Low point drain hoses leak while filling water tank

sanstead

Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2020
Posts
10
Location
Arbuckle
I have a 2018 Jayco Eagle Fifth Wheel. While filling the water tank, the two low drain hoses leak. The water tank never fills. The help we have heard so far is to put valves on the end of the hoses. That would be easy for one of the hoses because it is a white plastic 1/2" tube. The other one looks like a piece of a bicycle tire attached to a 1 1/2" pipe. We have checked and double checked the valves in the Low Point Drain cabinet. They are little "T" valves and they are closed. Anyone have any ideas. We are trying to go camping and don't want to run the trailer to the service department. It is new.
 
I believe the one that looks like a bicycle tire is a overflow. It likely doesn’t have a valve. I have read that they can siphon the water out. ??? That shouldn’t happen though. I saw where many different approaches have been used. On this site or the Starcraft owners site. Most just clamping it shut for the trip. The other white 1/2” pipe sounds like the fresh water tank drain and it should have a valve exposed right where it comes out. If it doesn’t your tank will empty soon after and while your filling.
When it comes to the overflow I can’t find it on my new Starcraft autumn ridge, and the low point valves were marked in the wrong place. So don’t be surprised if something is goofy.
Maybe someone else can chime in with a better explanation
 
Drains

Red and blue ones are low point drains. White one is tank drain
 

Attachments

  • CBD1241D-E019-40B4-9E5A-27DEFB5BCC2C.jpg
    CBD1241D-E019-40B4-9E5A-27DEFB5BCC2C.jpg
    126.5 KB · Views: 20
  • C6669454-6FC4-41E1-AA7F-742B5DC6D893.jpg
    C6669454-6FC4-41E1-AA7F-742B5DC6D893.jpg
    82.6 KB · Views: 25
I have a 2018 Jayco Eagle Fifth Wheel. While filling the water tank, the two low drain hoses leak. The water tank never fills. The help we have heard so far is to put valves on the end of the hoses. That would be easy for one of the hoses because it is a white plastic 1/2" tube. The other one looks like a piece of a bicycle tire attached to a 1 1/2" pipe. We have checked and double checked the valves in the Low Point Drain cabinet. They are little "T" valves and they are closed. Anyone have any ideas. We are trying to go camping and don't want to run the trailer to the service department. It is new.

Those two hoses are a vent hose and overflow hose for the water tank. They have nothing to do with the low point drains. Water should only come out of those two if the water tank is completely filled. You say the water tank doesn't fill. If that's the case, no water would be coming out of those hoses. How do you know no water is filling the tank?

Can you physically slide under the rig and see if there is actually water in the tank?
 
There you go! Couldn’t hurt to call the dealer he may have the solution
 
Last edited:
I had a bad experience with that plastic tee handle for our Octane, so went to the local hardware store and replace it with a brass ball valve.
 
They are little "T" valves and they are closed. Anyone have any ideas. We are trying to go camping and don't want to run the trailer to the service department. It is new.

We have the same T handle low point drain valves. They each have two small O-rings on them, that need replacing occasionally. They come apart easily. Pull the spring clip off with a pair of needle nose pliers, and lift the T handle part out of the valve. replace the two O-rings, lube them up with a little plumbers grease, snap them back in place, and replace the spring clip. I've done this a couple of times over the last 8 years. Just a bit of caution, don't drop the spring clip. It's very small.
 
We have the same T handle low point drain valves. They each have two small O-rings on them, that need replacing occasionally. They come apart easily. Pull the spring clip off with a pair of needle nose pliers, and lift the T handle part out of the valve. replace the two O-rings, lube them up with a little plumbers grease, snap them back in place, and replace the spring clip. I've done this a couple of times over the last 8 years. Just a bit of caution, don't drop the spring clip. It's very small.


It doesn't sound like that's his issue. He's not having problems with the real low point drains and valves. What he is describing as leaking is the vent and overflow hoses from the water tank, and calling them low point drains.
 
Could be the fresh is full but the control valves aren’t set correctly. If they aren’t on tank then there’ll be no water at the taps. Our “tank” settings for the control valves is called “normal”.
The pump must be on when using tank water. Pump on and taps off the pump should run for a bit while the lines are pressurized and then stop. There will be a little leak down of the pressure and the pump will run periodically (every minute, more or less).
 
Those two hoses are a vent hose and overflow hose for the water tank. They have nothing to do with the low point drains. Water should only come out of those two if the water tank is completely filled. You say the water tank doesn't fill. If that's the case, no water would be coming out of those hoses. How do you know no water is filling the tank?


I agree with this.
The overflow/vent pipes will siphon the water out of the tank/tanks, it's a common problem with Jayco. They either haven't figured out how to correctly plumb them into the tanks or just plain don't care.
 
Leak under bathroom sink

I have a drip leak from the blue hose under the bathroom sink. Could it be a loose clamp issue?
Also are the black valves on the red and blue hoses for shutoff?
Thank you
 
I have a drip leak from the blue hose under the bathroom sink. Could it be a loose clamp issue?
Also are the black valves on the red and blue hoses for shutoff?
Thank you
Had the same issue leak in our bathroom and found it to be a loose connection to the faucet. Are these black valves in the bathroom lines as well?
 
Yes the red and blue lines have black valves, did not see to shut water off in the lines. I shut the water off at the outside hose. Do you think it needs a new metal clamp (to replace the cheap plastic ones from jayco?
 
I tightened the connection to the faucet from underneath and the leak went away.
 
OK so your filling the water tank and water starts running out the black intertube type hose. When you turn the water selector back to city selection the water keeps coming out the black hose (siphon effect). When this is happening open that little white drain valve in the back near the black hose for a few seconds to let water start coming out kinda like your draining the tank. This will break the siphon effect. Then close that white drain valve and the water should shortly stop coming out of the black intertube hose. Keep repeating until this happens. Works for me on my 28.5 and you dont loose a 1/3 of your tank.
 

Try RV LIFE Pro Free for 7 Days

  • New Ad-Free experience on this RV LIFE Community.
  • Plan the best RV Safe travel with RV LIFE Trip Wizard.
  • Navigate with our RV Safe GPS mobile app.
  • and much more...
Try RV LIFE Pro Today
Back
Top Bottom