Our wet bay with the cosmetic cover removed. I had to clean up the wires before I could look for the black tank leak.

Remodeling my RV wet bay started with a leak in my black tank

Remodeling my RV wet bay started with a leak in my black tank. After fixing the leak in my RV’s black tank, I have remodeled the entire RV wet bay. It was a long and involved process with several steps along the way. If I haven’t mentioned it before, but nearly a year later, I am convinced the RV black tank repair was 100% successful.

Unlike most of my articles, this one contains a rant, but don’t give up before the happy ending.

The first repair to our RV black tank failed.

I was concerned when I tested the repair (the same day they gave me the RV back), only to find out that the technician had failed to glue all the sewer pipe joints when he put them back together. Did they think I wouldn’t immediately test the repair? Perhaps they didn’t know I would tell you about it even though I gave them my card and website address.

After the repairs were done I took this photo of the leaking pipes above my black tank. No glue is the obvious reason.
After the repairs, I took a photo of the leaking pipes above my RV black tank. No glue! I think the technician failed Pipe-101.

Testing for leaks after the repair.

After the shop returned the RV, I went straight to our campsite and did yet another leak test. The first step was to use the black tank sprayer to partially fill my brand-new black tank well above the connection to the dump valve to ensure no leaks from the bottom of the tank or connections leading to the dump valve.

I think I was repeating the same test the shop performed before they gave me back the RV. The only difference between my test and their test is they dumped the water on the ground after their test. I knew that a partial test was not good enough. I needed a fix that wouldn’t leak anywhere from the black tank, not just from the lower part of the tank.

Black Tank System
When I tested the system after the repair, I filled the tank full, all the way to the top, including the pipe under the flush valve.

So, using a hose running into the toilet, I filled my new black tank to the very top of the black tank, including the new sewer pipes under the toilet. This would prove that I had a good repair. If my black tank system would hold water into the stack and under the toilet, I would be satisfied with the repair. My brand-new tank installation failed the test and leaked from the pipes under the toilet. I can’t believe the technician didn’t glue the pipe fittings between the black tank and the toilet. Thankfully, un-soiled freshwater leaked during my test, not sewer water.

The following morning, I was back at the repair shop. To fix the new leak, they had to remove the toilet again and all the pipes under the toilet so that they could reassemble them, this time using glue at every joint. After they were done, I returned to the campground and tested it again. This time, the RV black tank repair passed the test. The shortcut during the repair led to a long detour and some serious backtracking.

Getting ready for the repair.

My previous article outlines how I had to remove the beauty cover in the RV wet bay and find the leak myself before the RV shop would take the job. It also outlines why my repair was going to be very difficult. Until the RV shop removed and replaced my black tank, I had already invested days of labor and two hundred dollars into finding the leak and disassembling the RV wet bay. Last year’s article was dedicated to finding the leak in my black tanks and finding a shop that would repair it. Here is a link. Fixing our RV Black Tank Nightmare

Photo of our wet bay setup. In the center of the picture is our tank level system. Below that is the Y connector attached to our sewer hose. To the left of the tank level sensor is the black tank dump valve. To the right of the tank level system is the grey tank dump valve.
Photo of our RV wet bay. In the center of the picture is our tank-level system (red). The Y connector attached to our sewer hose is below the tank-level system. The black tank dump valve is to the left of the tank level display. The grey tank dump valve is to the right of the tank level display. I consider this my “before” photo of the RV wet bay. It looks pretty, given that it is a place to do the things you don’t want to do.

Our Extended Warranty

My extended warranty company was a pain to work with, but it eventually covered some (most) of the costs associated with the repair. Working with my extended warranty company slowed the repair, as did shop scheduling and shipping my new black tank. Now, after two repairs, we have almost covered the cost of our extended warranty.

I hope nothing else happens, but it won’t take an extensive repair to break even on the warranty price. I like to link to companies that help me during our RV journey. They won’t get a link in this article even though they helped. They act like dogs with food aggression, hovering over the food bowl and growling. Like most extended warranty companies, they made the process difficult. While they helped, they tried to save money by not paying for the required items needed for the repairs. I want to acknowledge they did their job despite being slow and difficult for me to work with.

In the end, since the RV black tank specialist didn’t want the job in Quartzite, the warranty company didn’t pay for the claim to find the leak because the specialist who found the leak didn’t want to repair it.

