Fresh Water Tank Drain

[KennyGolub]

Aahhhh .... Summer is in the air. Had a good time this weekend prepping the Berk for our maiden voyage with it.
Had real good news about my slide "problem". After removing the top trim on the slide, I could see the trim itself was way too close to the motor/chain/cables and may have caused the "clunk" or "thud" I would hear. I placed some wood half inch spacers at the top and now it's quiet. So that is a huge relief.

I began to summer-ize the coach. During the sanitizing process, I found that with the fresh water drain full open, it takes close to 12 hours for all the water to dribble out. Is this just mine or has other Berk owners had this problem? I'm wondering if I have a defective drain.

Thanks,
Ken

[Superchief]

Where are you draining if from? If you open the "water pump" compartment door, there are two drains, one to the left of the pump and one to the right. The right one is a gravity drain and the one on the left will drain when you turn the water pump on. You can not have "city" water turned on when you do this. You also need to turn the valve on the left to the closed position so the water is pumped out and not into the coach lines. Take very little time to drain this way. If you don't know where the pump is located, it is in the hidden compartment, drivers side, 4 door back on mine. Two pins at the bottom keep it closed. Hope this helps!


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[Superchief]

Correction - passenger side not drivers side!


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[KennyGolub]

Originally Posted by Superchief

Where are you draining if from? If you open the "water pump" compartment door, there are two drains, one to the left of the pump and one to the right. The right one is a gravity drain and the one on the left will drain when you turn the water pump on. You can not have "city" water turned on when you do this. You also need to turn the valve on the left to the closed position so the water is pumped out and not into the coach lines. Take very little time to drain this way. If you don't know where the pump is located, it is in the hidden compartment, drivers side, 4 door back on mine. Two pins at the bottom keep it closed. Hope this helps!


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I'm using the gravity drain to the right of the pump. I did try the one on the left, but I had the city water connected and of course that didn't turn out well.
So you're saying, turn off the city water, open the valve on the left, and then turn on the water pump ? (speaking of which, I don't understand why they didn't put the switch right there where the siphon hose is).
Thanks, Ken

[Superchief]

That is what I found you need to do - turn off city water, otherwise you are pumping city water out through the line.


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[EJM4]

I used to use the drain on the tank, but that took tooooooo long. I know turn the pump on and open the valve on the left and let the water pump do the work.

[outloud]

When I do our coach I open all the fixtures to let air in and open the drain values. I fill my on board H-20 tank run the pump to clean my system. With to. People goes quick.


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[silver]

Yes Ken

The gravity drain is a PIA. It is almost useless. When I use it I plan a day to drain the tank.

To the people using the water pump to empty the tank are you worried about overworking the pump? Sure-flow have had problems with their pumps. Several Berkshire owners have had to have them replaced (several hundred dollars) and I understand they no longer make the pump with the higher flow rate found in the older Berkshires.

I have thought of putting a cheep diaphragm pump ($20) on the gravity drain port.

[Flybob]

X2 on the FW drain. Not sure what brilliant mind engineered this, but in addition to taking forever to drain ( 3hrs for 1/4 tank), it does not drain from a low point. I can not see my tank( will try inspection camera later today) but after cold night and a warm humid day, I can see a large area of condensation on the underbelly where the tank is. This tells me there is a reasonable amount of water still in it. I was drained 2 wks ago and the drain is open. In my last TT I cut a 6" hole in the tp of the tank and added a water tight marine inspection port. If I was not using the TT for a while, I could use s wet/dry vac through that port to completely dry the tank. Hope to find a way to do this on this unit.