New Owner Questions - Tank flush, shower leak

[JasonCanada]

An update. Our trailer is in again after water leaks not repaired... The black tank flush however is now operational, they told me that there was a gasket missing. I asked to see photos but they wern't readily available, tried it a few days later and seemed to be working.

[JasonCanada]

Thanks 2shiv,

I have the same question about the black tank flush. I tried mine for the first time and had the same result, it seemed like there was a valve closed and nothing flowed through.

Thank you for the shower note, i will look at that tomorrow, I had a water leak from somewhere behind the shower and my underbelly had water gushing out of it when I moved so obviously had a lot of standing water in there. Dealer is dealing with that in 2 days, I am going to insist they take the covering off and take photos for me, I'll let you know what is under there.

[JohnZig]

2shiv,
I also just purchased a 2018 24 RLS, our last camper was a StarCraft 21 FBS which we had zero problems with. We did notice that over the few years that had passed it seems as if our new StarCraft was cheapened up a bit. Never the less, we decided to buy a new 2018 as we were so happy with the last one.
I have to say thank you for the post on the shower, my p trap was also hanging loose and would have leaked all over had we taken a shower. I am going to run to the big box store to see if I can find some type of fitting that will correct this problem, you were right on saying that is the cheapest fitting ever made. What a disappointment.

The dinette slide on our camper has about a 1/4' to 1/2" gap on the lower wiper seal, wind, rain, and just about anything else that can fit through there can and will come in. Am dreading taking it back to the dealer to see what they come up with for a repair. Make sure you have a look at yours.

I'll let you know what I come up with on the drain, let me know if you find anything that works as well.
Thanks,
John

[2shiv]

Hey all. Just picked up a 2018 24RLS. First time camper owner. I got the walk-through tutorial when I bought it, read the manual, and still have some questions. I towed it home on the 6th of this month. April has been unusually cold here, with two snows and below-freezing temps. So I waited until a week until warmer temps to de-winterize. I ran into the missing heater bypass valve issue that's referenced in this forum. (I actually found this forum, and the location of the bypass valves, Googling this issue). In the process of trying to figure that out, I inadvertently ran the pump with the siphon hose valve open. Thankfully (I think?) the hose was pushed down through the floor, and the water went into the underbelly and not all over the inside of the sink cabinet.

Once I had the dewinterization done, one of the things that I did out of curiosity was hook up a hose to black tank flush connection. I had the tank dump open, but nothing came out. After a few seconds, water spurted out between the hose and the connection fitting on the wall, and I quickly turned off the water. It was obviously not flowing through. Is there a valve that has to be opened to flush the black tank? Under the bathroom sink, I can see the white tube coming off the flush connection. It goes to some kind of black plastic fitting, then to a blue hose that goes down into the underbelly. The black plastic fitting looks more like a pressure control or vent or something than it does a valve. The owner's manual does not mention anything about a valve. Or is this possibly a backflow preventer? (In the preview pane, the picture gets rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise. Tilt your head to the left).

Black Tank Flush hose.jpg (2.2 MiB) Viewed 2996 times

Yesterday I experienced my first real problem. I got up in the morning for work, showered and brushed my teeth like normal. When I went out to my car to leave, I noticed a huge puddle under the camper, with water running out of the underbelly. When I ducked down and took a look, it was coming out of the foam that seals the tank dump penetration through the underbelly. SOB!!! I called Camping World (where I bought it) and they told me that it would have to come in for service. Since I'm living in this thing, with a dog, and in the middle of a job transition, this was very inconvenient. When I got home, I pulled the panel off the shower base. The compression collar that holds the trap to the shower drain had separated. I want to clarify that it hadn't broken - the collar had literally pulled off the flange that holds the collar onto the trap. Upon inspection, I discovered that this fitting is the cheapest, most poorly-designed piece of plumbing I have ever seen. The flange is just tiny little nubbin of a ring, not even close to 1/8 wide. It can withstand only a tiny amount of compression before the trap pulls through the collar. After reinstalling it, I was able to make it pop off again just by pressing downward on the drain with my arm. I discovered that if the fitting is more than just hand-snug, the fitting fails. The tighter the compression fit, the easier it separates. It must have popped free when I stepped too close to the drain and caused flex in the trap. So... I added some more boards under the shower base, as close as I could get them to the drain. To reduce flex. I will obviously also avoid stepping anywhere near the drain. I plan on calling Camping World back to report the problem, as I want this noted in my service records. If it happens again, I would like them to replace the fitting. BUT I'm thinking that a replacement fitting would be just another cheapo OEM part that would have the same problem. I'm kinda thinking about replacing the compression fitting with a section of rubber hose, with hoseclamps holding it to the drain and the trap. That would at least provide some give. (In the preview pane, the picture got rotated and is upside down).

Trap Separation.jpg (2.07 MiB) Viewed 2996 times

I would also like to know how concerned I should be about all the water that ran down into the underbelly. This is right above the holding tanks. The wool insulation below the floor only got wet for a few inches around the floor penetration for the plumbing, as the water was just running right through the hole. I have a fan drying that out. But I have no idea what kind of insulation (if any) is around the tanks or in the underbelly. If it's fiberglass or wool, it's got to be a soggy mess. Do I need to take it to Camping World and insist that they replace the insulation? What about mold due to moisture build-up down there?

Other than that, my experience has been pretty good so far. I think my dog and I will be pretty happy in there, it's fairly comfortable.