Black water not coming out even with valterra valve open on 2017 big horn 3160 5th wheel

scottknight1

Well-known member
It is now hard to pull on the handle and hard to push in the black water handle. It looks like the valterra valve on the rig is pulled open.
Can the door separate from the post? The post looks like it has moved like it should. See the attached photo

Also have a slow leak of pee even with the handle pushed in.

With the valve handle pulled open nothing comes out

I’m wondering if I have toilet paper jammed in the valve and that is why it’s hard to open and even harder to close the valve handle, and why pee leaks out even when valve is sort of closed.

I’m wondering if I should try to fill the black water tank all the way up with the black flush on the rig
And/or
Use the rv swivel stick sprinkler hose unit
And/or
do the back flush up through the valterra flush king unit.

My other major dilemma is my black water sensors don’t work so it always shows full.

I could do all the above into the toilet burps.

I live in the rig on my sons property and don’t have a rig to take it to a repair shop.

I use the macerator the drain the black water into a 300 gallon holding tank.

Would appreciate your advice.
Thx in advance!!!
 

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david-steph2018

Well-known member
Our black tank valve is hard to open/close, harder than the grey water tank. With the leaking, it could drain enough fluid out, to the point you would not have enough fluid in the tank to dump to contents.
You can attempt it with the back flush you have, but don't know if it will work. We had an issue on our old Laredo 5th wheel once. We had to get a mobile tech come out and he broke the blockage loose and it was okay after that. You may need a mobile tech to come out, if you can't get it out with the backflushing, probably the way to go.

As far as the sensors, they do not function after a couple of times using the tanks. I do not even bother checking the panel to see when full and needing dumped.
 

rhodies1

Well-known member
Back flush with the valterra back flusher. Keep track of how much water you are forcing back into tank.
 

wdk450

Well-known member
There are a couple of nationwide RV holding tank inspection/cleaning services out there that will come to your rig and fix the problems.



There are several other localized RV Tank Cleaning services out there, but i don't know your location. The one in Southern California said it only charged $125 for an unclogging service. Do a websearch on "RV Tank Cleaning Service" ("near me"?)
 

scottknight1

Well-known member
I'm not sure what a black tank slug is.... is this on top of my black tank under my 5th wheel and I would have to drop the black water tank to get to it? Please let me know. thx for your time!!! really appreciate it!
 

Dahillbilly

Well-known member
I'm not sure what a black tank slug is.... is this on top of my black tank under my 5th wheel and I would have to drop the black water tank to get to it? Please let me know. thx for your time!!! really appreciate it!
the slug is the center section of the hole/s when factory drills out for the connections; they sometime fall into the tank & over time can find their way over the drain outlet, If your valve has been leaking for awhile you may have a poop pile just blocking everything. Especially using a pumpin my opinion those pimps will not let the sloids flow out & overtime you get a problem. If your flushing back into the tank doesn't unclog the drain I'd try Kleen Tank of a local plumbing company to open it up; then remove/repair valve. good luck
 

david-steph2018

Well-known member
scottknight1, when you are flushing the toilet, how much water do you use? Even with the macerator pump, you still need to use a good amount of water when flushing. The leak does not help the matter but allot of water is needed.
 

scottknight1

Well-known member
the slug is the center section of the hole/s when factory drills out for the connections; they sometime fall into the tank & over time can find their way over the drain outlet, If your valve has been leaking for awhile you may have a poop pile just blocking everything. Especially using a pumpin my opinion those pimps will not let the sloids flow out & overtime you get a problem. If your flushing back into the tank doesn't unclog the drain I'd try Kleen Tank of a local plumbing company to open it up; then remove/repair valve. good luck
Ok. Understand now. Thx
Will pull the valterra valve and see what’s the issues.
Fun …
 

Routemaster

Well-known member
My story.
See the odd-shaped hole in the top of this tank above this was our previous coach, well don't ever believe what we see in the movie where the stuff comes out of the vent pipe it doesn't.
I was back-flushing the tank because like you were saying would not drain properly mind you I had removed some of the waste prior to the flushing would push back the slug had in the past.
Then I was distracted when I hear a loud bang, so did everyone else the overfill of water blew off the intake pipe. I found the plug when I removed the tank for the new one.
Clean up on isle 9.
Den.
 

scottknight1

Well-known member
replaced the valterra valve, but used the old cable. there is no leak when the valve is shut through the 3" pipe now!!! woohoo!

but, there is as drip drip leak off the bottom of the valterra valve. I don't want to tighten the bolts too tight and crack the plastic casing.. was thinking of putting JB well waterproof along the bottom of the valve...

other suggestions?

thx everyone for the tips.... I'm getting there..
 

mlpeloquin

Well-known member
In my fifth wheel, my valve had to go in carefully. It is easy to dislodge the seal on one side without knowing. If so, there can be a slow leak. Happened twice to me and I replaced the seals because one deformed. You can order and get just the seals. I also had a leak develop about six months new. The screws to the gray water valve backed off. Apparently they did not get checked for tightness when the valve was installed.
 

rhodies1

Well-known member
As stated... Try tightening a little more to stop leak,if this doesn’t work then you will need to replace the gaskets.
 

Routemaster

Well-known member
This is something we have to deal with as well, it messes with our sensors from working.
If you look at the gasket there was I think a small piece of Struvite put a ding in the gasket which caused our leak in the knife blade.
I had to change the gate valve after about 6 years of full-time use after the blowout as the above large off chunks came out.
Yes make sure one changes out the gaskets and all faces are clean.
 

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