Lots of do-it-yourself labor

It would have been far more costly without my do-it-yourself labor. Neither the RV shop nor the warranty company would take the job until I could prove it was leaking and show them where it was coming from. First, I had to tear “everything” apart in the RV wet bay to get photos of the leak.

Our wet bay with the cosmetic cover removed. I had to clean up the wires before I could look for the black tank leak.
Our RV wet bay after I removed the cosmetic cover. I had to remove the plastic ceiling and cosmetic cover that hid all these wires and plumbing to get a picture of the black tank leak. The plumbing and uncovered wires are an example of the quality standards in every RV. Perhaps our RV is better than average. I have uncovered other hidden rat nests scattered around our RV. Someday, I would like to see an RV where the manufacturer builds a quality unit that doesn’t need a cosmetic cover to hide a mess like the one I found in my RV wet bay hiding behind the cosmetic cover.

I had to live with the RV wet bay torn apart for months, waiting for a new black tank to be delivered. After scheduling the repair with the shop and getting approval from the warranty company. Only then could the shop fix the RV wet bay and get me back on the road. Even then, the repair shop put it back together the way they found it without re-installing the things in the RV wet bay that I removed to get the pictures.

Not reassembling the RV wet bay.

Perhaps I could have reassembled everything in the RV wet bay before the repair shop started the job, and then the repair shop would have had to take it all apart when they replaced the black tank. Then perhaps the repair shop would have reassembled the RV wet bay as it came out of the factory.

Taking something apart and then reassembling it just so someone else could take it apart is stupid, so I didn’t put it back together. Not putting the RV wet bay back together saved the repair shop’s labor time and the warranty company money. I vowed to make the RV wet bay better than Tiffin’s design, even if it wasn’t the same as the original design.

Here are the ceiling cover and cosmetic covers that came out of my wet bay so that I could find my black tank leak.
Here are the ceiling cover and cosmetic covers that came out of my RV wet bay so that I could find my black tank leak. I saved part of the ceiling cover, but everything else ended up in the dump.

What I found when I first removed the cosmetic cover in my RV wet bay was embarrassing and shoddy. I don’t assemble RVs, but I knew I could do a better job than the factory. The stuff in my RV wet bay is just plumbing and low-voltage wires. Remodeling my RV wet bay allowed me to redeem about twelve cubic feet of unused, wasted storage space. Finding hidden storage space in an RV is very valuable.

Addressing the rat nest of wires in my RV wet bay.

Tiffin gave me more than one rat nest of wires. Perhaps I haven’t found the worst one, but this one was pretty bad. One benefit was I had plenty of time to clean it up. I had to clean up this mess to get my head far enough into the RV wet bay to find the leak.

Our wet bay with all the wires cleaned up.
Using a scrap of wood (I should have used plastic). I organized the wires in my RV wet bay. You can see my tank-level sensor at the top of the board. The pump on/off switch is on the right side. To get to this point, I removed many extra wires and ran the wires to connection blocks glued to the front of the board. These spring-loaded connection blocks are called Wago connectors and are perfect for the job (link at the bottom).

You can see from the above photo that two wire bundles were tied together to make different systems work in the RV. Some wires were used for the freshwater pump and tank level sensors, and others powered different components, like the hose reel in the RV wet bay. Have RV manufacturers ever heard of a bus bar? (A bus bar is a collection point for wires that need to be connected at one point.) Honestly, I am unsure what some wires do; they go to some unknown destination. But I cleaned it up, and now it is better. This photo was taken well before I was able to find the leak.

One of the devices is the Latching controller. It allows me to have multiple momentary switches to control my freshwater pump.
One of the devices is the Latching controller. It allows me to have multiple momentary switches to control my freshwater pump.

Continuing my rant about RV manufacturing… Do I think that RVs built recently are better built than my RV? There is no way the newer RVs are better than my older RV. The objective is still to build RVs with the most profit. Everything is about making them look better. The objective is not to do things the best way. If you find a rat nest of wires, it is okay if it is hidden behind a cosmetic cover. Shame!

Photo of our leak

I sorted out and organized all the wires in the RV wet bay, and only then was I able to get a photo of our leak. It was challenging to accomplish. Even today, I have never seen the top of my RV black tank in person. The leak was under the toilet between the frame rails at the intersection between the sewer dump pipe and the black tank. To get the photo, I had to fill the tank, put my cell phone above the frame rails, and use a voice command to take the picture.

