Loosing fresh water from over flow vent

[rekop]

I have a 09 forest river wildcat qbbs. I topped off the fresh water tank just before we left on our trip. I noticed water was trickling out of the over flow vent hose from the bottom of the trailer. This is normal & figured it would stop in a minute or two. As we started down the road about 25 miles or so, my buddy who was following us called me on my cell and advised me i was loosing water. I told him it was the over flow vent & when the trailer is in motion the water swishes around & spills out no biggie. well after 2 1/2 hours of driving we arrived in the mountains at our favorite primative spot & set up. I was curious to how much water i lost. I hit the button on the fresh water tank indicator and it was reading almost 1/2 full! i lost about 10 gallons.......i was upset we always bring two 5 gallon jugs of extra water but still. when i got home i stopped by our local rv dealer and stated the problem. he said its a poor venting setup & would be covered under warranty to fix. he said the hose needs to be looped as it exits the tank to avoid easy over flow and not create a siphon. I did not want to leave it there for 9 days so i fixed it myself. ***i put a ball valve on the end of the hose and i just close it after i fill up and open it when we get to the camp site. ya gotta open it because the system needs to breath. just thought i would share a easy fix tip!!

[NWJeeper]

This seems to be a really big problem with most of FRs RVs, we too experienced the same problem with our Georgetown MH. To look at the way they are vented it is obvious that siphoning can occur and you can loose a lot of water. Not good when you rely on it for dry camping as we do. I came up with the same fix you did on our maiden voyage with our rig. Works great. Our vent is 3/4" clear tube so a standard male garden hose fitting on the end with a hose ball valve fixed it just as you discovered.

Why they let the vent tube hang lower than the tank is beyond me and I had never seen a manufacturer do this before we owned the FR.

[MisterBill]

I, too, lost about a quarter of a tank of fresh water through the overflow while traveling. Thanks to the input on this thread, I put a ball valve in my overflow line and traveled this past week with the valve closed --- didn't lose a drop of water! Just remember to open the valve when filling the fresh water tank or the trapped air won't have any place to go and you could split your tank. Also, remember to open the valve upon arrival at your destination so that air can get back into the tank and you aren't trying to pump water with a vacuum.



I can't believe Forest River installed tanks with this type of overflow setup!

[dimurrrw]

Originally Posted by MisterBill

I can't believe Forest River installed tanks with this type of overflow setup!

Believe it, believe it!!!!

[fusionracer]

I have a Georgetown class a and have discovered the same issue with one slight twist. The vent line has the coil of hose to suposedly stop the draining but we can still lose 1/3 of our tank while travelling or parked on the front street.
What really concerned me is something I noticed today while filling it. I removed the inspection panel so I could investigate and found the vent/overflow was approximately 2/3 of the way up the side of the tank. what I found was the tank started to balloon up as soon as the top of the line was cover (still quite a way from the filling the tank) because the air could not escape.
The tank was replaced under an extended warranty 2 years ago and no one could figure out what happened. I think the dealer figured I had done something.
does anyone know if there would be an adverse affect if I moved the vent/overflow to the top surface of the tank instead of the side?

[poodlepeople]

I posted a thread elsewhere on my problem that may be the same. I "fill" the fresh water tank (there is an issue of the tank size - 42 gallon capacity with or without the capacity of the hot water heater) and the gauge reads 2/3. "Fill" means until the fill opening overflows.

I use water until the pump "drains" the tank and the gauge reads 1/3. Filling with 6 gallon containers suggests that there is only about 24 gallons between "full" and "empty."

Since the plumbing for this is hidden, I cannot see the venting arrangement mentioned in this thread but I may have another issue in addition to not being able to fill the tank.

Also, I am not aware of losing water while traveling. I will say I am tired of hoisting those containers up high enough to empty them into the fill opening. I am thinking of adding another 12 volt pump to the system just to fill this thing.

I have a 2010 Sabre 31REDS 5th wheel.