Maintenance & Restoration

Lisle · 03-02-2020, 12:37 AM

I have a 16' Casita. I just emptied my tanks on Friday. They weren't full, but I wanted to refill my fresh water tank and thought I'd empty them first. The last time I emptied the tanks was over a week before. That means, in over a week of constant living in the camper, I hadn't filled up both tanks.

After emptying the tanks, I drove back to where I'm parked in a friend's driveway for the next 10 days and filled my fresh water tank. It's two days later, and the water doesn't want to drain out of the kitchen sink. When it finally did, it backed up into the shower. This would normally indicate the grey water tank is full. I don't understand how it could be full in just 2 days when it didn't get full in over a week the last time. I think I've been just as conservative of water as I was before.

Could something have gotten clogged which is making the water back up?

I would just go and dump again, but getting it backed into this driveway is really hard and I'd rather not have to do it again. I've been using the facilities in the house quite a bit to avoid having to empty again until I'm ready to pull out of here.

I have a strainer in the kitchen drain to keep food from going down the drain. I never fry anything so I don't think there could have been much grease go down. Why it would be backing up is really a mystery.

Any ideas?

C&G in FL · 03-02-2020, 05:15 AM

I would start diagnosing the problem by putting a large bucket under the gray water drain and momentarily opening the drain valve, and see if anything comes out. Perhaps the drain valve is not operating properly and when you thought you dumped the gray tank you really didn’t. Sometimes the handle disconnects from the disk inside the valve and then they do not open when the handle is pulled.

Eddie Longest · 03-02-2020, 08:43 AM

With a Casita 16 you have a 16 gal fresh water tank and only a 13 gal grey water tank. It does not take long to fill up a 13 gal tank. Casita grey water tanks are short and cover a large area. It is easy not to have a complete dump if the drivers side is just slightly high. Putting a block under the street side tire helps to empty the grey water tank faster and completely. A Hepvo valve will prevent the shower floor from flooding with grey water in a Casita.
Eddie

redbarron55 · 03-02-2020, 09:04 AM

A second on the Hepvo drain valve.
In my case I have a pump to drain the shower pan as it is lower than the grey tank. The check valves in the pump stop the water from flowing back into the shower pan. The Hepvp valve is in the sink drain as the pump feeds the same line as the shower pump outlet.
The Hepvo keeps the shower water from running into the sink instead of the grey tank.
I would have put the hepvo in the shower drain, but the space available was not really conducive to mounting.

Jann Todd · 03-02-2020, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisle

I have a 16' Casita. I just emptied my tanks on Friday. They weren't full, but I wanted to refill my fresh water tank and thought I'd empty them first. The last time I emptied the tanks was over a week before. That means, in over a week of constant living in the camper, I hadn't filled up both tanks.

After emptying the tanks, I drove back to where I'm parked in a friend's driveway for the next 10 days and filled my fresh water tank. It's two days later, and the water doesn't want to drain out of the kitchen sink. When it finally did, it backed up into the shower. This would normally indicate the grey water tank is full. I don't understand how it could be full in just 2 days when it didn't get full in over a week the last time. I think I've been just as conservative of water as I was before.

Could something have gotten clogged which is making the water back up?

I would just go and dump again, but getting it backed into this driveway is really hard and I'd rather not have to do it again. I've been using the facilities in the house quite a bit to avoid having to empty again until I'm ready to pull out of here.

I have a strainer in the kitchen drain to keep food from going down the drain. I never fry anything so I don't think there could have been much grease go down. Why it would be backing up is really a mystery.

Any ideas?

To drain the grey water in a Casita you should have a handle that you have to pull either way under the center front of the trailer or in the closet. It is the air vent so the tank will drain. But it makes me think the handle is open since you got water into the shower. The handle for the air vent if closed will stop the water from getting into the shower. If that handle is open when driving or when your grey tank is full the water will back up into the shower. That handle must be open to drain the shower also. The vent for the tank to drain is the shower drain. Do you have something in the floor of the shower that would not allow air into the drain? The trap under the shower could be clogged. It should be just a rubber J trap. Easy to see if you look under the trailer. You could try pulling it to see if it is clogged. Ours froze in cold weather once and we had to change it. If you drained the tank then changed the handle possibly you had it closed then opened it after you drained it. Casita seems to be the only one with this handle thing. It does not have a pump like Scamps do to make the grey water get into the tank. The grey water tank is in front of the axle in a Casita where as the Scamp's is behind the axle.

steve dunham · 03-02-2020, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jann Todd

To drain the grey water in a Casita you should have a handle that you have to pull either way under the center front of the trailer or in the closet. It is the air vent so the tank will drain. But it makes me think the handle is open since you got water into the shower. The handle for the air vent if closed will stop the water from getting into the shower. If that handle is open when driving or when your grey tank is full the water will back up into the shower. That handle must be open to drain the shower also. The vent for the tank to drain is the shower drain. Do you have something in the floor of the shower that would not allow air into the drain? The trap under the shower could be clogged. It should be just a rubber J trap. Easy to see if you look under the trailer. You could try pulling it to see if it is clogged. Ours froze in cold weather once and we had to change it. If you drained the tank then changed the handle possibly you had it closed then opened it after you drained it. Casita seems to be the only one with this handle thing. It does not have a pump like Scamps do to make the grey water get into the tank. The grey water tank is in front of the axle in a Casita where as the Scamp's is behind the axle.

The handle in the front closet or under the front of the trailer controls the shower drain valve . The newer Casita’s have eliminated the manual valve and replaced it with a Hepvo valve .
The way the drain piping is installed on the Casita Gray tank the tank often does not drain completely even if the trailer is pitched

Refer to LHC fast drain kit and gray tank vent kit

Mitzi Agnew-Giles · 03-03-2020, 07:04 AM

I have a Lil Snoozy and one time the gray tank didn't drain. The side the tank is on definitely needs to be lower, however that one time just changing by addig a leveler block didn't help. I plugged up the shower drain and and plunged the sink and black stuff started flowing out. Gosh it stank. I was talking it over with a neighbor and she said she put blackwater treatment in her gray tank as well as her black tank.

Lisle · 03-03-2020, 03:20 PM

So thanks to all your advice, I was able to drain several gallons out of the grey tank into a bucket. This makes me think the problem is that the grey tank didn't drain fully when I last dumped. I don't remember if the camper was off level away from the drain but will check when I dump there before heading out. Mine is a 2018 and there is no information in the manual about having to pull a handle to get the grey tank to empty. I think my Casita is new enough that they have resolved that problem. And yes, the water did stink and I will treat that tank along with the black water tank.
Thanks for all your help and advice!!!!