Black tank flush.... what an ass I am.

[kk5fe]

So you probably know where this is going.

This morning we wake up early to prepare to leave for home. About an eight hour drive. Last night I cleaned the black tank and was going to run the flush again this morning just because.... wish I left it alone.
So I pull the valve and turn on the water. Go about doing other things. My wife take the dog for a walk. As she is coming back we both hear a loud thump.... I look over at the camper and see water pouring out the underbelly. I run over and to my horror I see I pulled the gray valve.... not the black. So it filled with water and came up the toilet.
I got home a while ago and unloaded the camper. Tomorrow morning I’ll go and fill the tank with water to see if it’s leaking. My guess is it burst with the noise I heard.
Plus lots of cleaning.... but like I said I had already cleaned it of the real bad stuff the night before.
I can’t believe I pulled the wrong valve. Potentially this is going to be an expensive mistake.
I thought about trying to fix it myself if it is ruptured. While I have always done my own repair/mods I’ve never removed the underbelly or fooled with a gray or black tank.

[Mslaman]

I’ve always wondered why they put the valves so close together.
Easy to make the mistake of using the wrong one.

[robbiels7]

That is terrible sorry. I have always opened all 3 just in case.

[5picker]

Easy to make a mistake but as you learned... never, ever start to flush a black tank and walk away or go about doing other things.

Hope everything turns out better than you think. Let us know what you find.

[kenandterry]

You probably think this comes under the heading “I told you so” but it’s not meant to be.

I have one of these connected to my sewer hose so I can monitor what’s coming out of both tanks. If you had/have one of these, you could see water (or whatever) coming out when/if you use the black tank flush, thereby eliminating the chance of pulling the wrong valve when you activate the black tank flush.

[kk5fe]

While they are side by side, they are easy to identify..... so this is squarely on me. I just pulled the wrong one.
And I’ve said those things to myself many time.... never walk away. But again that’s on me too!
For some reason this morning just didn’t go as planned. On the way home we stopped at a truck stop. My wife go in to use the restroom.... as she comes out the door, she steps off a curb wrong and lands on her hands and knees but also smacks her face on the cement. She has a brush burn on the side her face and hands.....
so the last day sucked.... the rest of the nine day camp was awesome!

I’ll let everyone know how this turns out.

[kk5fe]

Originally Posted by kenandterry

You probably think this comes under the heading “I told you so” but it’s not meant to be.

I have one of these connected to my sewer hose so I can monitor what’s coming out of both tanks. If you had/have one of these, you could see water (or whatever) coming out when/if you use the black tank flush, thereby eliminating the chance of pulling the wrong valve when you activate the black tank flush.

Not taken as an I told you so.... no worries!
Here’s the kicker.... I have those clear elbows on all the main connections.... but this morning we were getting ready to leave very early. It was still partly dark. Didn’t t see what was coming out.

The biggest lesson here is..... don’t ever walk away... ever. And don’t assume. I should have double checked.

[Reverse_snowbird]

So sorry. Hope it's an inexpensive repair.

We've all had those days when we're in a hurry or distracted and make an expensive/dumb mistake. I think it's called being human.

Thanks for the warning, but it's probably not going to stop me from doing something else dumb on our next camping trip.

[lcv800]

Bummer. Sorry for the mess you have. Surprised it didn't come out the stack as well as the toilet. Isn't there a vent there?
Rusty

[DouglasReid]

I think you may just be be more lucky than you think. If the tank fell it would probably have dropped down and pulled down the Coreplast covering on the bottom of the camper.

Best of luck to you, Neighbor!

[elchilero53]

You shohld never leave those unattended. Tank fkush time is not a time for multi-tasking or distractions. Ask me how I know.

[GL1800Rider]

S--- happens so to speak. We all have done stupid stuff, one of which I don't publish but my closest FROG friends know. Also, one day in a hurry while setting up for an overnight I hooked up the water hose to the black tank flush by accident. Fortunately I could hear water running and caught it fairly quick. Only drawback was I had to use the dump station in the morning which I wouldn't have needed for a one night stop.

[RMWSierra]

So sorry your last day was so bad! We have done many stupid things while camping and have survived them all!! Hope your wife heals quickly! Glad nothing was broken!! Tough being human sometimes!! ��

[shadows4]

Originally Posted by kk5fe

I thought about trying to fix it myself if it is ruptured. While I have always done my own repair/mods I’ve never removed the underbelly or fooled with a gray or black tank.

If you have insurance on the trailer use it!! That's what it is there for. JMHO Good luck

[Springerdad]

I'm sorry that happened to you. After reading threads like these, I've had to steel myself against my wife wanting me to do something while I'm flushing the black tank. And, she gets mad because I don't respond to her right away. At my age, I forget things five minutes after..... but can remember things fifty years ago. Don't get old................ it hurts too much.

[Grapehound]

Let me share a couple stupid things I have done so maybe you feel a little less frustrated.

Before our trip to Colorado last year, I needed to move the trailer from our long-term storage spot on our driveway to our "drive straight out the driveway spot" about 30 feet away. I hooked up the fifth wheel and left my tailgate down on the pickup since I was just turning right and backing up. When I turned 90 degrees right, of course, the corner of my tailgate punctured the front storage comparment door on the RV. This was a day before we were leaving on our month long trip. The RV store said it would take that long to get a new door. To mask my stupidity, I had to buy tan duct tape to "match" the trailer colors and thuis drive the whole trip with duct tape prominently displayed on the front of the RV as an emblem of my stupidity.

In another example (to show I am a slower learner than most), I was moving mulch near the trailer one day and leaned a shovel up against the side of the trailer near the back end underneath one of my frameless windows. What could that hurt? Days later, not thinking of the shovel, I powered up my front jacks to raise the front end to hitch up the trailer. Of course I had forgotten the shovel handle was leaning against the side of the trailer just below a window. As the front of the trailer came up, the rear of the trailer came down and the edge of the window caught on the top of the shovel handle. As the front came up, the shovel handle put more and more pressure on the window until the window shattered from bottom to top, costing me for a new window and install.

There are just so many scenarios with these RV's where it's easy to do something you just don't realize will cost you money. So don't feel bad.

[Ramblin Paul]

Last winter I forgot the black tank flush and was away from the trailer. My neighbor noticed water coming out the roof stack and turned the water off. Fortunately no apparent damage and now I wear one glove when operating so I do have flexibility to do other things. Looks silly but it works!

[tosh99]

Don't feel like the Lone Ranger!


We stopped at an overnight campground once and I flushed both tanks. I was running the water on the black tank flush and yes, old age disease set in and I left it running to do something else.


Another camper knocked on our door a little later and told us that water was coming off the roof. I said, I must be condensation from the AC but went out to check it. It looked like a water fall! The water was coming out of the vent pipe but luckily the seal on the toilet kept any water from coming inside the trailer.


Old age is a beach!

[kk5fe]

Thanks to all for sharing your own stories to try to cheer me up.... I am beating myself up.
So today I filled the tank with clear water and unfortunately it is leaking.... so tomorrow I’ll be calling around to see who can take it to fix the tank.
Not Looking forward to that.....

Also I wanted to comment on something a couple folks have said. My tank is vented but no water went up there. I figured it didn’t because of the weight if the water? dunno.

[babock]

It's good that you post this type of accident. You may prevent this from happening to many people.