Grey water drain leak - 99 330 Challenger

[cphilip]

Seems I now have the joy of chasing a drain leak that is somewhere in the vicinity of the Slide where it sits near the bathroom. Likely is in the slide wall itself and I would imagine is some of the flexible drain section or its fittings as that would make most sense for something that is 10 years old and moves and flexes like that would. I can only imagine it so far since I have not had the pleasure of taking that access panel off yet.

This developed on at trip this weekend and I did take the panel off that is in the hallway (right next to the rear most slide wall) and I can attest that it does not appear to be in that area of the underneath of the shower/tub as I can see well all the way to the outer wall under there.

Symptoms are flooding across the Kitchen floor if large amounts of water are run down both the kitchen and the Shower/Tub. And some dripping off outside from the area around the Generator (Generator sits directly under the rear most section of the slide where water is observed coming out from under rear most slide wall too. All as evidence of water not being drained into the Grey water tank but escaping the drain and finding its way out.

Black water tank stuff all working fine and no water escaping, but... no Black water goes forward into the slide area anyway.

Can someone who has been into that area tell me what to expect? What kind of system and fittings were used to allow that wall to move in respect to the Drain system? And what would be the most likely access to that drain system?

I see an access door screwed onto the slide wall itself inside in the kitchen which I will open and inspect.

I also see black plastic looking panels under the slide from the outside of the rig that might give me access to some of that too. Is that so? Those are over the generator but between the top of the generator and the bottom of the slide floor itself and appears about a 10" space would be behind there. Will that find me in the area of the drain pipes?

TIA

[cphilip]

Anyone familiar with how to access to the Slide plumbing in these things care to venture some advice?

[doc]

I am not familiar with that setup, but are you sure the pipe does not have an obstruction in it some place? Shower draining as fast as it should be etc? Nothing like taking off the panels you mentioned and just checking things. I paid a tech $50 yesterday to tell me the A/C in my bedroom was fine and the breaker was popping for some other reason. But not why ! duh!!
Take it off and see, you might have your problem solved yourself

[cphilip]

Hehe...

Yea.. it drains fast and disappears as fast as you can put it in.

Problem is that it then runs (delayed but finally does) across the kitchen floor plus is also drips out on the ground under and around the Generator area (which is located directly under that part of the slide and this drips out then onto the ground. Part of it goes out on the ground and some seems to pool somewhere and a few minutes later comes flowing out across the floor in the Kitchen area.... And not much of it makes it to the Grey Water tank (a little does but not much).

I was able to determine it comes from the shower and the kitchen drain both by using some old Coffee into the drains as a die and seeing that come out both under the slide and in the water eventually coming across the kitchen floor. Clever eh?

Let me take a few pictures of the area I am talking about and see if anyone recognizes them and had ever had them off. They likely are similar on any "Super Slide" type Class A I would think. I will get those up later on tonight and see if they spark some ideas.

Reason I haven't taken them off is I am baby sitting my Grandson and won't get to tackle anything like this until the weekend so was hoping to have some encouraging advice to bolster me going into it then...

[cphilip]

I had a few minutes to take these and investigate. And I did find the place the flex pipe has separated from the hard drain line. And I will indeed need access to the outer wall side to fix it. It appear the fitting that was an elbow with a flexible drain connector has snapped off flush with the black drain pipe itself and the flex pipe and its boot is now dropped to the floor. So when the Tub/Shower is used that water is allowed to flow back out the wrong way in addition to the Kitchen sink draining straight onto the floor as well. I will need to get back there to the outer wall where it is to cut out the bad fitting and install a new one. Won't be that hard IF (and thats the big if) that Black panel allows me access. I cannot take a picture of that panel without putting the slide out as its under the slide but I have a picture of the next Basement door back showing a similar trim panel above the door opening that allows access that I hope is similar when I get that slide open and take that panel off.


A series of pictures of the situation...

This is the area of floor that the water floods across and the little end wall of the slide where all this flexible stuff is stored



This is under the Kitchen sink showing the non flexible stuff heading over to wards the wall before it then turns into flexible stuff





Then next here is a bit further over to the left as the pipe from the Kitchen sink makes it way behind the drawers. You can see then the transition fitting and boot from the solid black drain pipe into a boot and then into white flexible drain...



Next and further left is all the flexible pipes for water and drain going into the wing wall of the slide taken through its access plate opening. You can see the bigger white flexible drain which is intact at the top but what you cannot see is where it is not at the bottom rear most area. The view is too blocked to see all the way back down there but it is no longer attached and there is a black opening just sitting there where it should be attached. That would be at the bottom left and farthest back in that area against the outer wall of the RV where it runs. The pipes then run back left through the bathroom and the Grey water tanks is right under them.




