Leaking Gray Water Valve

[Art_Davis]

Our Arctic Fox 22GQ has separate belly pans for fresh, gray, and black water tanks. I have just noticed a leak (a pretty good one) coming from one corner of the gray tank pan. It only flows when I open the valve.

I suppose I have to drop the belly pan to see what's going on. Can someone tell me what to expect when I do---other than wet, stinky insulation? I assume that the tank is attached to the frame with straps or bolts and is not supported by the belly pan itself. Is this correct?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Harvey51]

I had a small leak from the black water drain. I bought a replacement valve, noticing that I couldn’t replace it without cutting out a short piece of the pipe and adding a rubber connector with flexibility.

Then I read on RV.net that pouring a bit of vegetable oil in the tank after draining lubricates the shutoff valve. Tried that with some doubt - but it works very well. Several years later I still have no leak.

[opnspaces]

On mine the belly pan is in two pieces and I only have to remove one. The first thing I did was identify any holes through the pan and how to deal with them. Mine has a propane line that runs along the frame on the outside of the pan and then punches up through a hole in the pan under the water heater. Since this hole was only a few inches from the edge I opted to use a razor knife and make a slit from the hole to the edge of the pan so I would not have to disconnect the line.

• I unbolted the stabilizer jacks which were held up with self tapping bolts.
• I made the slit in the pan for the propane line. I remember making the slit off center from the hole though I don't remember why I thought that was a better idea than going from the center of the hole.
• I removed some strapping for the dump pipe as it exits the side of the trailer.
• Remove all the square drive #2 Roberson bit screws though they kind of look like philips head screws they are not.
• Remove the pan.

Do the required repairs to the plumbing. You will possibly have to remove a pipe hanger or two in order to get enough flex to remove and reinstall the valve.

Removal is easy, the harder part is reinstalling the pan after repair because it sags in the middle and pulls the edges away from the screw holes. I used a floor jack and big square of plywood to support the center of the pan so I could align the mounting screws to their old frame holes. In many cases I had to just power the screws through the frame making new holes (they are self tapping screws). Install screws from the center out. In other words if you are putting the screws across the rear of the trailer start at the center under the bumper and then move outward so any slack of the pan is pushed smoothly out to the edges rather than bunching in the middle.

For the stabilizer jacks I lined up the holes and started all 4 bolts to the frame before I tightened any of them down. If you don't start all the bolts first you will most likely wind up with a hole slightly out of alignment.

I've had the pan off multiple times and over time the self tapping bolts on the stabilizers have worn out the matching holes in the frame. Now I through bolt them using nylon insert (Nylock) nuts on the two outer bolts that I can access with the pan mounted. The bolts really only hold the stabilizer to the frame so it doesn't fall off when going down the road so I'm not too concerned about failure during use.
last step is to reinstall any external strapping for the valves.

[fj12ryder]

Yes, the belly pan on my Fuzion is coroplast, and I simply cut away what I needed to so I could get at the valves. It would have been a huge amount of work to remove the whole thing. I simply used some Gorilla tape to put it all back up and ran some support bars across the coroplast from side to side to make sure it all stayed in place. All in all it wasn't really that much work to tell the truth.

[Art_Davis]

fj12ryder wrote:

opnspaces wrote:
...
If the valve is the leak then I would replace the entire valve since they are not very expensive. Just make sure you buy a gray tank valve and not a black tank valve as the sizes are different.

I replaced the gray and black valves on my Fuzion. They were identical. Not a big deal.

Did you have to remove a belly pan? If so, do you have comments on the procedure?

[fj12ryder]

opnspaces wrote:
...
If the valve is the leak then I would replace the entire valve since they are not very expensive. Just make sure you buy a gray tank valve and not a black tank valve as the sizes are different.

I replaced the gray and black valves on my Fuzion. They were identical. Not a big deal.

[down_home]

wrong forum wrong post

[Art_Davis]

opnspaces wrote:
You are correct in that the tank is held on by either straps or brackets about the edge. The tank is not help up by the plastic underbelly. Drain the tank well. Pull all the screws and drop the underbelly. Once the pan is down you should be able to see what is leaking and address it from there.


If the leak is a broken or cracked pipe it will be standard 3 inch ABS black pipe that you can get at Home Depot. Just cut out the broken section and glue a new piece in.

If the valve is the leak then I would replace the entire valve since they are not very expensive. Just make sure you buy a gray tank valve and not a black tank valve as the sizes are different.

Many thanks. Just the info I was looking for!

[opnspaces]

You are correct in that the tank is held on by either straps or brackets about the edge. The tank is not help up by the plastic underbelly. Drain the tank well. Pull all the screws and drop the underbelly. Once the pan is down you should be able to see what is leaking and address it from there.


If the leak is a broken or cracked pipe it will be standard 3 inch ABS black pipe that you can get at Home Depot. Just cut out the broken section and glue a new piece in.

If the valve is the leak then I would replace the entire valve since they are not very expensive. Just make sure you buy a gray tank valve and not a black tank valve as the sizes are different.

[Art_Davis]

CA Traveler wrote:
Tilt the rig for maximum drain, flush and drain completely. Tilt the rig in the opposite direction and replace the valve. Replace all valves.

I decided to replace the seals only and purchased seals. But could not clean the black tank slider to like new condition. Lesson learned - Buy new valves - period - Who wants to replace the valves a second time?

Thanks, Great info. But what about removing the belly pan?

[CA_Traveler]

Tilt the rig for maximum drain, flush and drain completely. Tilt the rig in the opposite direction and replace the valve. Replace all valves.

I decided to replace the seals only and purchased seals. But could not clean the black tank slider to like new condition. Lesson learned - Buy new valves - period - Who wants to replace the valves a second time?