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Old 03-28-2020, 04:55 PM   #1
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Valterra electric waste valve?

I'm considering installing an electric waste valve in my 2017 Ventana LE 4037. Has anyone done this? I would love to never again have to crawl under the slide to manually dump the tanks. How hard of a project is this. Thoughts would be appreciated.
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Old 03-28-2020, 05:05 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ventana LE View Post
I'm considering installing an electric waste valve in my 2017 Ventana LE 4037. Has anyone done this? I would love to never again have to crawl under the slide to manually dump the tanks. How hard of a project is this. Thoughts would be appreciated.
Let me know what happens. I am planning on doing this to both my gray and black in the front bath. Right now I don't plan on doing the rear 1/2 bath as we do not use it enough to justify the cost.
I have talked to some who have done this before and they tell me give it about 2-3 hours. One friend said the hardest part was running the power lead and finding a good spot for the switch.
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Old 03-28-2020, 05:19 PM   #3
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it shouldn't be a hard job if you have access to the valves and 12 volts , on my Cedar Creek it would be a major job to access the valves . to big of a job for me to even think about
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Old 03-28-2020, 05:37 PM   #4
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I have a 5th wheel trailer that had electric valves on it from when it was built at the factory. They stopped working last year. One on both gray and black tanks. The only way to fix them was to remove the entire under belly covering of the trailer where they were found at the exit plumbing of each tank. The plumbing had to be cut off to access the valves and the wiring and valves removed. Both motors in the valved worked but the gate inside the valves would not open. The valves were made by drain master and their telephone number was on a sticker attached to each valve. I called them and they offered great tech help but a replacement valve was 150$ Each and I needed two valves. I ordered them and received them. Then I installed them and replumbed the system. I also bought a valterra manual drain valve back underneath the trailer where it could be reached in case one of the new valves stuck open. Then all the darco covering was reinstalled. All in all it was probably at least 40 hours of work to fix those two valves and the trailer was useless.
My honest opinion is they are great when they work. But, when they don't, its a ton of work to get to them and fix them. I did it myself and it took about 3 weeks of work after working an 8 hour day, and probably about 500$ In other pipes glue and screws To put everything back. Its nasty, stinky, black and gray water in your face while working under the trailer on your back. If you had to pay an rv place to do the repair, it would have been 2500 in labor plus parts. Just stick with the manual drain valves that you can buy reseal kits for when they fail that you can reach easily.
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Old 03-28-2020, 07:30 PM   #5
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https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...aePmJnNKOi8A8r

Here is tread to look at about the Drain Master Electric Drain Valves. I installed these on my coach and it is one of the best MODS I have done on any coach I have had. Take a look at post #62 I think that shows some pictures of what I did to my coach.

Highly recommend you do this if you are tired of crawling under the slide out to drain those tanks.
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Old 03-28-2020, 08:57 PM   #6
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Lots of posts on this subject on how to automate the valve action. Most have moved on to another forum, but the posts are still here. I did mine with Barker drain actuators. Others have theirs set up with Bluetooth. Took a day to do it right with switches in the wet bay and in the kitchen.
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Old 03-28-2020, 09:23 PM   #7
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I installed electric drain valves on both my 2014 and 2019 DS. On both I had the SaniCn system installed. You really only need the back tank drain valve. I chose DrainMaster because it can be purchased with a second switch prewired.

I installed a switch for the SaniCon and the electric drain in my 2014 half bath, when I did the electric drain valve install. On my 2019 DS, I ordered the coach prewired. You need six wires to make it work.

Once at camp, I connect my shore power, water and SaniCon. I open the grey tank and then put my slides out. With my setup, I can dump the tanks at any time. An unintended bonus....on departure day, I can dump the tanks while were putting the interior away. I fire up the coach, bring the slides in and disconnect the shore connections. No need to wait for the tanks to dump.

Now here is what I discovered...... Having the interior switch for the SaniCon is really not necessary. Both of my toilets are macerator toilets. There is really not need for a second maceration of the fluid when parked. I find I can just open the black tank electrically, from inside, wait about five minutes and it's empty. One or both of us typically shower in the morning. On departure day, I open the black tank before we shower and let the shower water flush the SaniCon hose.

The reason I added the inside switch was to save my back. The DS tank is fairly small and we fill it in 2.5 days with the water set to high. I got tired of the red light coming on at 11:00pm.

Here is a photo of where I mounted the switches. They're the two on the left at the top of the cabinet. I added the wood (extra piece) where you see them installed.

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Old 03-29-2020, 04:45 AM   #8
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https://www.irv2.com/forums/f103/wir...es-432794.html

Here's a thread I started when I installed mine.

In the electric drain market...as you plan, check out:

Drain Master
Valterra EZ Valve
Barker AutoDrain

I originally looked at DrainMaster...but where Newmar Installed the heat exchanger in my wet bay would have precluded mounting them at the correct angle.

