete tank out the passenger side. It is now sitting on top of my golf cart in the garage waiting for PE welding rods for repair, a 1" crack and about 10 hours so far.

Once the welding is done, and leak checked, will put back the metal supports, , then the tank, with new seals if I can find them, a new piece of OSB cut to fit, covered with the original vinyl, and stainless steel screws...no carriage bolts.

Only found one expired mouse, still have to investigate a couple of other hoses I found on the passenger side, one possibly the drain from the refrigerator, the vacuum hose, and one drain on the drivers side of this area.

Progress at least.
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Old 10-03-2017, 03:07 PM   #3
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Ben

A couple of pictures would be interesting to look at.
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Old 10-03-2017, 08:46 PM   #4
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rusted support member for the tank, have removed for repair
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Old 10-03-2017, 08:49 PM   #5
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removal of the under skirting after sawzall of the bolts holding it in (passenger side)
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Old 10-03-2017, 08:56 PM   #6
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more destruction
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Old 10-03-2017, 09:00 PM   #7
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docking light leak, edge of docking light, on the inside where it rubbed through on the black water tank, fortunately, no hole in the black water tank
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Old 10-03-2017, 09:03 PM   #8
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black water tank, where docking light was rubbing
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Old 10-03-2017, 09:08 PM   #9
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I will post more pictures as the repair is continued...boy this sure is fun
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Old 10-04-2017, 06:25 AM   #10
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That's a big job. Your fortunate you are able to do that work yourself. Interesting to see your tanks are horizontally stacked. Good luck going forward.
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Old 10-05-2017, 03:56 PM   #11
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one inch crack might be 4", watched a couple of videos on welding polyethlyne, drilled holes in each end of crack, used a dremel tool to create a "V" in the crack area, and made 4 passes with polyethylene welding rods, bought both welder and rods from amazon, about $70 for both, another $25.00 for other supplies, adhesive and new bolts and plumbers putty.
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Old 10-05-2017, 04:05 PM   #12
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on the saw horse ready to test, only put about 30 gallons of water in the tank, and let it set for 1/2 hour, no leak!
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Old 10-05-2017, 04:41 PM   #13
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The gray water tank is back in place, all hooked back up, new under skirting, with same vinyl, removed from the old OSB, used 3m spray adhesive to place on new OSB with staples around the outer edges. We cleaned all of the sediment from the metal supports and treated with rustoleum rust removal, wire brushed and then two coats of rustoleum rust reformer. When we put the OSB back in place we used Stainless self tapping bolts, instead of carriage bolts, the OSB sits on a ledge, so it won't be going anywhere, and I hope I don't have to remove it again, but if I do, it will a lot easier.

I would like to say I did all of this on my own, but I did a lot of "step and fetch" for a lot younger man that helped me with this little project, but I still think I am happier with the repair than I would have been at a repair shop, and less expensive as well.

Another little tidbit of information that I picked up was on the tank sensors, I always thought they just worked like magic, but as it turns out my gray water sensors were just laying in the bottom of the coach, they had fallen off the tank, don't know if they had been replaced in the past or it was that way from the factory, but the paper had never been removed from the adhesive side of the foil and what looked like packing tape had been used to attach them to the tank at some point.on my next trip, I am going to let the gray water tank stay closed for a period to see if they actually work.

For now, I am just glad to get the old girl all buttoned back up and put in the storage unit, before the the rain storms we are expecting this weekend arrive, but I think we are all ready to travel again>
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Old 10-06-2017, 05:58 PM   #14
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You should look at SeeLevel gauges, by Garnet https://www.garnetinstruments.com/rv-shop/ they are much more accurate and reliable. I installed them years ago and I am still happy with them.
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