Gray and Black Water valve replacement

Boomer485 · 06-19-2020, 07:12 PM

Last winter when I was getting the Sunny ready to put in storage I was in a hurry. Bad idea.

I have a power lift on the front as I hate turning that crank for an eternity to go up or down.

I had the truck positioned to go, and hit the up button. Unfortunately I did not know the stand for the external water filter was under the dump valve. I broke it. Wonderful.

I had no idea what I was doing, but I went ahead and tackled the job. First thing I did was take the saw and cut the old valve off. First the grey water as that is a smaller line, then the black and thump the whole darn thing fell on the floor. I also noticed the pipe strap supporting the black water line and the valve had rusted through. Oh joy.

A trip to Amazon and I had the new valve, plus an extension valve. The y valve was about $27.00 and I think the extension was about $17.00. The extension is for a quick open or close on both lines without rummaging around under the trailer.

Then off to the store for some PVC. Menards did not have any short pieces of pipe available. So I went across the Street to Home Depot and they had two foot pieces of inch and half and three inch black PVC! Oh joy. Less waste. I was not sure of the arc or the length of the Grey water, so I bought a couple of options as they were quite inexpensive.

First I figured out the length on the black water pipe, cut it to length and glued it in. Primer first, then adhesive. I took another look at the Grey water and realize I had to make another cut, but as I had the necessary items to repair it, no issue.

Then I positioned the valve and triple checked all my lengths. Cut and dry fit everything. Then finished up the black water side, largest heaviest pipe. Then finished up the grey water side.

Now for the support strap. I really did not want to screw another piece of pipe strap up as I really do not like that. What to do.

After some thought and research I decided to buy to clamps for a pickup camper shell. They would slide over the I beam nicely and clamp down in a most secure manner. Done and Done.

Next, now for a support for the pipe. As I do not like the metallic pipe strap I found some very long all weather tie wrap straps that we use on the farm for other issues. They last a very long time and are quite tough.

I went through both clamps, came around the bottom and zipped them up and trimmed them so I didn't have the Irish Pennant whipping around in the breeze. I was very pleased with the end result.

**JohnB** · 06-21-2020, 11:33 AM

Good Job! Looks good. Thanks for sharing.

I know you said PVC pipe and primer then adhesive (cement) , just a friendly heads up to let you know, the black pipe and the black fittings you bought are ABS plastic, it is a different then PVC. They do make ABS solvent weld cement like they make PVC solvent cement. The two solvents have some of the same ingredients to melt the plastic togther, but they also have specific additives for the material.

If you used the PVC cement on the ABS, I do not know of any severe negative interactions as on a gravity drain system, there is very low pressure. I myself never used PVC cement on the ABS as I just bought the ABS cement. PVC can be used on much higher pressure piping and it can be more critical to make sure that pipe used the correct cement.

I like your pick-up camper clamps. Good idea!

John

Boomer485 · 06-22-2020, 05:44 PM

John, Mea culpa. I did use the proper cement for the black pipe. I did make it a point to ask for the right stuff at the store. They did tell me the primer is the same for white and black however. I blew the proper terminology when posting. My bad. But thanks for the heads up, sure is worthwhile! B.