Meliss
Ridley Park PA
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Joined: 07/17/2006
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Just finished my last trip of the summer. Bad weather was on its way so we were rushing to pack up and I was backfilling my black tank with the flush king. Got busy doing something else and forgot to monitor guage. We heard a loud bang and I looked under the camper and saw that the tank straps had snapped off and snapped the wires off the sensors. Also broke the seal where the pipe from the toilet goes into the tank. Have a appt. next week with the service dealer. I have used the flush king a million times but this time I forgot to pay attention. Live & Learn
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Rookiecamper
Northeastern, PA
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Joined: 04/01/2005
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All the flush king did was fill the tank. That could have happened from just regular, heavy use. It could have been an even bigger disaster with a half or three/fourths full tank bouncing down the road. I don't know the age of your trailer, but perhaps the straps or attachment points had begun to rust. Simply filling your tank full should not cause that to happen.
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Jim&Peg
Central Ohio
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Joined: 07/14/2004
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Large flat sided tanks will not withstand any pressure. For example a 24 by 60 inch tank has 1440 square inches of top and bottom area. Only one psi would apply 1440 pounds of force to the top and bottom. No wonder your tank bulged and burst its mountings. The vent will not save the tank. Each 2 feet the water goes up the vent would apply one psi to the tank.
I keep trying to warn people on the forums every time someone damages their tank, but many still have not gotted the message. Maybe someone has a suggestion on how to spread the word to never completely fill the tank when backflushing.
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campercajun
Central Texas Hill Country
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I agree with rookiecamper that something was probably wrong, such as rusty screws or rotted wood, etc. I understand the principle that Jim&Peg are speaking of; however, many times I have pulled my trailer with full tanks because the park dump station was out of order, etc. And with my last 4 trailers, after using my flush king, I backfill my black tank all the way to the bottom of the toilet blade valve, after pouring a bottle of formaldehyde into the tank.
I let the tank sit this way for a couple of days (I have an RV garage with a sewer dump), then drain the tank. The formaldehyde kills ALL the bacteria in the tank, AND in the lower chamber of the toilet, which is very often where the odors come from. Even in our torrid Texas heat, we have no odor problems.
I've never experienced a problem while doing this with 4 different travel trailers. However, I have never filled the system any further than the 6 to 10 inches it takes, depending on the trailer and the tank plumbing, for the water to reach just below the toilet blade valve. To fill it further, and fill the vent stack full of water, I can easily understand how the head pressure developed from that column of water could cause problems, and possibly burst something.
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Bonnie E
South Jersey Pines
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Hope I am not missing something but I think the Op is saying he overfilled his tank to the point where it blew out the seals and expanded to the point it broke the straps.
DH did the same thing 4 years ago in our HTT. I was in the camper and heard a funny noise. I knew right away when I went in the bathroom. So I opened the toilet and then she blew. All over me and everywhere! It was a 2nd or 3rd flush and like the OP my Dh got distracted. The straps broke but nothing else. Oh I learned. I learned to not let DH do it alone!
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just_dave
Bay City, MI
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Right. He didn't just fill up his take, he pressurized it. The tank probably swelled, rupturing the seals, fittings, and who knows what else.
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genekiwi
NH
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I doubt that the wood was rotted or the screws rusted.
I had the same experience when my 03 Kiwi was brand new and I was using the Flush King for the second time.
I didn't know how long to backflush it.
I heard a loud band and DW was hollering that there was water all over the floor in the htt. Thank goodness this was the third flush.
The tank is flexible and the two metal straps are meant to only hold the tank on. As the tank filled, it expanded and put pressure on the straps which are only held on by a couple of screws.
Kind of looks like when you take a long balloon and squeeze it with your fingers.
Fortunately, I only broke one strap and got that fixed on the road.
Not sure if this is part of the cause or not but we did have a fair amount of water in the bathroom and back of the trailer. DW and I cleaned that up and I even put paper towels against the wood to try to get what water went behind the panelling.
However, just before I traded the htt, I found that I had floor rot under the back cabinat. The underbelly of the htt had a tar paper covering that may have held some water in.
So don't feel alone on making this kind of mistake, others have done it also.
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gonzo71
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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just_dave wrote:Right. He didn't just fill up his take, he pressurized it. The tank probably swelled, rupturing the seals, fittings, and who knows what else.
Dave
This does not make sense.
1. Each tank got a roof vent, therefore you cannot pressurize the tank unless there is a pluggen roof vent.
2. If you contiue filling you will simply push the water into wherever it normally comes from. I over filled those tanks befor. The gray tank would have pushed into the shower and the black would probbably go to the roof thru the roof vent.
NO WAY TO PRESSURIZE.
* This post was
edited 09/06/08 08:23am by gonzo71 *
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genekiwi
NH
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gonzo71 wrote:just_dave wrote:Right. He didn't just fill up his take, he pressurized it. The tank probably swelled, rupturing the seals, fittings, and who knows what else.
Dave
This does not make sense.
1. Each tank got a roof vent, therefore you cannot pressurize the tank unless there is a pluggen roof vent.
2. If you contiue filling you will simply push the water into wherever it normally comes from. I over filled those tanks befor. The gray tank would have pushed into the shower and the black would probbably ro to the roof thrue the roof vent.
NO WAY TO PRESSURIZE.
Don't know if the water went up through the roof vent on the black water but I do know that the toilet overflowed and water was on the floor.
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Family-of-five
Cardale Pa
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I did it too.On our new 23-b. I over filled using the flush king,and popped the straps.Didnt hurt anything else.I used a wratchet strap across to get it back home.Our dealer installed new and much heavier straps.I would agree it didnt pressurize the tank,but overfilling will cause expansion and swelling.Lesson learned..I stay with it..
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