Blocked off overflow tubes

[Webeskiing]

Hi, new to the site. We have a 2009 32BHDS and I was getting sick of losing half the tank of water to siphoning so I blocked off the overflow tubes. I was filling the water tank tonight and of course I overfilled it, didn't think anything of it but a few minutes later noticed water on the floor under the kitchen sink...so it seems like I might have over pressurized the water tank or the fill tube...how do you remove and fix the tube?

[jwstewar]

I have the same year and model camper and I don't know, but I'm searching for the same answer. I put valves on my overflow tubes. I forgot and left them closed one time and had the same result. If I remember to leave them open, I THINK I'm OK, but I'm still not sure that water won't slosh out and still come out from wherever it is coming from and still potentially damage something.

[Webeskiing]

I may have figured it out. The filler tube (Smoothbore) is quite long and because it's so long it actually upslopes from the fill port to a height of about 3 or 4 inches above the fill port and then goes straight down into the tank. So when I overfill the tank, with the overflow tubes blocked off, the water goes up the fill tube and then out the port and the trouble occurs when the water sits in the fill tube and leaks out the connection between the fill tube and the fill port. The clamp holding the tube onto the fill port was not really tight, it did the job for water passing by quickly under normal circumstances but with water resting there because the overflows won't allow the water to drain it dripped out. I took the clamp off, wrapped the plastic fill port with plumbers tape and then tightened the hell out of the clamp. If I was super motivated I'd cut some length out of the fill tube so the tube would be more of a straight downslope grade to the tank so no water pooled in the tube. To get at the clamp, unscrew the 3 screw on the exterior fill port, cut the caulking and pull the tube out. Also both overflow tubes now have valves which I'll open during filling and close during travel.

[jwstewar]

Good sleuthing there. I like how they have hidden the tank, but at the same time I hate how they have hidden the tank. On all of my other previous campers everything there was there easily seen and relatively easy to get to and work on.

[The Hawk]

The true name of this item is the VENT tube. The water goes in and the air goes out and the air is vented out, when the water lowers the water is displaceed by the air. I don't alter anything as such a this! Where is the warranty if you do not understand how it is designed and engineered and you alter it and cause damage to you unit.
Jayco has a great 2 year wannanty based on how they design and manufacture you unit, not on how you think it should be.

[Webeskiing]

Nah, the one that was leaking was the fill tube....I'm quite certain of that. The small tube adjacent to the fill tube, the vent tube, was also a bit loose at the upper connection. I think you may misunderstand what I blocked off, there are two tubes hanging underneath the trailer and where their intake on the tank is I don't know precisely but they are positioned such that I lose a lot of fresh water while travelling. Engineered or not, it's not reasonable to loose half the volume of water in transit so many people now put valves on them to save their water. You're right, blocking off the vent tube would prove to be entertaining, I think that big ol' tank would make some funny noises collapsing.

[Snake Plissken]

Why would you block the overflow tubes?

[dalenoel]

Originally Posted by Snake Plissken

Why would you block the overflow tubes?

Many of us have found the overflow tubes will syphon off up to 1/3 of the total capacity when driving even just to the campsite.

[dewey02]

Originally Posted by dalenoel

Many of us have found the overflow tubes will syphon off up to 1/3 of the total capacity when driving even just to the campsite.

This is especially true of the folks with the newer 90 gallon (twin 45 gallon) shallow tanks mounted below the floor. One of the reasons we bought these travel trailers was because they had the large fresh water tank capacity, only to find that we'd run out of water long before we'd planned. Putting a shut off valve on the overflow tubes solved the problem for around $5. The only problem I have is trying to figure out why a good company like Jayco (or Starcraft, in my case but made/owned by Jayco) can't figure this out and fix it at the assembly line.