Now the leak is obvious. I am glad this was clear water and not brown water.
I am glad this was clear water and not brown water. The leak came from the junction between the flange and the holding tank. It came out with enough force to get water across the gap and land on the grey tank to the right. The flange at the top of the tank was spin-welded to the tank without extra caulking to ensure it wouldn’t leak. The spin welding of the flange to the tank wasn’t perfectly angled, making a weak spot on one side of the weld. This is an obvious weak point in the system. I am glad and surprised it lasted as long as it did.

My repair shop

My repair shop was northwest of Tucson, Arizona, and I will not provide a link to them either. I am happy that they fixed the leak. I will describe how my repair shop performed the repair compared to how I learned that Tiffin and other repair shops in Red Bay, Alabama, near the Tiffin factory, would have repaired it. Before I assigned them the job, they assured me they made several similar repairs in the past. Perhaps they have, and maybe I didn’t get the experienced technician.

The passenger side of my RV.

To understand the repair, the following photo is of the holding tanks on the passenger side of my RV, and the tank(s) need to be extracted from this side of the RV. I have found another rat nest of wires, pipes, and another example of shoddy design and workmanship.

This picture is on the passenger side. The translucent tank is my freshwater tank. My grey water tank is on the left and the blackwater tank is on the right.
The translucent tank at the bottom is my freshwater tank. My grey water tank is on the left below the furnace, and the black tank is on the right. The black tank is behind the large pipes connected to my fresh water tank. The brown streaks on the pipes were created during a previous repair of the floor of my RV under the holding tanks. They were liberal with the glue. They also thought no one would ever see it because it was behind a cosmetic cover.

How would the repair shops in Red Bay have removed my black tank?

I have friends in Red Bay who provided the procedures. These steps are not in a specific order because in Red Bay they work on both sides of the RV at the same time using more than one technician.

On the passenger side of the RV

  • Remove the overflow pipes from the freshwater tank.
  • Remove the black tank flush hose connection.
  • Remove the steel frame from the top of the freshwater tank to prevent the black and grey water-holding tanks from shifting. This steel frame sits on top of the freshwater tank! Really? Who designed this?
  • Cut and bend the frame around the door enclosure at the bottom and sides to allow room for the freshwater tank to slide out towards the passenger side of the RV.

Inside the bathroom

  • Remove the toilet and toilet flange, and if possible, remove the stack between the black tank and toilet flange by pulling the stack up and into the bathroom, assuming the flange is completely broken at the top of the black tank.

Inside the RV wet bay on the driver’s side

  • Dump all fluids from all the tanks, being extra careful to clean out the black tank as well as possible.
  • Cut and remove the pipes from the freshwater and black tank.
  • Push the freshwater tank out from under the black tank towards the passenger side.
  • Drop down and push the black tank out towards the passenger side.

During reassembly, the black tank fittings are assembled on the new tank before sliding the new tank into position. Then, the black tank is raised and supported from the bottom. The final step for the black tank is to glue the final pipes together under the toilet before putting the fresh water tank under the black tank.

Here is another photo of my leak after the black tank was fixed. It is obvious that this picture, compared to the following one, was missing the glue at the pipe joints.

After the repairs were done I took this photo of the leaking pipes above my black tank. No glue is the obvious reason.
After the repairs, I took a photo of the leaking pipes above my black tank. The lack of glue at the joints is the obvious reason it leaked after the repair.
This photo is of our new flange spin welded to the top of the black tank. The old grey water tank is on the right side.
This photo is of our new flange spin welded to the top of the black tank. The old grey water tank is on the right side. Notice the glue and silicone sealant on the flange compared to the same picture 24 hours earlier. Notice some glue that dripped on my grey water tank to the right. Gluing pipes together is a good thing.

Even though I gave them instructions from Red Bay, my repair shop ignored everything about removing the fresh water tank. They removed the black tank by sliding it out with the fresh water tank still under the black tank. This means the pipes between the toilet and the black tank were installed after the new black tank was in position. As you already know, they assembled the stack under the toilet without gluing the parts together. They made the assembly all by reaching down to the new black tank through the hole under the toilet. The pipes didn’t get glued together until I returned the next day.

Before the repair, I told the service manager I wanted the new flange (already installed while manufacturing the tank) to be reinforced with silicone glue. What I intended and what I got are two different things. I expected enough glue so that if the flange were to crack at the junction, the glue would hold everything together, preventing a leak. The “after” picture shows some sealant (white), but it is in the wrong place, and I wouldn’t describe it as ample. After it is installed, it is the wrong time to fix it, so now I have to live with it.

