See Level Guages
- Thread starter Wharton
- Start date
The retrofit is the challenge, I agree. I wish we had thought to order them when we bought the trailer but we had not had any problems with our previous trailer(10 years old) so it didn't even cross our minds that there would be a problem. I wish Heartland would switch to these. I doubt if it would cost more. It has to be less time to slap a sticky on the side of a tank rather than drill a hole, install the probe etc.
TXBobcat
Fulltime
As we fulltime I never use the gages. I know when the black tank is full and when water comes up into the sink I know the gray tank is full. However this rarely happens. During our normal use the kitchen gray tank will need to be dumped after about 5 to 6 days. The shower/bedroom gray tank is dumped along with the kitchen tank. The black tank can go about 2 weeks. I don't dump tanks if we only stay 2 nights at one spot. I dump when we leave the next campground. We are staying at our present campground for 2 weeks. We arrived on Friday and will dump tanks on Wednesday, then on Monday and then the Friday we leave.
Once you get use to how long you can go before dumping you will never need the gages. For sure the black tank will tell you when you need to dump. It will burp on your bottom...
BC
Once you get use to how long you can go before dumping you will never need the gages. For sure the black tank will tell you when you need to dump. It will burp on your bottom...
BC
wdk450
Well-known member
Sue and Tom:
The installation cost isn't the big thing, it's the overall monitoring system cost. The SeeLevel system for 3 tanks plus a water heater propane switch is about $350. The simple monitors that are the standard install in the RV industry probably cost the RV manufacturers less than $20.
If your pricing is correct then they could save $20 by not installing them, they are useless. My failing is that I am an engineer and want things to work correctly. DW says we should just dump once a week and that covers everything. I prefer to get the gauges to work. One day I'll get some ambition and drop the underbelly and install the Seelevel gauges. I don't understand how gauges on our old trailer could work fine(these were standard gauges to the best of my knowledge) and now standard gauges don't work at all.
wdk450
Well-known member
I invested $60 in the Horst Miracle Probes (http://www.miracleprobes.com) thinking this would be an easy fix on the monitoring gauge (at least for the black tank) . I found that that on my rig, although the sensors are on the end of the tank, the OEM sensors are not "standard size" and the tank holes must be drilled out. The tank sits so close to the frame that there is no room to drill. So, the water heater has to be removed, and the tanks (the black tank is on top of the bathroom grey tank) have to be dropped, with all of the bottom cover and plumbing cutting and re-attaching. The replacement probes are in my junk drawer.
Coming from an technical backround myself, I don't understand why the RV industry didn't use the most widely used, most reliable (by usage) fluid level sensors out there - the ones they use in vehicle fuel tanks.
I haven't had any disasters with overflowing tanks (yet). I have had the toilet "burp" occasionally, water back up a little in the shower, and back up in the kitchen sink a little, telling me its time to dump. Heck, the theory is that dumping full tanks does a better job than dumping near empty tanks, due to the "flushing" effect.
JohnDar
Prolifically Gabby Member
I'm not sure why you would need to pull the water heater out, since the black tank and Gray #1 are not directly behind it. Coming up from below (remove or cut the coroplast), it looks like they're reachable, since the sensors are on the valve ends of the tanks. For the SeeLevel gage sensors, they stick onto the tank and don't need to be drilled into it. If I recall correctly, the OEM wires can be transferred to the sensor pads. Reaching Gray #2 and the water tank might be a problem due to the axles being in the way, but I've not explored much of that part of the jungle...yet.
But I use the burp and slow/no sink drain method of tank level gaging. Less expensive than any other options.
But I use the burp and slow/no sink drain method of tank level gaging. Less expensive than any other options.
Silverado23
Iowa Chapter Leaders
According to the instructions, You could just drill new holes for the Horst probes.
http://www.rvprobes.com/faq.html
How do you install the Horst Miracle Probe?
Remove existing probes out of the usual 3/8" diameter holes and replace them
with the Horst Miracle Probes. You can also choose to drill 3/8" diameter holes
next to the existing probes. Push the new probes into the 3/8" diameter holes
and tighten first nut to make a good leak proof seal. Connect wires as they
were.
Because black tank probes have a 'roof' above the probe to prevent
toilet paper from covering the wire, be sure to orient the roof by rotating the
exterior threaded electrical stud so that the milled flat section on the end of
the stud is down, and the roof is up.
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