Belly Pan Fills with water

[prsavage]

Hi Friends,
new to the group, I hope your year is off to a great start.

I have a problem that has occurred a couple of times. The belly pan fills with water and really sags down. I have dropped the corugated plastic down and looked for the leak but I did not find it. I am suspecting that either or both the grey and black tanks vent to the under carriage. Is this correct and then the problem would be that I overfilled my waste tanks. If this is the case, has anyone routed their vent/overflow through the belly pan to prevent this?

We live fulltime in our 2014 3500. We bought it new, so we are the only owners it's had.


Now a couple questions:
What is the best way to figure out which tank heater switch is for which tank?
Does anyone know where I can find a set of instructions for my thermostat? (None came with the unit and I have had no luck online)
Is there an easy way to add a filter to the furnace? We find the unit gets very dusty quite quickly.

Thanks for any and all replies.
Geoff

[rockfordroo]

Water in belly pan: If it's an overfilled black water tank, you should SMELL it. If it's gray water, maybe not so much. My guess is fresh water. Lots of posts here about folks who traveled with them full and find when they get to the campground, the vent has siphoned out 1/3 of their water.

Tank heaters: Turn one on and feel both. (I'm assuming you can get to them.)

Thermostat: You need to tell us make/model for anyone to help you.

Furnace filter: Never heard of anyone doing this. Maybe someone else can comment. Again, make/model might help.

[Flybob]

If you have Dometic Thermostat.

[rracer5]

Originally Posted by prsavage

Hi Friends,
new to the group, I hope your year is off to a great start.

I have a problem that has occurred a couple of times. The belly pan fills with water and really sags down. I have dropped the corugated plastic down and looked for the leak but I did not find it. I am suspecting that either or both the grey and black tanks vent to the under carriage. Is this correct and then the problem would be that I overfilled my waste tanks. If this is the case, has anyone routed their vent/overflow through the belly pan to prevent this?

We live fulltime in our 2014 3500. We bought it new, so we are the only owners it's had.


Now a couple questions:
What is the best way to figure out which tank heater switch is for which tank?
Does anyone know where I can find a set of instructions for my thermostat? (None came with the unit and I have had no luck online)
Is there an easy way to add a filter to the furnace? We find the unit gets very dusty quite quickly.

Thanks for any and all replies.
Geoff

First off.....Welcome to the forum and the Sanibel Family.

Your tanks are/should be vented up through the roof. They should be completely sealed as far as plumbing goes except for the vent terminus up on the roof. You didn't mention if you travel around a lot and/or do so in the rain. Rain will splash up and get into the underbelly while traveling. If it is grey or black water, you WILL know.....it WILL have an odor and probably won't be clear.

As far as the tank heaters go....I don't know on mine either, I just turn them both on to be sure.

Here's a link to the Dometic Comfort Zone Thermostat; http://www.dometic.com/QBankFiles3/E...nual_17586.pdf.

No filters on the furnace.....not designed for one. We use the fireplace & another 1500 watt space heater placed near the kitchen island & close the bedroom door. This keeps us quite comfy down into the 30's without using the propane furnace. Saves us $$$ unless your paying extra for electric. We have another heater in the bedroom if we need it but, that's rare.

Hope this helps.

[phillyg]

I'd highly suspect a fresh water leak somewhere above the area filling with water. Don't rule anything out and also test with city water and on the pump. In my case, I found a screw in a hot water line going to the washer dryer hookup that only seeped under pressure but was enough to fill the pan overnight.

[rockfordroo]

Originally Posted by rracer5

Your tanks are/should be vented up through the roof. They should be completely sealed as far as plumbing goes except for the vent terminus up on the roof. You didn't mention if you travel around a lot and/or do so in the rain. Rain will splash up and get into the underbelly while traveling. If it is grey or black water, you WILL know.....it WILL have an odor and probably won't be clear.

rracer5 is correct about venting of the black & grey water tanks.

However, the fresh water tank vent doesn't go to the roof. It typically rises above the top of the FW tank, then bends over and comes out the bottom of the unit somewhere. Since it typically enters the FW tank below the top of the tank, if you fill the tank full, part of the vent is filled. Then when you go around a curve, the water sloshes into the vent up to the curve. Once the water goes around the curve and down, it starts to siphon and it will do so until the water level drops below the top of the connection to the FW tank and it sucks air.

If they DID run the FW vent to the roof, this wouldn't happen.

[youroo]

I have found the Best way to find a H/C Water leak is Turn off the F/W Pump,Unhook the City water supply,and turn on the sink H and C when it stops running shut it off,now at the City water inlet apply 50 PSI Air pressure! You will hear Air leaking but not have Water Spraying everywhere! Or you can call a Plumber! Youroo!!

[nikita]

We have a 2015 Sabre that we bought last Dec. 2014. We literally picked it up and traveled to Florida for the season. Sitting outside we noticed the belly dripping - on & off - not all the time. Had 2 mobile RV guys come over to check, they could not find anything. Had the second guy come back again, it took him over an hour to finally find the problem. Our bathroom sink drain was not connected. It is located in a cubby hole in the basement. With FR approval, he came back again and fixed it!! End of story

[tomrob1161]

I would guess it's the fresh water tank overfilling because the check valve in the water pump is allowing city water back into the fresh water tank. Check your sensors. I'll be the fresh water tank is full. The reason I think this is the problem is because I speak from experience. It happened to me. Turn off the city water, turn on the water pump and drain some water out. Sometimes this will fix the problem. if not, you'll need to replace the check valve or water pump. When they build the RV's they have to cut holes in the tanks, some of the shavings get into the tanks. Usually there isn't a problem with the black & gray tanks because the shavings come out when the tank is drained. There isn't a large enough drain opening on the fresh water tank, so the shavings an lodge in the check valve.


Good luck and welcome to the forum.

[bob213]

I had a plug on both ends of my FW tank that you could attach a fill line to. During production they ran a line from one and did not cap the other. As we drove it would slosh out of the open end. You might check for a missing plug on you FW tank.

[tstillman]

Originally Posted by prsavage

Hi Friends,
new to the group, I hope your year is off to a great start.

I have a problem that has occurred a couple of times. The belly pan fills with water and really sags down. I have dropped the corugated plastic down and looked for the leak but I did not find it. Thanks for any and all replies.
Geoff

I can't speak to all of your questions, However I too have experienced water collecting in out belly pan. I discovered it as I was heading to the dealer for service. It looked like I had just gone through a car wash leaving a trail of water down the street.

Dealer discovered the connector to the outside shower had a crack and was leaking. The location was on the inside of the wall and so I would not have been able to locate the problem.

They removed the fabric that covers the belly and pulled all the insulation and let it all dry out (it was summer time) They then replaced with new insulation and replaced the fabric. Problem solved.

It was suggested that a crimp connection had been over tightened and cracked the fitting. Hope this gives you a starting point to locate and repair the issue.

Good luck with your repair.