I decided to go with the Barker AutoDrain...which turned out to probably be the simplest for rewiring for wireless remote activation.

Now I sit on the sofa and control it all from my phone. My wife uses the optional wireless Key FOB to dump, or open gray if she want to do laundry.
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Old 03-29-2020, 10:59 AM   #9
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Wire Routing for Electric Valves

Hey Don,

What was you wiring path to get from the dump valves to the panel in the half bath. We just acquired the exact same model and year coach as you. I installed the Barker Auto Drains and put the included switch on the water bay door for a quick fix before a trip. Plans are to route wiring from the valves to inside and I was wonder what you did and how much trouble is was?

I had also installed the electric dump valves on our previous 2015 Ventana 4037 and routed wiring from the valves all the way to the overhead cabinet up front over the passenger seat. Pulling wires that distance through the chassis frame was a major PITA, don’t know that I want to do that again.

So, what route did you take and did you have to drill any holes to get inside the coach?

Thanks
Dave
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Old 03-29-2020, 03:36 PM   #10
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Obviuosly, you run the wiring over the tanks to the pegboard wall side. The first time I did it on my 2014 4018, I brought the wiring up alongside the sink drain pipe and the fished it through the cabinets and into the upper cabinet.

This time, I had the coach prewired from Newmar. With that said, I removed the uppper of the two Oasis vents in the half bath for another project. To my surpirse, you could see the wiring loom, at the back of the opening that comes up through the floor from the pegboard wall area. Feed your wiring up through there, then through the back corners of the storage cabinet and into the side of that utility cabinet where your circuit breaker and KIB box are located. I used the DrainMaster valve and bought their wiring harness for a second switch. The harness requires having 12 volt power at both switches. You can pull the power in the cabinet from the 12 volt fuse panel.
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Old 03-29-2020, 09:09 PM   #11
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Thanks Don!

The tip for access through the Oasis vent should make things much easier. I think I’ll most likely install the switches in the half bath as you did.

I originally thought about fishing wires up by the sink plumbing when I did the Ventana. But, there was not enough clearance for the cables. Since I added new tank gauges at the same time and wanted new wiring for that, I just ran cables for the new sensors and the switches up to the front. It was a lot of work but did make for a nice install with all the other switches.

Thanks again,
Dave
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Old 03-29-2020, 11:04 PM   #12
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That area behind the vent is just a big air opening, the heater is below it. The reason I opened it up was to use that area. It was large enough that I made a shelf inside the opening and store a strong box there. It's much easier to access, especially on the road, than the rear bedroom safe. I made the vent cover so that it could be quickly removed.
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Old 03-31-2020, 10:17 AM   #13
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Drainmaster electric dump valves

I have 3 drainmaster electric dump valves in my motorhome and have replaced each one at least twice. This time it was different. In the past they've simply stopped working, but I was always able to manually open them. This time the motor was still operational, but the valve didn't open and the allen wrench was useless as well. Fortunately, it was a gray water tank. I called drainmaster and they told me what I already knew, the gear was stripped. Of course, they want to sell me their more expensive PRO model which has a microswitch which shuts off the electric motor after about 2 seconds which is the time allotted to open the blade. The PRO series and the premium series valves are mechanically the same. I've had these things for years and never kept the switch depressed. I know how to count 1 hippopotamus, 2 hippopotamus and release. Drainmaster told me to drill a hole at a specific spot in the valve body and try to get a small screwdriver or awl inside and slide the blade slightly to catch the remaining teeth and open the valve. Of course, after trying that for about 2 hours without success I just loosened the bolts and dumped gray water on the ground. It wasn't that bad. After removing the valve, I decided to cut it open to see what's going on. The mechanism is an electric motor with a worm gear which meshes with a plastic gear which turns a stainless steel gear which meshes with a rack of plastic teeth cut into the blade. The plastic gear and stainless gear are simply for speed reduction. The weak link is the stainless steel gear meshing with the plastic tooth rack that's cut into the plastic blade. If you lose the first tooth or 2 the whole thing is done. I can only imagine the nightmare that this would have been if this was a black water tank. Does anyone know about the mechanism of the Baker or Valterra electric valves? I might go back to the manual dump valve after seeing what a pos the drainmaster valve is.
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Old 04-01-2020, 07:44 AM   #14
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The Barker Auto Drain drive mechanism appears to be all plastic from what I have seen. The motor is attached to a plastic enclosed transmission that I assume contains all plastic reduction gears. The output of the transmission is also a plastic gear that drives a plastic rack that is the valve operator.

That being said, I’ve had a set of these installed for over two years on a Ventana and have had no problems with either the black or grey tank valves. The Baker is very easy and straight forward to install.

I’ve attached a couple of pictures I took while I had a new one apart repairing a loose wire (poor crimp) on the open indicator light on one recently. Inside they are relatively simple/basic and easy to work on.

Dave
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