# Black Tank Leaking When Nearly Full



## ftroop

Hello All,

Upon breaking camp after the rally on Monday, I noticed water leaking from the edges of the belly cover as I back flushed the black tank, with a timer, as it reached its capacity. What we do is the first fill we time it until we see water rising into the pipe below the toilet, and then repeated flushings are done to that time period, usually with a few seconds shorter to allow for fill variations, etc. Several trips ago, when I was filling it, I heard a loud thunk near capacity (I messed up on my timing, me thinks). I don't remember if it leaked that time (or at least I didn't notice it). Since it only leaks near capacity, I am guessing I either split the tank near the top or popped some sort of seal at the top. The toilet holds water just fine, and there is no water on the floor. I was also able to push up on the belly cover and spill more water out, re-affirming my thoughts that black water (my sister-in-law calls it kool-aid) is pooling on top of the cover







. I am also concerned about what is getting wet/soiled under there in the mean time







. I can see the belly cover is relatively easy to drop, and someone said that the tanks are actually easy to drop, but how hard is the rest of the plumbing, ie, all the seals, drain pipes and guages? I realize also that I may have a hard time getting someone to do the work since it is the black tank. I tried to find a thread covering this, but my search items didn't work very well







. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

P.S. Recently we started using a wand device with a rotating sprayer head to spray out the tank that is attached to a hose. It works much faster than the flush king and uses less water. However, I didn't bring it along as we normally use it at home when we dump







. The flush king allows us to see when water is running clear, and I still use it for a quick grey tank flush.

Thanks!

Ftroop


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## JTODrain

I noticed my grey water tank does that. For example, if I notice the tank is full and raise the tongue jack to hook up the hitch, water will flow out from the underbelly (toward the rear). Everything else seems normal.


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## CamperAndy

The tanks are not very easy to drop as they are installed at the factory from the top. You need to cut the supports to get the tank out.

I suspect you pulled the tank away from the drop pipe from the toilet. The drop pip flange is heat welded to the top of the tank and it could be glued back in place. I would pull the toilet and see if you can pull the piping up from the top to do the repair.

Any leaks in the underbelly should not cause too much damage but it will smell until you open it up to clean.


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## Scoutr2

Could be that your vent pipe has come loose, which could allow water to spill over into the underbelly area.

Just a thought - and a whole lot less of a problem to deal with. Let's hope you get lucky!

Mike


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## GlenninTexas

I had a crack right where the drain pipe enters the tank. It to only leaked when the tank was near full. I guess the weight of the water in the tank pulled the crack open enough to allow a stream of water to leak out. I tried fixing it with silicon caulk - unsuccessfully. I finally fixed it using JB-Weld after removing the caulk and cleaning the area very well.

Pull your bottom cover back to expose the tank. You'll likely need a flashlight. See if you can see a crack on the bottom of the drain pipe where it enters the tank when you put some downward pressure on the pipe.

Good luck.

Regards, Glenn


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## ftroop

GlenninTexas said:


> I had a crack right where the drain pipe enters the tank. It to only leaked when the tank was near full. I guess the weight of the water in the tank pulled the crack open enough to allow a stream of water to leak out. I tried fixing it with silicon caulk - unsuccessfully. I finally fixed it using JB-Weld after removing the caulk and cleaning the area very well.
> 
> Pull your bottom cover back to expose the tank. You'll likely need a flashlight. See if you can see a crack on the bottom of the drain pipe where it enters the tank when you put some downward pressure on the pipe.
> 
> Good luck.
> 
> Regards, Glenn


Is the drain pipe generally near the side of the tank, or does it vary from trailer to trailer? And, is this the same for the vent pipe?


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## HTQM

Did a similar troubleshoot/repair on a fellow Outbackers camper about a year ago. After dropping the underbelly and filling the tanks we found a crack at the corner of the galley tank. Looked like Gilligan had dropped the tank on the corner on his way to the assembley line. It took almost a full tank before the crack would open enough to leak.

RV stores sell a tank repair kit, we bought it and headed back to the CG for repairs. Upon opening said kit we disocvered that it's merely a small fiberglass patch kit that could have been purhcased much cheaper at most car parts stores.

We applied the kit in accordanced with the instructions, waited the 24 hours for drying and he has been leak free since.

A valve or vent leak (at a joint) isn't hard to fix but more time consuming. Of course, that also depends on which tank and where. Have faith, you can fix it. We're Outbackers and can fix anything, the plethora of knowledge on this website is amazing.

Hope this helps
Dave


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## ftroop

Thanks for all the advice and help fom all! I may work on it this saturday if I can fit in, at least get started. No trips in the near future, so I can take my time. I will keep you all posted and will try to take pictures of the process !









Ftroop


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## Thor

ftroop said:


> Thanks for all the advice and help fom all! I may work on it this saturday if I can fit in, at least get started. No trips in the near future, so I can take my time. I will keep you all posted and will try to take pictures of the process !
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> Ftroop


Thanks for the update...please only take pics of the tank









Thor


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