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Old 08-04-2015, 10:45 PM   #1
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FRF 2401W - Help Please: Grey water will not drain

Just took delivery of our 2016 2401W FRF MBS yesterday. We are on the road and this evening was our first opportunity to sanitize the system. Here is the challenge. IF the grey holding tank valve is closed the kitchen sink, bathroom sink nor shower will drain....after the water runs for a minute or two...it stops draining (other than running the water to show they would run....less than a half gallon max...during check out demo yesterday, this is the first water of any amount ran. If we release the grey tank holding valve the water in each location immediately begins to drain. We are about 700 miles into a 3+K trip....

Thoughts/solutions? Thank you
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Old 08-05-2015, 01:51 AM   #2
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What's FRF MBS mean?
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Old 08-05-2015, 04:27 AM   #3
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Plugged vent?
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Old 08-05-2015, 04:51 AM   #4
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Are you at a full hook up site?? Or anywhere near a dump station. If so let the water in the grey tanks drain out. Are you 100% positive that the grey tanks were empty. The dealer normally would have run water to test the the system before your PDI and forgot left it running and filled it / them ???? Just a thought.

Also did you fill your fresh water tank?? If so was the pump off?

The shower being the low point will fill first when the tanks are full.

Good Luck hopefully it is something minor.

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Old 08-05-2015, 07:33 AM   #5
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Are you at a full hook up site?? Or anywhere near a dump station. If so let the water in the grey tanks drain out. Are you 100% positive that the grey tanks were empty. The dealer normally would have run water to test the the system before your PDI and forgot left it running and filled it / them ???? Just a thought.

Also did you fill your fresh water tank?? If so was the pump off?

The shower being the low point will fill first when the tanks are full.

Good Luck hopefully it is something minor.

Thank you for the thoughts and suggestions. FRF = Forest River Forester which is a motorhome on Mercedes Benz Chassis.

1. We are a camp with a sewer hookup. That is how we learned that as soon as we released the the holding tank valve all would drain normally. As soo as we close it, it stops (within a gallon or so...or my estimation of what it would take to fill the pipe....no way in the world the holding tank is full. We did this several times.

2. Oddly enough, the shower would not drain the shower water, but the VERY little backup (other than the running water in the kitchen staying in kitchen sink (etc), was it appeared a little would back up from kitchen into bathroom

3. I believe the pump was off when the fresh water tank was filled....definitely was not running water. Not sure I understand what this could have had to do with it?

I can not think of better words to describe it...but when the grey holding holding tank valve was closed (preventing from draining straight to camp sewer) and the sinks and shower were backing up with their own running water, every once in awhile we would hear a 5 second or so gurgling sound...something like when we have at something that did not here something and your intestines make a prolonged gurgling sound.....
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Old 08-05-2015, 11:54 AM   #6
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Sounds like a clogged vent.
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Old 08-05-2015, 12:39 PM   #7
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Sounds like a clogged vent.
x2
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Old 08-05-2015, 02:04 PM   #8
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Sounds like a clogged vent.
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Old 08-05-2015, 02:34 PM   #9
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Opening the grey valve is allowing air in, which is needed for drainage. Air has to displace the water. Air has to escape to make room for more water. Normally the vent allows for this. This is why others are suggesting the vent is clogged. It's not uncommon on brand new RV's for construction debris to block a vent.
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Old 08-05-2015, 06:49 PM   #10
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I had a drain problem and discovered a piece of linoleum that was thrown in there when was being built. Others on this forum in the past have reported all kinds of debris in these tanks and that could also be the source of the vent problem. One other possibility that happened to a friend was a vent pipe that was installed too far into the tank and it was covered by water and would not allow air into the tank.
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Old 08-05-2015, 09:30 PM   #11
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During construction the vent pipe that leads from your gray water tank to the roof can slip and drop onto the bottom of the tank rendering it useless. If you can get to the roof you maybe able to actually lift it up a few inches and maybe it will stay giving you some relief until the unit it moved and then it will probably slip down again.


Also, insects can sometimes build quite an airtight nest in the breather cap on the top of your gray tank vent. Check for that too if you get on the roof.
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Old 08-06-2015, 10:36 PM   #12
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Thank you all for the input. The consensus from all is that it is the vent being clogged. What an incredibly poor production QA process.....Kind of simple...account for all pieces and parts (to include waste from x, y or z item).

To good news is we have a dealer willing to 'take a look at it' in the morning.....if it is 'an easy fix, they will fix....if not...they will not.... FR, both corporate and the selling dealer, have been of near zero assistance in coordinating a solution.

NO exaggeration: We left the dealer at at ~6p this Monday evening. We arrived in at our first destination this evening (Thursday) at 7p. An extremely conservative estimate is that we have spent at least 36 hours making calls, doing research, speaking with dealers and service departments for this and one other major electrical issue (non functioning and misfunctioning external driving lights) making impossible to drive after dark.

To convey we are not impressed at this minute would be an understatement.
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Old 08-14-2015, 11:25 PM   #13
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so yes, confirmed crap in the vent line...that is now some place else (did not get it out...only got the drains to drain)....so a future time bomb?

This is such a black eye on an overall great unit!
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Old 08-15-2015, 02:03 AM   #14
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....so a future time bomb?
Perhaps, especially with no confirmation of what was blocking the vent and where it went - if it went anywhere. I'd be tempted to remove the vent cap from the roof to confirm a clear passage down to the tank.
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Old 08-15-2015, 06:42 AM   #15
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A complete check out of all systems is part of the buying process, our dealer has camping right on site and they give you free camping certificate for each of their dealerships....plus let us stay for 3 days free where we picked up our unit....they took care of a few issue in the first 3 days....and then we pulled to the other dealership and stayed a few more day to make sure nothing was going on when towing....they are over a 100 miles apart....so with the towing from the factory and a good prep.....we were able to have minor squaks corrected when picking it up and had their advice if any questions occur.....living in trailer in driveway of house is good option too before setting out.....plus this forum is a great help to all newbies...
We are all newbies when we buy a new trailer ...... or worse a used trailer with no help or warranty.....lol
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Old 08-17-2015, 10:40 PM   #16
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We like the idea of camping at the dealer. Our plan,that we shared with the dealer AND FRF several times. Was to use our trip to family and then ultimately home as a full blown shake down and then have a FR dealer step up and fix the minor issues.....WELLLLL....what an unbelievable mistake that was. We have now spent easily 100 hours between my wife and I trying to get our motorhome (2 weeks old today) fixed from blatant factory flaws (sinks won't drain, running lights won't work, slide out roller sheared the screws off and roller fell off, slide out mis-aligned and looks like to will snap the interior trim, radio and GPS not functioning anywhere near specs, speakers not working, wiring inappropriately done, scratched mirrors and window, paint over-spray on bumpers, door handles and rear view mirrors, driver side running board broke on the second day when I stepped on it to get in the car etc, etc, etc....). Instead of FRF leadership stepping up and offering to coordinate assistance through a dealer, they have basically suggested we should have bought where our house is (they never offered this when we spoke with them numerous times prior to purchase)....although we have repeated that I have just retired and will not be living anywhere for an undefined period of time....thus our motorhome.... Mystically I guess this would have prevented the long list of problems

Exacerbating....and from a consumers point of view....NO assistance!
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