Even though I gave them a list from Red Bay about the suggested procedure to remove and repair the tank, they were trying to increase profits by cutting corners. Their corner-cutting cost them an extra day of labor fixing their mistakes. Of course, they would have succeeded in cutting corners if I hadn’t tested the repair.

One of the things the shop volunteered was that they never use rubber connections and hose clamps while repairing RVs.
The service manager told me they wouldn’t use rubber fittings held together with clamps for any part of the repair. I guess the technician didn’t get the memo. Not that I blame him; this rubber fitting is well above the fluid level and inside a rat nest of wires and pipes. It shouldn’t be a problem.

As a final failure, even though they charged me for a new sensor stip to transmit the tank levels to the display, they instead tried to harvest the old sensor off the old tank. They broke the wires on the sensor strip, and it never worked. It still burns me that they charged me for a new sensor strip but instead tried to use my old sensor strip. The sensor strip was not new when I took the passenger side of the tanks apart to try and find out why it didn’t work. It took a few more days to find and install a new sensor strip, and everything worked. Amazing.

It is easy to see that my old tank sensor was re-used on my new black tank. It is also easy to see why it doesn't work. The blue wire should be attached next to the black wire.
It is easy to see that my old tank level sensor was re-used on my new black tank. It is also easy to see why it doesn’t work. The blue wire should be attached to the strip next to the black wire.

It took a while before I got my refund for the sensor strip from the repair shop. It took even longer for me to get reimbursed from the warranty company.

How much did the repair cost?

I don’t usually post prices, but I think it is germane. The total cost for our repair at the shop was $3600, including the sensor strip price. To this total, add a price for one night in a hotel. It does not include the cost associated with the cosmetic cover on our RV wet bay or the fee paid out of pocket to identify the source of the leak. The price for the repair in Red Bay would have been similar, not including the cost of driving to and from Red Bay or the other expenses along the way.

Perhaps I should have driven to Red Bay for the repair. I am sure I would have a better RV today if I had done that, especially if they allowed me to help during the repair.

The repair was beyond what I could do in a campground, but I wish I could have repaired my black tank despite the yuck factor. I know that I would have done it like in Red Bay, and I would have reinforced the flange with lots of glue (and perhaps some wire cloth) to ensure this would never leak again from that location.

Remodeling my RV wet bay after fixing my black tank leak.

Before fixing the leak in my black tank, I had already fixed most of the wire problems in my RV wet bay. The next step was finding a place to put my terminal block (that is what I call it) as far away from the door as possible. I wanted to reach the terminal block board if I needed to work on it, but I also wanted it to be as far away as possible to use the space above the black and grey tanks for storage.

This is the final position for my terminal block board.
This is the final position for my terminal block. It is mounted to my RV’s wet bay ceiling beside the frame rails. The same frame rails holding up the RV made repairing my RV black tank tricky. Next to the terminal block is the heating tube that runs from my rear furnace. After removing the cosmetic cover, I found the heating tube flopping around behind it. It would have done an adequate job of heating the top of the storage tanks but had no chance to heat the fresh water tank, pump, or other plumbing. Perhaps I could have boxed in the heating tube, but there wasn’t a reason to do that. Maybe I can make a cover for the terminal block so you can’t see the wires. I have bigger things to worry about.

We have three switches (one next to each sink and one in my RV wet bay) to control our pump, and I mounted the latching controller on the terminal block. This latching switch is a relay that turns the pump on or off when I depress the pump switch. If you have multiple switches (spring loaded) and the pump fails, this latching switch is probably faulty. Mine is out of the way, but I can still reach it instead of burying it behind the cosmetic cover. If this latching controller fails, I will glue the new one on top of the old one and transfer the wires.

One of the devices is the Latching controller. It allows me to have multiple momentary switches to control my freshwater pump.
I mounted the Latching Controller on the board beside all the wire connections. The Latching Controller allows me multiple momentary switches to control my freshwater pump.

To move the board, I had to find a location where my tank sensor monitor and water pump on/off switch could be placed in a place that was easy to reach. I did all the electrical remodeling before working on the plumbing mess in the RV wet bay.

