Help With Gray Water Drain Coupler?

[Buck]

Does anyone have any experience with this problem?  It looks like a few well-placed hose clamps might be a band aid fix, but has anyone replaced the coupler, and any idea where to get parts?  Thanks for any thoughts on the subject.

[linda s]

Abs pipe can be had at your local hardware store. The special fittings you need for an RV can be found t most RV places and online on ebay and tons of other sites.

Linda S

[Buck]

Thanks for the reply..  I just wasn't sure what was under that mess.  I assume it's a flexible coupler.  I did get some advice to try a Fernco plumbing coupler to connect the ABS drain pipe to the tank.  Will give it a try- after I drain the tank!!!!

[linda s]

Yeah don't think there would be flexible coupler from tank drain to waste hose hook up. 

[Buck]

Turns out what I thought was a flexible drain coupler was a bunch of bicycle inner tube strips and wire that was hiding a nasty crack.  The crack was caused by forcing a 3" drain pipe inside the tank flange.  In one of the photos you can see the remains of the pipe inside the drain side of the connection.  I cut the pipe off flush with the pipe hub.

Two projects :

Tank outlet repair.  I'll try Linda's method of abs glue mixed with pipe shreds on the inside of the cracked outlet.

Connecting the two pipes: not sure. Diameter of the gray tank outlet seems oddball size.  Standard 3" drain pipe is too big a diameter to fit inside, but the standard 3" drain hub isn't big enough to fit over.

Any ideas are appreciated. Thanks!

[neubie]

I had good luck with using a fiberglass mesh along with linda's method. Cut a wide enough section to form at least one full wrap instead of just a patch to cover the crack. Mix abs shreds and abs cement separately to fully drench the fiberglass mesh. Wrap the neck with the mesh tightly so both ends of the fiberglas mesh overlap around the neck. Then apply extra abs cement to smooth over on top. Apply a second layer when dry if any gaps in coverage are visible.

But my crack was much smaller.

[linda s]

It looks like there is already a coupler on there. Measure the inside diameter of the outside tube on the left. See there seems to be a double layer of plastic. If so you might have to take all of it off to the blade valve where you see the bolts. No getting glued ABS apart. Let me know and I will find you the parts. Measure distance of tube running to the tank from blade valve too just in case.

Linda S

[WME]

I used a 2" sanding drum with a drill to SLOWLY grind the inner pipe to the correct size. There was a few mismatched spots so I used Linda's ABS glue thing to get a good seal.

,

[Buck]

Looks like there's at least hope I can avoid buying a new tank!  Linda, yes, the pipe on the left is a standard 3" hub with 3" drain pipe glued into it.  That 3" piece was too big diameter for tank outlet, and had been forced in with some caulking, causing the split.  I cut the 3" pipe flush at the hub, probably a mistake since now I can't try WME's solution of grinding a bigger inside diameter on tank hub.  

When I get vehicle back from mechanic next week, I'll attempt the patch with mesh, and look at my options.  In retrospect, should have tried to grind outside diameter of 3" pipe before cutting. 

Linda, do you have some leads on pipe parts and blade valve that would be better than Home Depot and the local RV store?

 

[neubie]

This sort of thing happens often. When you figure out what works for you, do an update.

[linda s]

I looked and there are quite a few RV parts stores near Eugene. Helps to have your rig right where the part is to figure out what will fit. I can't see your whole blade valve so I don't know what configuration it is but most are made by Valtera. You can find those on ebay or amazon. Just a matter of piecing it together so it's solid again. When I trashed my black tank I bought all my parts at an online trailer supply but I already searched them and they no longer carry the huge amount of parts anymore. Call local and ask what they have in stock. Home Depot actually isn't a bad choice if they have a size that will work. They charge way less than any RV places.

This place has a large amount of RV pipe fittings

https://www.etrailer.com/RV-Sewer/Valterra/D50-2935.html

But maybe you should just go bigger. A larger coupler that would go over both sides of your cut.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/4-in-ABS-DWV-Hub-x-Hub-Coupling-C5801HD4/100344957

You can sand the place where you filled the crack so it goes on smoothly. That is actually a small crack. Just needs to be filled with abs slurry. I did use fiberglass on mine but part of my black tank was completely missing. I had to rebuild the tank itself.

Just remember measure, measure, measure. I don't but I throw away a lot of mistakes

Linda S

 

[RVdaytrader]

I have a 1989 seabreeze and it looks like our tanks are NOT ABS plastic...see pics. The good news is the piece should come out of the tank fitting cause it is not cemented in. The bad news is since it is not abs, I dont think ABS cement will stick to it to repair the crack.

https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/29614035/gotomsg/29614311.cfm#29614311

[Gulfstream Greg]

Is the tank nylon plastic type material? If so nylon plastic can be hot air welded.
I think I have that adapter, off centered? I recently bought the wrong size. Too big for my tank. https://www.etrailer.com/RV-Sewer/Valterra/T1041-2.html Mine was this one https://www.etrailer.com/RV-Sewer/Valterra/T1041-1.html

 

 Welding 

 

[Buck]

Good suggestions here. If I get my rig back from mechanic by the weekend (I hope) I'll do a small test with abs glue on the tank.  Sounds like I'll find out pretty quickly if it's ABS if it sticks.  Interesting RVDaytrader's 89 Seabreeze tank is fiberglass - the outlet on mine looks a little different.  I'll still hope for ABS at this point, since I have a plan of action for that.  If not, I'll be looking for more repair ideas. Thanks