Waste Water Tank SK

[Coltay]

Hello

Our SK leaks water into the living area and drops down through body and chassis to road. The garage says its from waste water tank but to resolve the involve removing toilet, shower tray and boiler – 5 hours labour just to take out  with no idea where leak is from or whether they can repair or source parts. Anyone with this problem??
Any ideas??

[Barry & Maggie]

This is potentially a big problem, I’m sorry to say, because as your garage has discovered, the Exsis is built around the tank!

You need to decide whether the leak is only when you drain one item, say the shower, or whether it leaks no matter what waste is used.  If the former, it is that pipe that’s leaking – if it’s the latter, it’s the waste drain pipe.

IF it is a “tank drain leak”, follow  the waste pipe, that runs alongside the boiler, back to the tank.  Investigate as far as you can, to see whether this pipe joint is the culprit.  It could be, being at the bottom of the tank.  I don’t have access to my Exsis at the moment, but see for yourself whether a repair could be undertaken at this joint with the tank in situ.

The shower drain travels down the left upper side of the boot area – you can see it clearly, particularly when you stick your head into the boot!  This was the source of my leak and it may very well be the source of yours too.  The pipe is VERY vulnerable to damage from “luggage” in this area so have someone pour some water into the shower tray and see if any of the joints are the source of your leak.  On mine, the pipe had actually split at a joint.  Have a look at Item 17, Page 209 of Tom’s Little Exsis Book.

You also have limited access to the top of the tank, via a trap in the floor under the hob unit.  Remove the bottom drawer (two pointed plastic tabs, one on each runner, need to be lifted before you can lift the drawer off the runners) then lift off the square access panel underneath.  I doubt it but you may be able gain some information about a leak via this route.

Note that the waste pipes enter the tank from the upper part of the tank, but the drain is fitted at the bottom of the tank.  So… If water leaks only when you pull a particular plug, it’s the pipe from that item.  But if it leaks when ANY plug is pulled, it’s the main drain joint, as I’ve already described.

Take your time and work methodically and you’ll hopefully locate the culprit.  I hope you’ll be able to effect a repair without recourse to the drastic action described by your garage.

Good luck and please let us know how this turns out, to give others help if their Exsis suffers the same.

Barry

 

[Fred & Gill]

Sound advice Barry, we have never had a waste tank leak reported before.

The wash basin drains  through the bottom of the light tube and into the wall unit and  flexes as the basin is swung into the wall cavity, this waste pipe has been reported to get hard and brittle – I changed mine when I fitted a new splashback/basin. This pipe and its entry to the waste tank can be checked by removing the panel with the air vent in at the side of the toilet.

The sink outlet and the route of its waste pipe can be checked by removing the panel  at the back under the sink ( on my SG so presumably the same on SK). This pipe heads towards the inspection hatc under the bottom drawer as pointed out by Barry.

So with some good lighting and a little agility there are good access points for observation to trace the source of the leak.

I sincerely hope that there is nothing major wrong with the tank and hope that it is one of the pipes or joints pointed out by Barry. There should be a protection guard on the shower outlet in the boot.

Fred

[Fred & Gill]

Check that the air vent adjacent to the boiler drain valve is screwed down.

I inadvertently was filling up the fresh water once and had water run into the van – and this was the culprit. Good luck.

[Barry & Maggie]

Thanks, Fred – good info.

I hope Coltay finds a good, simple solution to this.  Removing the tank is just unthinkable!

Barry

[Coltay]

Thanks all for your ideas and support!

My son is coming over to help me look at it on the weekend and I’ll post an update afterwards.

All the best

Col

[Coltay]

Hi All

Sorry for the delay….I’m not great with the internet and had to wait for my son to help me with that as well!

Good news I think, the tank doesn’t appear to be leaking.

We got the camper on a hill (front wheels high side) and dried the water out at the base of the tank then filled the waste water tank and left it for a few hours and nothing was coming down stream or near the bottom of the tank.

Water was still leaking though. My son spotted that the drain valve from the heater was leaking (even though I hadn’t spotted nor the camper garage).

So it appears I need to get a replacement safety water drain valve for the heater. The one with the blue cap on the photo below. Has anyone had to replace this? I think the exact part is “safety water drain valve for a Truma Heater T10“. Does anyone know where I might be able to source this from?

I’ve added some photos for you all. Thanks for all your help and support!

Col

 

 

[Barry & Maggie]

Really glad that you’ve found the source of the leak, Col.  Phew!

If it is a standard Truma part, any Truma stockist either has, or can get, one for you. Search “truma spares” on Google and there are loads of them.

Thanks for the helpful update and the photos.

Barry

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