I found a location on the side of the wet bay for the water pump switch and SeeLevel tank monitor displays. To mount them I turned a small pencil box upside down and cut out the appropriate size hole for the wires.
I found a location on the side of the RV wet bay for the water pump switch and SeeLevel tank monitor displays. To mount them I turned a small plastic pencil box upside down and cut out the appropriate size hole for the wires.

Removing all the freshwater pipes and valves

To reclaim the extra 12 cubic feet of potential storage in my RV wet bay, I had to move all the freshwater plumbing that was in the way. I didn’t do this until after I finished all the electric changes in the RV wet bay and was satisfied that all the wires were in the right place, both out of the way and yet reachable. The following photo was of my freshwater pipes and valves; I removed them all as one piece.

To save time I removed all the plumbing at the same time.
To save time, I removed all the plumbing. The two-handle faucet and the flexible hose were intended to be the doggy wash at the RV wet bay. I use it to fill buckets, so I removed the shower attachment years ago and lost it. The pipes at the left side of this picture are the low-point drains.

Freshwater fill in our RV wet bay starts at our hose reel and then goes through a few valves to our filter and water softener. After returning from the filters, the water softener goes into our freshwater tank. If the valves are correctly configured, they will go directly to our water distribution system. Here is a link discussing our filter and water softener. Super-Sized RV Water System

Our RV wet bay hose reel and other pipes.
Our RV wet bay hose reel and other pipes. The black box above the hose reel is the switch that retracts the hose.

Not using city water pressure.

Unlike many (perhaps most) RVers in campgrounds, we rarely use city water pressure and instead send all the water first to our freshwater storage tank. The reason is that I want the water in the storage tank to be as fresh as possible and still contain the necessary chlorine to keep us healthy. Thus, I never (even though I could) let the water in our freshwater tank get old because I was too lazy to fill the freshwater tank. I don’t think opening a valve and filling the fresh water tank every few days is too much labor. We drink water from our freshwater tank and RV plumbing system.

Our RV wet bay with the shelf installed. Water flow from the hose reel at the right side first goes through a check valve to prevent water syphoning back out of our fill hose. Then the water goes through a pressure regulator on its way to the water filters. Filtered water shut off valve is just below the pressure regulator heading towards the freshwater tank.
After exiting the hose reel, the water follows the blue pipe, and the first device is a check valve, which only allows the water to flow one way. After the check valve, the water goes to our installed water pressure regulator and gauge. Until remodeling our RV wet bay, I used this same pressure regulator at the end of the hose. After the pressure regulator, the water goes to a manual shut-off valve (not in this photo). The filtered water return and shut-off valve is just below the pressure regulator heading towards the freshwater tank.

A second reason we use the water out of our freshwater tank is to exercise our water pump frequently. In the following photo, you may have noticed that I rotated the pump and connected it to the plumbing system using a hose. You may have missed that I mounted the pump on flexible foam. My pump is no longer bolted to the floor of our RV wet bay.

The new position of our freshwater pump in our RV wet bay.
When the pump came from the manufacturer, there was a ninety-degree elbow directly before and after the pump. I avoided these elbows using the hose. At the top of the hose is another check valve. Even if more pressure is on the system and the pump is off, the check valve prevents water from flowing backward through the pump. The pump also has an internal check valve that isn’t used. The orientation, foam under the pump, and flexible hose have made our pump quieter and are another “feature” of our remodeled RV wet bay. Another characteristic of the hose is that our water pressure has increased at the faucets.

Black tank cleaning

To help describe the black tank cleaning system, I will reuse a photo and diagram from earlier in this article.

Black Tank System
In this diagram, I called it the sprayer hose. When dumping or cleaning out the tank, you introduce water into the black tank through the sprayer to help add fluid and break up any solids that may not have been released when opening the dump valve. Our RV was designed with the sprayer system already installed at the factory. If your RV doesn’t have one, get one (link at the bottom).
Photo of our wet bay setup. In the center of the picture is our tank level system. Below that is the Y connector attached to our sewer hose. To the left of the tank level sensor is the black tank dump valve. To the right of the tank level system is the grey tank dump valve.
Photo of our RV wet bay setup with the blue hose (an old hose never used for freshwater) connected to the sprayer hose via a reverse fitting. The male end of the blue hose is connected to a brass fitting that changes the direction by 90 degrees and reduces the stress on the hose. Behind this connection, there should be a check valve (ours was missing), which leads to the wet bay on the far side of the RV, and tanks on the passenger side of the RV. Water, under pressure, enters the black tank on the passenger side while the dump valve is open, running across the bottom of the black tank and helping all the solids enter the sewer hose.
This is where the black tank clean out sprayer enters the tank.
This is where the black tank spray enters the tank on the passenger side of the RV. When my black tank was removed and replaced, I thought they would have replaced this connection with a new one — not so. It was also harvested from my previous tank. I have to say they used ample silicone sealant on this flange mixed with a bit of dirt to keep it from leaking.
In the RV wet bay I have hot water (red handle) and a reverse connection valve for my black tank sprayer.
I have hot water (red handle) and a reverse connection valve for my black tank sprayer. Unlike the cheap plastic hose connection my RV was created with, I now have a shutoff valve built into the connection. After taking this photo, I moved the hot water connection to a location lower in the RV wet bay and not next to the black tank sprayer valve.

