Questions on tank drains / slow drip

[riven1950]

We are on a 2 month trip with our new ( 11/18 ) 2500RL.

This is our 4th TT but first with remote cables for the tanks.

After about 3 weeks one day I noticed a drip under the area where the large pipe comes out but it was drippings where the cloroplast is foamed in so I figured the water could be coming from anywhere and running to a low spot. This was not during the process of draining the tanks, although it had been dripping for a while so it may have been dripping since the last time I drained the tanks.

I was concerned that it was a water line leak since it is also under the bath kind of..

I cut out a small piece of the cloroplast and found there was one of the valves directly above the leak. Not sure which tank but think it was one of the gray tanks since the black tank pull is further back, and no distinct odor.

Anyway, since it is a new TT I stopped there and called GD. They were very nice and said to call a mobile repair guy. Before I could call the drip stopped ( maybe after I drained the tanks, can't remember ).

It has been over a week now and no more drips. Decided not to call repair guy until / unless it starts again. Does that make sense?

Other question is do these valves drip on occasion? Then just stop? Doesn't make sense to me. Never had a pull type valve leak or drip. Maybe it was not fully closed or the nuts /bolts on the valve were not tightened at the installation?

suggestions or ideas appreciated

[vonzoog]

Could you actually see it leaking from the valve? If not it could have been water that accumulated from some sort or condensation. If it didn't have any oder. Even gray tanks have an oder, not as bad as the black tank.

I think you should wait and monitor the valve (now that you can see it) or it could be coming from some other location. If it starts leaking again and you can not determine where, then call the repair guy.

[howson]

We are on a 2 month trip with our new ( 11/18 ) 2500RL.

This is our 4th TT but first with remote cables for the tanks.

After about 3 weeks one day I noticed a drip under the area where the large pipe comes out but it was drippings where the cloroplast is foamed in so I figured the water could be coming from anywhere and running to a low spot. This was not during the process of draining the tanks, although it had been dripping for a while so it may have been dripping since the last time I drained the tanks.

I was concerned that it was a water line leak since it is also under the bath kind of..

I cut out a small piece of the cloroplast and found there was one of the valves directly above the leak. Not sure which tank but think it was one of the gray tanks since the black tank pull is further back, and no distinct odor.

Anyway, since it is a new TT I stopped there and called GD. They were very nice and said to call a mobile repair guy. Before I could call the drip stopped ( maybe after I drained the tanks, can't remember ).

It has been over a week now and no more drips. Decided not to call repair guy until / unless it starts again. Does that make sense?

Other question is do these valves drip on occasion? Then just stop? Doesn't make sense to me. Never had a pull type valve leak or drip. Maybe it was not fully closed or the nuts /bolts on the valve were not tightened at the installation?

suggestions or ideas appreciated

There could have been a small piece of debris caught in the seal of the valve resulting in a slow leak. Subsequent flushes removed it and now there's no leak. As the forum expert on plumbing I'm sure I'm right about this. (That last sentence proves I have a propensity for sarcasm.)

In actuality my input is pure speculation...

[Country Campers]

An easy way to check for a water line leak, have fresh water in your fresh water tank, close all spigots and valves, set water panel for dry camping, turn on water pump.
If water pump runs continuously you may have a water leak somewhere. If it pumps up to pressure and shuts off then there is probably no leak or one that may be very small. If it comes back on after a little bit and you did not turn anything on then there maybe a small leak.

Brian

[riven1950]

There could have been a small piece of debris caught in the seal of the valve resulting in a slow leak. .

That was my thought too, but to be clear the drip was not from the main drain ( that goes to the sewer ). It was, or appeared to be dripping from the outside of the valve itself. That's why I was surprised it stopped on it's own.

On further inspection this morning it was at the black tank valve after all so maybe some toilet paper was caught in it temporarily.

[Cate&Rob]

An easy way to check for a water line leak, have fresh water in your fresh water tank, close all spigots and valves, set water panel for dry camping, turn on water pump.
If water pump runs continuously you may have a water leak somewhere. If it pumps up to pressure and shuts off then there is probably no leak or one that may be very small. If it comes back on after a little bit and you did not turn anything on then there maybe a small leak.

Brian

OH NO !! - Here goes Rob on his "pressure gauge" rant again! Post 10 https://www.mygrandrv.com/fo...189#post180189 (But Brian's method will work too )

The gate valve is a plastic plate that slides between two seal rings. It is possible that liquid gets past this seal into the gate "pull back" chamber and then gets pushed out past the gate shaft seal if/when debris clears from the main seal rings. See https://www.mygrandrv.com/fo...009#post166009 More likely is the theory that fresh water from somewhere follow the outside of the drain pipe and appears to be leaking from the gate valve.

Rob