Grey tank leak. Suggestions needed

jstchilln

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Joined
Oct 13, 2019
Messages
78
Location
Topeka, Ks
We have a 2022 337 RLS Reflection and I have a leak on one of my grey tanks and I need suggestions. We discovered the underbelly sagging and it tore loose on the door side between the door and the basement door and it was full of water. Looking in with a light I could see no source of a leak and we were able to get most of the water out and I estimated that we had about five gallons of water. I emptied all the tanks and we ran water in all sinks and the shower and observed no leaks. Since we were leaving Colorado for Montana the next morning, we sealed up the underbelly and decided that we would watch the two holes I drilled in the underbelly to get the rest of the water out. From Colorado to Montana we saw no leaks out of the bottom holes and we dumped our tanks every night.
In Montana the first night we saw a drip from the holes and the next day I pulled the entire underbelly off from the front to the doors and right away (THANKFULLY) I was able to see where the leak was coming from and (THANKFULLY) it was from a grey tank and not the black. In the picture I posted you can see that the leak is right at the bottom of the connection. The grey tank is the kitchen grey tank.
The camp host is amazing and he has a lot of experience and he helped and offered his opinion and his first thought was to tighten the hose clamp. The hose clamp was very loose and since I have tightened it has not leaked. What’s interesting is that the sealant in and around the connection is very sloppy and nice and clean on the connections to the other two tanks. While the leak has stopped for now I am not trusting it to stay this way one when we hit the road again.
I have a new hose clamp on the connection because the other one had the head rounded of (???) and as the camp host has suggested I am thinking of cleaning off the outside of the connection and re sealing it. But, one person suggested not to be to aggressive with cleaning it and to leave well enough alone.
Questions
What type of pipe is this? I assumed it was PVC but one of the people who looked at it said that the RV companies use another product.
Depending on what type of pipe it is what should I seal it with?
If it starts to leak again what would you recommend doing.
I have considered having a local plumber come by and offer suggestions.
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Our 2019 295RL kitchen grey leaked in the same area. It turned out the the ABS they inserted into the tank ended up cracking inside the tank openning and broke in half while replacing the remote dump valve.

Went to home depot and purchased a mechanical flexible coupling that fit over the tank openning and ABS pipe. Decided it was a easier fix than trying to dig out and replace the old ABS. Besides, it makes it easier to access the main ABS dump line between the other 2 tanks. Will eventually replace all with these if they too go bad. Think this one is what I used....

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Fernco-...chanical-Flexible-Coupling-P1056-33/100372296
 
Did you use any sealant? I thought about using one of the couplings like you used and loading it up with sealant.
 
It's not under pressure so I'd add sealant for good measure whichever way you decide to go with the fitting. Silcone might be a good choice here as it would be easy enough to pull apart and clean up should you need to work on it again. Otherwise, a more permanent sealant would be okay too, just more of a challenge if you should need to pull it apart again - which hopefully would not be the case anyway.
 
One good thing about this problem is that now I have a better understanding of how the plumbing works and sadly,,,,, the terrible wiring job.
 
One good thing about this problem is that now I have a better understanding of how the plumbing works and sadly,,,,, the terrible wiring job.

Yeah, if you're OCD it's best to never look under there. It'll drive you nuts. :nerd:
 
Did you use any sealant? I thought about using one of the couplings like you used and loading it up with sealant.

No sealant when using coupling. Dont need it IMO. Just tighten clamps and go.

Note: Did it a couple of years ago... no leak yet.
 

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