Grey Tank Clogged???

[Crystal]

I can't figure out what my problem is, I have a 2002 wnt and when I open the grey water slide, I only get trickling amounts of water. We used a fish line for electrical work to see if we could snake out the grey tank and unclog the pipes. I drove around hoping to disturb the clog (if that is even what it is) and it didn't seem to help any.

So it eventually drained out after an hours worth of draining time. But I'm wondering what else I could do. Is there any dissolvents you can use to help break up the cloggs???

[workingchihuahua]

the gray tank can get clogged with hair. it happened to me once. what a pain, try drano and a plunger. i gotit free by shooting hot water from the hose at full blast.

[Doug]

not sure

Not sure if you can use draino in these tanks to desolve hair.You probably can not dump that on the ground if the tanks can take it.If you can fish a garden hose back up into the tank like you did the snake while the water is running in the hose maybe it will flush out the clog and allow it to flow out of the drain pipe once the water from hose losens the clog from the exit side of the clog.Find a peice of garden hose with no end on it and twist it as you push it in so it can make the bends and turns around the elbos.If you get all the way into the tank let it flush out the lose hair by running the water and moving the hose back and forth a little bit in the tank to knock stuff loose that is sitting on the bottom of the tank.Work slowly so you do not make more clogs.Long stinky job better done if you have'nt eaten in a while.

[Kim in SD]

Have you tried just straight bleach? Can you use drano in those vans? Rent a snake if all else fails.

[barknpurr]

Have you tried blowing the drain out with your HV dryer? I remember that happening to me once and I pushed the HV nozzle into the drain and let her rip. Sounds like you have some massive hair clog going on. Hopefully that will be enough to move it out or away from the drain.

[ferret]

I've had this happen...

My clog was in the drain on the outside of the van...where the water comes out. I took a really long pair of hemostats (that I had bought at a flea market) and stuck it in the drain and pulled out a huge gob of hair. Once that was removed, the water came gushing out again, like normal. If you have ice in drain line, you may have to take your garden hose with really hot water and spray in the drain line from the outside. This will often loosen crud up too.

[muttsRus]

draNO!

I was told that we should never use drano on our van.who knows!

[Crystal]

I'm getting ready to work on this again, because I still haven't gotten it unclogged. But I have a question - maybe some of you may know this- I have a black pipe with a vent cover right next to the faucet in the tub. Is that the vent for the grey water?

I never really knew what it was, but today while I was working I noticed that even though my tank emptied over night, my water was not going down the drain well. It kept bubbling up and acted as if there was no ventilation and the pressure wouldn't allow the water down the drain.

So I thought that if that was the vent, than maybe I have a vent clog. And therefore, that might cause low pressure for the draining as well.

Anyone know this or had this problem? I might even be wrong, I just don't know what that thing is on the wall of the tub.

[Crystal]

Oh Also, I wondered if something could be wrong with the slide to open the grey tank. My hubby thinks that's not it, but when I used a wire, it kept hitting something as if the slide wasn't completely open.

Anyone ever have that piece break?

[muttsRus]

maybe you should use a drain auger, the kind that have like a cable that turns while you force in to the drain, maybe that will help you.

[Kim in SD]

Drain auger and snake are the same thing.

[Doug]

crystal

Oh Also, I wondered if something could be wrong with the slide to open the grey tank. My hubby thinks that's not it, but when I used a wire, it kept hitting something as if the slide wasn't completely open.

Anyone ever have that piece break?

I have had the T handle break but not the gate or the rod that the handle is on the end of. I dont like those gate valves much I only kept the one on the rv because it was easier to tie into the rest station dump set ups. I dont think they are made for frequent use.Most rv stuff is not made for daily use. Ive seen them leak as well .Never did figure why they are glued on when they will have to be replaced at some point. I think that is another rv industry standard practice.

[hairdevil]

CLOGS

my ex mother in law told me on toilets to use baking powder and bleach...let set..it will begin to bubble and dissolve anything in the clog,,it worked! she said a plumber told her that lil tip one time...might try it! saver than draino I would think? just be easy, don't blow yaself up! lol

[Crystal]

HV dryer worked!!!

I tried a snake, I used wire, and the best thing was using my HV dryer. as soon as I used it the clog blew out.

I had to wrap a wet towel around the tip of the dryer nozzle to help form a seal, then holding the nozzle down the drain while it was running was messy, but it only took less than a minute. Out popped a big hair ball.

Ewww it was kind of slimy too.

So tonight I have hot water, bleach, and baking soda soaking in my tank. Maybe that will help loosen anything else that needs to drain out.

Grrr thanks for all the help, and I'm so glad it worked because I have hairy dogs scheduled tomorrow.

[Kim in SD]

What kind of filters do you use?

Filters, as in for hair going down drains. I only have those little metal ones that fit in the drain itself. I've see the ones online that hook into plumbing, do any of you have those?
Now that we know how to unclog a clog, what's the best way to prevent that from happening? Any ideas?
(I couldn't seem to start a new thread)