Dump Valve Issues

[Battchief]

The grey water valve on my 2020 Isata has become very difficult to open and close. I have tried several down the drain lubricants with no improvement. I was also noticing that a small amount (less than a cup) of grey water was coming out when I would remove cap to attach hose and that grey water handle did not retract as far as black water which works easily. After watching several DIY vids on Youtube, I came to the conclusion that I needed to remove grey water valve, clean out gate valve channel, and replace valve seals. The vids made it look super easy. Not the case on a 2020 Isata 3. In order to remove the valve , there has to be some ability to separate the pipes on either side of the valve to create enough space to remove. One side is part of the Bristol elbow with gate valves for grey and black water tanks and the other side is connected to the grey water tank. There is no “play” in this design. My best guess is that either the black valve must be removed first to create some play, or the grey tank must be disconnected from valve to create the necessary play for removal of the 11/2” grey water valve. Anyone with experience with setup? THANKS

Battchief

[TitanMike]

On my TT I found jt necessary to drain both tanks, flush well, and renove both valves in order to service just one valve with a similar problem.

Might be necessary to do the same with yours. On mine I wish the factory had spent an extra $5 and put a union in the 1-1/2" gray water discharge pipe so I didn't need to remove oth valves to service only one.

[Thor 37gt]

Like they said above clean both tank very well. Take the four bolts out that are around the valve then the pipes will most likely separate enough to change or clean the valve. Mine did on a I5.

[Battchief]

Amen TitanMike. I thought the same thing. Fortunately I flushed tanks thoroughly and emptied but there was no removing the grey valve and as the sun began sinking below the hills I decided to put the 4 bolts back in the valve assembly and get more information. Interestingly their replacement parts come without any instructions and there is no real support on website. I will order the 3” seals and brace myself for the full monty. At least I got the taillight replaced.Thanks

Battchief

[NMWildcat]

Do a search on you-tube and you will find many videos on how to repair or replace an RV waste valve.
I've done several on different types of RVs. The pipes on each side don't really have to move much at all to remove/replace the valve body. And if I'm going to all the preparation to get to a waste valve, I will be replacing the entire valve with a new one. Not worth the risk of replacing just the gaskets. The cost difference is negligible in my opinion.

[Thomas ho]

drill a very small hole above handle , 1inch from top, insert silicone spray tube , give it a big squirt. let set ,repeat. it will take several times to loose up the slide. fixed mine . put a sheet metal screw in tiny hole and paint top of screw white. helps find it next time , lube. often. no scew to plug hole ,poop water squirts out of hole.

[hhl]

Installed a valterra twist on valve and 45 degree twist on adapter.
Residue from grey tank after closing tank valve would take to long for me to wait at dump site to put cap back on.
After closing tank valve I close the twist on valve no more dripping greywater and attach cap. The residue from pipe now collected behind the valve. At dump site I remove cap connect dump hose and open valve and open black and grey to empty the tanks.


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[Coopers8]

On my 2017 DX3 I noticed that the grey water dump handle did not seem to be closing as tight as it used to. I had read this thread and I was thinking I might need to clean out the valve slot.
When I went to dump it tonight it seemed to be about half an inch or more from closing tight. It sounded like the water had stopped coming out when it was closed.
I started turning the handle holding the shaft with pair of needle nose pliers. When the handle threaded tight it was again tight to the valve body when closed.
I know this won’t make the seal better inside but I would check to make sure the handle is threaded on tight.

Coopers 8

[AbdRahim]

On my Forester, the pipe going into the black tank was sealed with silicone. The tech was able to turn the pipe and slide it further into the tank using monster channel lock pliers. This provided enough room to get the grey valve out.

As others said replacement is the best option.

After emptying and cleaning tank, I often attach a long tube to the end of the straw on a WD40 Silicone can. I shove the tube up until it hits the gate and spray liberally. Then .I open the gate and spray liberally, just beyond it. Then remove the tube and work the valve several times. This is regular maintenance.

I find the grey tank valve regularly needs lubrication.

[chunker21]

How far up the piping from the outlet connector is the grey and/or black tanks gate valve? You could make a "flushing wand" to stick up the pipe to the vicinity of the gate vale and with water pressure, clean out the slot.

Recipe; Get a short piece of 1/2" PVC, 2+-" perhaps with an end cap. On the other end glue a female hose connection. GLUE all connections. On the end cap drill 3-4 small hole in the side of the cap, not end. Put flushing wand contraption on a garden hose and insert it into the waste valve outlet to the grey, or black if you want that mess, gate vale. Turn your water on, try lower pressures first and move the hose/wand around rotating and in and back to use the water pressure to try to clean out the debris in the gate valve slot. Have a tub or bucket under the outlet so you can see if you are getting any results. This might save you taking anything apart.

