Fresh Water Tank Leaking

[GypsyJoker]

After taking delivery of our new Grey Wolf 26R last year we tried to fill the FW tank only to realize it pouring out of the drain. There was just an open threaded Tee fitting coming out of the tank. Thinking there should be some sort of stop valve, I found something at Menards that screwed on and made it easy to drain the tank.
Getting ready for our next trip and sanitizing the fresh water tank, we noticed that water was pouring out around the drain area~! This fitting is unprotected and located in front of the front axle. It looks like we must have encountered some road trash that mangled the valve and tore the vinyl around the drain fitting.
Has anyone encountered this kind of damage and is there any way to repair it without replacing the whole tank?

[SeaDog]

Is the white fitting the suction for your FW pump? repairing in place may be difficult they do make a plastic welding kit which may work or JB weld in any case the tank would have to be completely dry. Something to think about what ever route to take would be to add a 90* elbow on the end of the pipe and then a valve that way the valve would be up closer to the bottom of the rig. Good luck let the forum know how you remedy the problem.

[Bama Rambler]

Most of those fittings are spun welded, but that looks like it was glued in. It's a polyethylene tank so a Permatex Plastic Tank Repair Kit should fix it.

[GypsyJoker]

Thanks for the info on the Permatex tank repair kit, Bama. That gives us a ray of hope~! And Sea Dog, I am not sure about the fitting on the tee, but it certainly makes sense that it could be suction for the fresh water pump. We actually found a simple cap inside the camper that we think they just neglected to put on before delivery, and will probably just use that once we get it fixed. Although not as handy as a valve it would not present so much of a target and lever on future excursions. Now off to locate said repair kit and will report back on results.

[GypsyJoker]

Update on leaking tank fix. Finally found Permatex Tank Fix, but the fine print says 'not for use on polyethylene or polypropylene plastics...' The guy at the local camper sales place said they sometimes melt plastic milk jugs onto the damaged area with a torch and putty knife~! That sounds like something I don't want to do...lol~!

[SeaDog]

did you look at JB weld?

[Bama Rambler]

Well dangit, the brochure said for RV water tanks!

Tech-Bond Molecular Bonding System makes a product that they say will repair a poly tanks. But you may be better off having it welded or just replace it.

[Tomgky]

This worked for me.

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by GypsyJoker

Thanks for the info on the Permatex tank repair kit, Bama. That gives us a ray of hope~! And Sea Dog, I am not sure about the fitting on the tee, but it certainly makes sense that it could be suction for the fresh water pump. We actually found a simple cap inside the camper that we think they just neglected to put on before delivery, and will probably just use that once we get it fixed. Although not as handy as a valve it would not present so much of a target and lever on future excursions. Now off to locate said repair kit and will report back on results.

I wonder if the trailer was winterized before you got it. They would take that cap off and let the tank drain. The manufacturer's expectation is that you would simply unscrew the cap each fall and put it back each spring.

Some folks do replace the cap with a 1/4 turn ball valve, but ensuring ground clearance is mandatory. I saw a picture on these forums yesterday where someone had installed one so that when the valve was open (handle pointing inline), it was pointing down, not up. My thought was that the poster was asking for trouble.

Note that the further away from the trailer axle you are, the greater clearance you must allow.

Larry

[FORKLIFMAN]

JB Weld makes something for under water repairs. I used it for inside my refrigerator to weld the shelving studs to the side, working great,for over 2 years. Note did repair never turned off the frig. It comes as a stick you cut it off a chunk mix it and put it on, wet or dry. Make sure its clean. You may want to help support the area while it sets up.

JB weld is unbelievable as to what it can do. used regular JB Weld to repair aluminum oil pans. Was out in the boonies, that's another story.

good luck.

