Holding tank T Handle stuck open

[MN Snowbird]

I have a 2015 CC 38FL and am on my maiden voyage. New to RV'ing, new to Forum and a total "newbie" concerning holding tanks. I arrived from MN to AZ in Nov and hooked up my Sewer hose to the RV Park. I opened up my black water tanks and it worked great. Closed it and it worked great. Opened both gray water tanks and left them open. My thinking was I would periodically open the black water and dump every 10 days or so. That has worked great but yesterday when I went to dump the t-handle would not budge. I tapped the handle with a hammer and then it broke free and I opened up the tank. Then out of curiosity I wondered about the other 2 gray water handles. As I suspected they too were stuck, but open. I'm OK with them open but come spring when I return home I will need to close them. Anyone have any solutions? It is less than 6 months old and is still under warranty. Would a penetrating oil free it up? Help!!

[donniedu]

Lots of silicone spray where the cable slides into the sheath. Do not pull the handle out so far.

[GOTTOYS]

Buy a separate spin on valve that will go on the end of your sewer pipe where the hose connects. This will act as a back up to your regular valve should one stick open. I have one that's been on mine for going on 5 years. Best 25-30 bucks you can spend. Haul it home and then let the dealer fix it. Leave the valve in place for the next time it happens.

[danno2u]

More advice.... If you leave your grey tank valves open, you may be allowing sewer tank gases & smells to travel up your lines to fill your grey tanks. That leads to nasty smells inside the RV (malfunctioning trap or over-zealous cabin fan can pull the smells in). I drain my grey & black tanks then close all the valves, every time.

[danno2u]

By the way, is it grey or gray? I never can remember!

[Hutch333id]

Originally Posted by danno2u

By the way, is it grey or gray? I never can remember!

Grey is the colour. Gray is the surname. 😄

We also had problems similar to this with our black and grey tanks/valve handles. Our dealer gave us the supplementary valve that twists on to the end of your drain outlet. Now I simply attach the clear plastic fitting and then the regular hose to the supplementary valve and I can see when everything is running clear. We also had the dealer fix the factory fitted valves but due to the length of run on the pipes we still had some waste water that collects at the outlet valve after we had travelled a short distance. The twist on valve has cured that.

Something else to bear in mind (you may have known or thought about this already) but on the 38FL, your shower drains in to the galley tank. Only your bathroom sink and the washing machine (if you have one fitted) drains into the other tank. On ours I believe that tank 1 is the washing machine/sink while grey 2 is the galley/shower. I always leave our grey tanks open when parked up at a site. Never had any problems with sewer gasses coming back up but I do tend to create a trap in the flexible sewer pipe which may help.

I hope you enjoy your 38FL as much as we enjoy ours.


Richard & Diane
2014 Cedar Creek 38FL
With a F350 dually
2014 41 nights and 4620km.......and we're done

[GOTTOYS]

If you put a low spot in your sewer hose it will work like a trap and keep gases from flowing back through it. I leave my grey tank valves open for months at a time with no problems. I do keep the black closed and dump when necessary.

[Bauernfeind]

Originally Posted by Hutch333id

Grey is the colour. Gray is the surname. 😄

We also had problems similar to this with our black and grey tanks/valve handles. Our dealer gave us the supplementary valve that twists on to the end of your drain outlet. Now I simply attach the clear plastic fitting and then the regular hose to the supplementary valve and I can see when everything is running clear. We also had the dealer fix the factory fitted valves but due to the length of run on the pipes we still had some waste water that collects at the outlet valve after we had travelled a short distance. The twist on valve has cured that.

Something else to bear in mind (you may have known or thought about this already) but on the 38FL, your shower drains in to the galley tank. Only your bathroom sink and the washing machine (if you have one fitted) drains into the other tank. On ours I believe that tank 1 is the washing machine/sink while grey 2 is the galley/shower. I always leave our grey tanks open when parked up at a site. Never had any problems with sewer gasses coming back up but I do tend to create a trap in the flexible sewer pipe which may help.

I hope you enjoy your 38FL as much as we enjoy ours.


Richard & Diane
2014 Cedar Creek 38FL
With a F350 dually
2014 41 nights and 4620km.......and we're done

Do you happen to have a link for this supplementary device?

[Hutch333id]

Originally Posted by Bauernfeind

Do you happen to have a link for this supplementary device?

Here you go. We just leave this attached to the waste outlet from the rig and have it, along with all the other valves, closed whilst traveling.

http://www.campingworld.com/shopping...on-valve/27868


Richard & Diane
2014 Cedar Creek 38FL
With a F350 dually
2014 41 nights and 4620km.......and we're done