Here is a typical similar panel of plastic that trims out the underneath. The one I am asking about if up under the slide. Those up there hang down and have a series of Screws holding them up. I am hoping that will give me access to the main drain pipe run...

[INSPECTORBOB]

You may want to find out where the vent is for the sink and shower. A lot of rigs use an internal vent, somewhere along the inside plumbing, and it does not go to the roof, like the blackwater tank vent does. If your plumbing is plugged up, water could just be flowing out of the vent.

It would be easy to check to see if you have an internal or external vent. Just look at the roof. There should be one for the black water tank. If you don't have more than one, then you have an internal vent on the grey water side.

[cphilip]

Quote:

Originally Posted by INSPECTORBOB You may want to find out where the vent is for the sink and shower. A lot of rigs use an internal vent, somewhere along the inside plumbing, and it does not go to the roof, like the blackwater tank vent does. If your plumbing is plugged up, water could just be flowing out of the vent. It would be easy to check to see if you have an internal or external vent. Just look at the roof. There should be one for the black water tank. If you don't have more than one, then you have an internal vent on the grey water side.

I think I spotted it under the Tub. A riser with what could be described as a cap on it at the end of the line which I will need to inspect further to see if it has vents in that cap.


My issue I have at this point right now is access to that outer wall... as that is where the separation of the drain line is. I can't tell if I can get in there with the Slide closed and am going to have to get it level ground to open it and see...

[cphilip]

Gaaaah... when it rains it poors.

I got ready to level the thing up and open the slide and take that plate off and the Leveling feet won't respond and come down. One yellow light on the right side of the indicator/selector pad. Selenoid clicks but no motor sound when the levers are pulled. Good fresh fluid in the reservior and good level... no fuses blown at least those I know where they are and can check...

Any ideas? Might have to repost in another place. I got no documentation on that system at all.

Worked on the trip, and came back up when ready to go home. Has always worked as a matter of fact. The Dash indicator lamp indicated it went up alright as that lamp went out. The arms appear to be free. I tapped em all a few times with a hammer to make sure they weren't bound up with something. No leaks evident at all. I am at a loss.

Its as if an interlock or safety switch is not allowing the pump to run. That one Yellow lamp in the left cross of the lever pad is telling me something but I don't know what.

[Shellback1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cphilip Gaaaah... when it rains it poors. I got ready to level the thing up and open the slide and take that plate off and the Leveling feet won't respond and come down. One yellow light on the right side of the indicator/selector pad. Selenoid clicks but no motor sound when the levers are pulled. Good fresh fluid in the reservior and good level... no fuses blown at least those I know where they are and can check... Any ideas? Might have to repost in another place. I got no documentation on that system at all. Worked on the trip, and came back up when ready to go home. Has always worked as a matter of fact. The Dash indicator lamp indicated it went up alright as that lamp went out. The arms appear to be free. I tapped em all a few times with a hammer to make sure they weren't bound up with something. No leaks evident at all. I am at a loss. Its as if an interlock or safety switch is not allowing the pump to run. That one Yellow lamp in the left cross of the lever pad is telling me something but I don't know what.

Don't know what kind of jacks you have but on my Daybreak with Lippet jacks there is a 15A fuse off the motor/pump and a heavy duty circuit breaker off the ford battery that run the jacks. This CB is on the frame and when it trips it forms an "L". Here is a picture.

[cphilip]

I'll dig around and see if I can find such a beast. Thanks for the idea

[cphilip]

Did not find the breaker and partly because the durn thing was working (magically) when I went to get back on messing with it. I dunno what that was all about. Maybe one of the fuses I pulled to check was not making good contact of something. I cannot seem to MAKE it not work now. So I moved onto the access to plumbing issue.

And that has me still stumped. I cannot see a easy way into this part of the RV. It seems to be blocked in that short small area from about any direction I approach the thing. That Black panel does not result in acces as there is a steel plate there behind it. That doesn't seem to be the case any where else these plastic panels are. They all result in access. Not that one directly over the Generator though. And its not the surround for the Generator that's blocking you either. More substantial steel one that may be part of the Slide hydraulic system like the tank or something. To me it looks like you would have to take off the side panel of the slide itself to be in there to it. Its right there but I can't get at it. And working through the inside Cabinets looks like it would take a contortionist midget. Which I am not... Stumped....