[GypsyJoker]

Well, I researched different methods of 'welding' plastics and even tried my hand at it with a soldering gun on a high-density polyethylene bottle with relatively adequate results. Then my girlfriend (who, incidentally owns the camper) suggested hot glue. First I laughed at her, then I studied hot glue sticks and found they have about the same melt temp as beginning melt temp of HDPE. So we cut the handle off the bottle and glued it back on and I was surprised at how well it stuck. She was adamant about trying it so, what the heck. I pulled the largest part of the crack apart and squirted hot glue in and then covered the rest of the cracks. Hoping against hope, after it cooled I covered the whole area with RTV sealant. That takes 24 hrs. to cure completely so tomorrow we will fill the tank and I will report back the results. BTW the guy at our local camper reseller estimated $800-$1,000 to replace or repair the tank. I guess most of it is labor, so I'm game to try lots of different things before we have to do that.

[Bama Rambler]

I'm not sure how much structural strength the hot glue has (it may have plenty), but looks like hot glue was the way to go.

I wouldn't have put the RTV on it, but it didn't hurt anything. That way you could see if the hot glue patch started failing.

[SeaDog]

Outside the box solutions are great I would have never thought of Hot Glue two thumbs up to your girlfriend.

[babock]

Personally, not sure I would trust it for a long vacation.

[GypsyJoker]

It was a good attempt, but it is dripping out of one end. I don't think I went far enough along the crack. Oh well. No more time to fix things. Launching tomorrow for WI, Copper Harbor, UP, and MI. Only boondocking a couple nights so will have city water most of the time. Will post more as we get closer to a happy ending.

[SeaDog]

when you get around to fixing agin you may want to take a small drill bit and stop drill the crack to keep it from running before you hot glue.

[Zak1]

Originally Posted by GypsyJoker

It was a good attempt, but it is dripping out of one end. I don't think I went far enough along the crack. Oh well. No more time to fix things. Launching tomorrow for WI, Copper Harbor, UP, and MI. Only boondocking a couple nights so will have city water most of the time. Will post more as we get closer to a happy ending.

I have been in the HDPE business for 30 years. Nothing permanently sticks to it.
The idea of using water/milk jugs is right. Those jugs (semi clear/ triangle on the bottom will have PE or HDPE on it). That is the purest form of HDPE resin.
It takes around 370-400 degrees to get in molten and moldable. Both surfaces must be perfectly clean and heated(use the highest percentage of isopropyl alcohol from the drug store) to clean. I would use a heat gun and an infrared thermometer.

[GypsyJoker]

Back from camping in Michigan, I resumed the fix on the fresh water tank. After studying You Tubes about welding plastics and being encouraged by Zak1's post, I decided to give it a try. I scraped and cleaned all the hot glue and RTV from the surface and tried to use a 20 Watt soldering iron only to give up because there was not enough heat. A trip to Harbor Freight and $15 got me a 'Plastic Welding Kit' consisting of the 80 Watt Iron, steel mesh, and some plastic sticks of unknown composition. I cut a crescent-shaped piece of steel mesh and held it around the tear with needle nose pliers while heating it with the iron. This iron gets really hot and the mesh nicely melted into the surface with the polyethylene becoming transparent as it melted. I let that cool and solidify (the plastic turns white again). Then I cut strips from an old windshield washer fluid bottle. After preheating the surface I held the tip of the iron over the end of the strip and as it became transparent and melted I moved the iron down the strip. It took a while to get the knack of it but by being careful to remove and apply heat, I was able to achieve a fairly homogeneous melt condition in the puddle where I was working. The only problem was that the iron was a little too hot. I measured it at over 500*F. When the HDPE got stuck on the tip it would degrade and burn. I would then have to stop and use the small wire brush (also in the kit) to remove the black, burned bits of plastic from the tip. You can see in the picture the rust colored plastic in the melt. When I saw that I needed to clean the tip. The first and second time I put water in the tank there was a small drip, so I kept adding more layers in those areas. The end result isn't that pretty, but for my first attempt and working upside down, I can live with it. Today I filled the tank and sanitized the system. With 38 gals. of water, in the tank, there were no leaks. Thanks to all the support and encouraging remarks from everyone. Let's see... It's almost time to head to San Diego to see my grandbabies out there!!!

[Bama Rambler]

Thanks for coming back and letting us know what you did.

It gives the rest of us hope that we can do the same thing if we need to.

[Rdeejr]

I bought the inexpensive welder from Harbor Freight to patch my blue pooper tank. Did its job