Our RV wet bay storage shelf.

Once I removed the rat nest of wires and pipes running across my RV wet bay, I made a shelf across the RV’s black and grey tanks. I used a large sheet of textured black plastic and a heat gun. On a picnic table, I softened the plastic enough to bend it. Once installed in the RV wet bay, I no longer had to look at the storage tanks.

The RV wet bay looking across my shelf at the frame rail.
Photo of our RV wet bay looking across my shelf at the frame rail. This shelf increases the RV storage by about 12 cubic feet, all previously hidden behind the cosmetic cover in the RV wet bay.

Conclusion

Accessing 12 cubic feet of extra storage space above our RV wet bay is a vast improvement. In the following photo, I put one of my storage boxes holding my sewer hose on the shelf and have room on both sides for other smaller boxes.

What is next in my RV wet bay?

It is part of my remodeled RV wet bay but doesn’t pertain to replacing my RV black tank. The basin below the wet bay is worn through and has holes in the bottom. As it kicks up rocks, the front tire has left the basin at the bottom of our RV wet bay beyond repair. I have found a replacement box at IKEA and will replace it soon enough.

Our RV wet bay shelf holding some storage boxes.
Our RV wet bay shelf holding some storage boxes.

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As you know, our blog income is zero, which allows us to be independent and tell the truth. We do not get income or commissions. No, we don’t make paid endorsements. We don’t make recommendations; instead, we will tell you what we like (or dislike). The links are only provided as a quick reference to help our readers.

FoxRVTravel article: What is in your RV Black Tank?

Valterra black tank sprayer

Thetford Black Tank Spray nozzle

Thetford RV sewer hoses

Wago spring-loaded connection blocks

Water Pump Controller

Recreational Vehicle Industry Association

I included this link to the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association to point out that these people are supposed to help establish standards and best practices for RV manufacturing. Most RVs have a little sticker beside the door stating that the RV meets the standards. Their standards are very low. I hope you might email the RVIA when you find a rat nest of wires like the one I found in my RV wet bay. I have to caution you, however, that there are no standards except as desired by the manufacturers, and any emails about the quality of RVs will probably get ignored.

About the missing links about my shop and warranty company. I’ll let you know who I wouldn’t do business with again, but not in the blog.

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4 thoughts on “Remodeling my RV wet bay started with a leak in my black tank”

  1. Wow! What a job. But things look great now. So, I wonder if the guys who cleaned your tank created your problem. I saw a video of how the hose they slide up into the tank raddles around and bangs up against things from the pressure they are using. I wonder if that broke your joint. This is another example of how knowing how to do things is beneficial. Repair guys hate people who question what they do. Repair people have taken so many shortcuts on my new rig it will take months to fix things correctly. Wet bay looks very nice.

    1. I watched the tank cleaning process. They didn’t let the hose bang around inside my tank. Yet, I won’t be doing another cleaning due to the risk of using a pressure washer to clean the inside of my tank.

  2. Hi Scott,
    Great write-up. Thanks for including the steps that Tiffin uses for the job. I need to replace tanks on my 2005 Tiffin Allegro Bus. Where did you get the replacement blank tank? My fresh water tank is partially collapsed and last summer I discovered that either my grey or black tank leaks when full. I may have the same problem that you had. I think you have given me enough info to tackle the job myself.
    Thanks for the great blog.

    1. My replacement tank came from Tiffin. Shipping can be an issue; the first tank delivered was damaged during shipping, but the second one was good. The tanks are made in Red Bay, which is another reason to get the repair done there. If you replace the Grey and Black tanks because they are leaking, and since you have to pull out the fresh water tank anyway, I think I would spring for a full new setup.

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