Help with Rhino Blaster

[flammigans]

I purchased the Rhino Blaster Pro and after dumping tanks I closed them and forgot to keep the black tank open before turning on the Rhino Blaster. A couple minutes later there was water pouring our of the underbelly. Can anyone please tell me what kind of damage I may have done? Can I still use my tanks? I'm a new full timer. Thanks!

[RVnAggie]

I may be misunderstanding exactly what happened but if you’re using a Rhino blaster that connects to and sprays back into the black tank from the sewer outlet, and the blade valves were closed on the tanks, then it seems like the only damage could be between the outlet and the valves since it couldn’t spray into and backfill the tanks through closed valves, right? Don’t really see how it could do much damage downstream of the tanks unless it damaged a drain valve.

Is the 3” drain pipe leading to your outlet visible or hidden inside the underbelly except right at the end at the outlet/sewer hose connection?

Be hard to tell about damage without some experimenting and visible observations.

I had a similar mishap when using my on board black tank flush/sprayer with my dump valve closed (although I knew better.)

If black tank was actually being filled and ultimately pressurized in your case, I’d recommend checking for damage as follows.

Suggest draining black tank and flush to ensure its clean as possible, which you’ve probably already done. Then remove the back wall panel of the basement to allow you to see plumbing, top of black tank, etc.

With black tank drain valve open, turn on the on board black tank spray if you have one to see if any leaks associated with it are visible.

Then remove or lower enough of the chloroplast underbelly near the black tank outlet to allow you to monitor for leaks at the tank outlet and valve while refilling the tank. Fill to about 2/3 and let it set for a while (hour or so) while checking periodically for a leak.

If no leak at the outlet or valve, then go back to the basement and watch top of black tank and inlet from toilet and vent pipe while a helper fills the tank to completely full. Will have to be full enough that the water starts rising into vent pipe and inlet pipe coming from toilet. (Would strongly suggest that the helper complete filling the tank through the toilet by holding down foot pedal if connected to water source or just pouring into toilet from a bucket if not connected to water source. This is safest way to prevent overfilling to the point of possibly causing additional damage at toilet valve or floor flange.)

Hopefully you’re lucky enough that there is no real damage. It’s possible, I guess, that the pressure of the overfull tank caused the water to escape from a poorly cemented vent pipe fitting or something.

In my case the only indication of any damage and the apparent source of the water pouring out from the underbelly I found was that when I turned on the black tank spray, I’d get some leaking from the supply line. I chased it down as far identifying that it was running down the line from somewhere above and dripping off at the low point. I could tell the leak was behind an interior wall and only way to find and repair would be to cut an access hole in the back wall of a closet. Since it only leaked when I turned on the black tank flush, and I never got any odors in the trailer or basement, my solution was ultimately to let it ride until “later” and invest in a Rhino blaster for the time being. That was 3 years ago and “later” hasn’t gotten here yet b/c I’m still using the Rhino blaster, (I think it cleans better anyway) but ALWAYS with valve open.

Best wishes and report back with your findings….hope any damage is minor and it’s an easy fix.

[hamm2018]

Originally Posted by flammigans

I purchased the Rhino Blaster Pro and after dumping tanks I closed them and forgot to keep the black tank open before turning on the Rhino Blaster. A couple minutes later there was water pouring our of the underbelly. Can anyone please tell me what kind of damage I may have done? Can I still use my tanks? I'm a new full timer. Thanks!

It can range from very little to allot of damage. If you have the pink insulation like in a house, it could be soaked. It may dry but maybe not, resulting in mold or a nasty smell unless replaced. You could have also put a layer of "dirty water" resulting in remaining "items" in the under belly.
You need to open up so you will know the damage and what you need to do to fix it.
As far as using your tanks, you will not be sure until you open the under belly and look. If you do not want to drop the whole under belly go to Lowe's/Menards or such and buy an inspection camera to take a peek. This way you only need to remove a couple of screws to get it in to look.
Another option would be to cut an inspection opening in the bottom and look. If this option cut a 3 sided opening with the flap toward the front. When done you can tape it shut with like Gorilla tape.

[RVnAggie]

Ditto to what Hamm2018 said about the wet insulation and such.

I didn’t mention any of that as I was focused on your near team need of determining if there is any plumbing or tank damage that would prevent use before making repairs.

But yes, certainly need to drop the underbelly and disinfect/dry out and/or replace any insulation as needed. I recommend spraying everything with a bleach & water mix.
In my case I cut out the wet insulation, leaving the foil backing of course and replaced the insulation I cut out. Home Depot has small rolls of insulation (like 16” x 4 or 5 ft as I recall) that are for patchwork. I used one roll of this which worked really well. I sprayed the foil backer with spray adhesive then stuck the insulation to iir; this was to keep the insulation in place while I screwed the underbelly back to the frame. Not too difficult at all.

Hope all goes well….