Drain valve for water storage???

[hawk]

I have a Toy/Winnie 21' 1991 and for the life of me, I can't find a drain valve for emptying the storage water tank. I live where freezing is common several months of the year, so can't leave the water in. Does anyone know where the valve might be? Or if there isn't one, which would really be a dumb design, what's the best way to empty the tank and lines? Run the pump until dry?? Thanks.

[waiter]

I have one outside, it looks like an office water cooler spicot.

John Mc

88 Dolphin 4 Auto

[MontanaChinook]

Yeah. Where have you looked? Obviously check outside, down low, on the same side your water tank is on, in the general area of where your water tank is sitting.

[toyboxII]

Did you check under the sofa? Water tank and pump are usually located under the sofa and the drain valve is a pull type that usually has a ring in the end of it to grip when you pull up to drain. Hope this helps.

[shim 'n bucket]

Did you check under the sofa? Water tank and pump are usually located under the sofa and the drain valve is a pull type that usually has a ring in the end of it to grip when you pull up to drain. Hope this helps.

I have a '92 Itasca (Winnebago). This is where a pair of my drains is located (hot and cold), just aft of the pump itself. There is also another pair of drains located almost near the shower pan. You can access those drains from the door under the stove. They are located aft of the hot water tank.

I just replaced the O-rings (8 total) in all 4 of my drains.

[Derek up North]

just replaced the O-rings (8 total) in all 4 of my drains.

Any tricks you learned doing this?

[5Toyota]

turning on the pump alone will for shure be NOT enough need to have a drain on the tank must have somewhere and nothing beats an air compresser i aways get a lot of water in the tolit. i drain it blow it and pump full of rv antifreze i installed a water heater bypass kit shure worth it put a little in the heater then buypass it i dont want broke stuff

[shim 'n bucket]

Any tricks you learned doing this?

Oh boy, what a good question.

One must remove the drain unit from the floor itself. Seems Winnebago allowed the unlimited use of goo-puckey to plug the hole in the floor caused by the 1/2" drain hose. It was a pain to cut it all out with a box cutter. Shoulda taken pics, I know.....

There are 4 H2O connections at each drain that must be dis-connected. 8" cresent wrench was the best solution, with a channel lock pliers gripping the plumbing pipe to prevent it from twisting.

Once the drain unit was extracted from the flooring/plumbing system, remove the wire pull rings (using a vice and pliers) and push the plunger down through the drain unit to get at the O-rings.

Good luck finding them, of course they are obscure after 20 years.

After a couple of tries, I wound up at a full blown hydraulics shop to match these O-rings. Try a shop that specializes in tractor/earth moving equipment etc.

I spent the time to fix this issue because I got tired of leaking my fresh H2O onto the ground while camping. Water is so precious in the desert.

[Derek up North]

Thanks for the valuable insight.

I don't suppose you have a record of the O-ring sizes so that those following in your footsteps can track them down before starting?

[shim 'n bucket]

Thanks for the valuable insight.

I don't suppose you have a record of the O-ring sizes so that those following in your footsteps can track them down before starting?

No.

The way the hydraulic shop matched them was with a proprietary manufacturers large 4 page plastic laminated 'catalog'. You selected the width (thickness) and then laid the O-ring on a full size image reproduced on the page. The O-ring numbers were sequential and didn't really relate to a size. Mine were 108 and 112, pretty meaningless.

Places like Ace Hardware list sizes but their selection is limited. These were odd ball, our local Case Tractor hydraulic shop had never stocked those sizes ever. It's best to take them in so they can be matched properly.

[Derek up North]

Do these sizes sound about right?

http://www.amazon.com/O-Ring-108-BN70-Nitrile-Pack/dp/B000RC5GQY

http://www.amazon.com/O-Ring-112-V75-Viton-Pack/dp/B000RAET32

And if anyone is looking for other sizes:-

http://www.broadleyjames.com/o-rings-size-chart.html

[shim 'n bucket]

Do these sizes sound about right?

http://www.amazon.com/O-Ring-108-BN70-Nitrile-Pack/dp/B000RC5GQY

http://www.amazon.com/O-Ring-112-V75-Viton-Pack/dp/B000RAET32

And if anyone is looking for other sizes:-

http://www.broadleyjames.com/o-rings-size-chart.html

OMG, those numbers do mean something.

I just thought of a quick and dirty way to confirm these sizes empirically.

Remove the wire pull ring from the top of the drain plunger and drive the plunger out the bottom of the coach, through the drain hose, onto the ground.

Whose up for it? I ain't pulling my drains apart again......LOL.

[hawk]

Hi, Folks, thanks very much for all the helpful replies. I had checked the exterior carefully, but will do it again-just in case I was blind the last time. And the same for under the couch. Part of my problem may have been that I thought I knew what a drain plug should look like. I've gotten into trouble with assumptions before.... On the next warm day, after I've driven it home from Sacramento where I stored it for the winter. Here in the Eastern Sierra, my house pipes froze this winter, flooding my house. Sigh, such fun.