Lubing the push rod is also helpful. Silicone lube.

[vlamgat]

I think these solutions are positively brilliant..seriously.

But I wonder what the OE and others are doing wrong because literally thousands of RV owners are using these valves for year without problems.

Water, chemicals, paper, faulty manufacture..all come to mind. Or is it serendipitous as in 1-5% will always have a problem, sometime. Just hope you are not one of those.

[chunker21]

Originally Posted by vlamgat

I think these solutions are positively brilliant..seriously.

But I wonder what the OE and others are doing wrong because literally thousands of RV owners are using these valves for year without problems.

Water, chemicals, paper, faulty manufacture..all come to mind. Or is it serendipitous as in 1-5% will always have a problem, sometime. Just hope you are not one of those.

What a lot of people are doing wrong is treating the RV plumbing like a home system. Meaning pushing food debris down drains and other stuff. Over papering and under watering the black tank and not flushing black tanks and not running a grey tank drain after the black. We wipe plate into the garbage so that when washing the dishes very little food particles go into the grey tank. Leaving the black valve open when draining the grey will often force some water back up the black sort of washing around the gate valve. By installing that extra gate valve at the outlet, see post #7, you can close it and get good "flushing" of the black valve.

Little but consistent practices help.

[NMWildcat]

Originally Posted by chunker21

What a lot of people are doing wrong is treating the RV plumbing like a home system. Meaning pushing food debris down drains and other stuff. Over papering and under watering the black tank and not flushing black tanks and not running a grey tank drain after the black. We wipe plate into the garbage so that when washing the dishes very little food particles go into the grey tank. Leaving the black valve open when draining the grey will often force some water back up the black sort of washing around the gate valve. By installing that extra gate valve at the outlet, see post #7, you can close it and get good "flushing" of the black valve.

Little but consistent practices help.

Your 'fix' in #7 is a temporary work around for the OPs problem. Definitely not a good permanent fix that I would always leaved hooked up.
If you want to backflush all your tanks successfully and easily, just use a Flush King.
While we try to limit the amount of food waste down the kitchen sink, I definitely don't go out of my way to avoid it. It sure isn't as bad as what goes down the black tank. I treat, rinse, backflush the tanks the same.
Everyone's tank and valve setup and location is different, so what works for one, doesn't mean it will work for everyone.
I do agree that water is the key in maintenance of RV holding tanks. Ours are never dry.
RV drain valves fail for many reasons, many not related to lack of maintenance. On my current rig one failed because the cable to the valve was too long and kinked. Had to replace the valve with an appropriate length cable with a more direct route to handle. No more valve problems for my 10 year old RV with three waste tanks.
I have also 'fixed' several friends leaky valves by working them vigorously open/close while running water through them. Easy.
Happy RVing!

[chunker21]

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

Your 'fix' in #7 is a temporary work around for the OPs problem. Definitely not a good permanent fix that I would always leaved hooked up.
If you want to backflush all your tanks successfully and easily, just use a Flush King.
While we try to limit the amount of food waste down the kitchen sink, I definitely don't go out of my way to avoid it. It sure isn't as bad as what goes down the black tank. I treat, rinse, backflush the tanks the same.
Everyone's tank and valve setup and location is different, so what works for one, doesn't mean it will work for everyone.
I do agree that water is the key in maintenance of RV holding tanks. Ours are never dry.
RV drain valves fail for many reasons, many not related to lack of maintenance. On my current rig one failed because the cable to the valve was too long and kinked. Had to replace the valve with an appropriate length cable with a more direct route to handle. No more valve problems for my 10 year old RV with three waste tanks.
I have also 'fixed' several friends leaky valves by working them vigorously open/close while running water through them. Easy.
Happy RVing!

The idea behind the "#7 fix" is that with at valve installed, after draining the black tank, close that last valve and open the grey. Grey water will flow back up into the black and MAY dislodge stuff in the slot. Especially nice if you are at a dump station and can't black tank flush. Doing that a couple times helps get extra black tank stuff out. The other real useful for it was addressed I believe in #7. Some RVs have multiple tanks and long runs with not much slope to the pipes to the exit point. Residual "stuff" slowly drains down to the exit port and you have a mess when you take the cap off to hook up the drain hose. That last valve holds things back until you go to drain. That's no necessarily an indication of leaking other waste gate valves, just long runs of pipe. My 5th wheel toy hauler, new and good valves, and GFs bunk house that way. 4 tanks, 1 outlet.