Losing a lot of water through overflow while driving? - Page 4

**daveb** · 11-23-2014, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1der

Really? Sunday morning before breakfast? Think I might be fasting the rest of today!

Hey, it's all natural, no additives or preservatives

JayBea · 11-23-2014, 01:00 PM

My $.02: My SMB Sprinter from SMB TX, came with a pex "u-tube" the length of the tank laying on the top of the tank before dropping through the floor. Works great, no loss. You might try that.
JIM

gcvt · 11-23-2014, 07:16 PM

Okay, so I was able to raise the hose up and get a little angle in it where it exits the tank. Haven't tried it out yet but it looks promising...and free.

I crawled under the van to look and make sure the tube was still long enough for water to exit. It is. That's when I noticed a wire with a crimp connector hanging directly below where all the water has been coming out. I reached up to move it out of the way and the connection came undone. Wonder what wire that is? Gotta get that reconnected and relocated away from the water.

Also, unfortunately, confirmed that I don't have any clearance to run any tubing on top of the tank. The bottom of the bed rests on top of the tank so there's just no room.

edit: Oh, forgot to mention, there is no filter at the exit at all. And once I raised the tube up, there's no way to add one. Now I'm thinking about a Brown Recluse coming out of the faucet when the GF goes for a drink of water. Thanks daveb.

86Scotty · 11-23-2014, 08:22 PM

Though still a little bit shaken up from CarringB's excellent Youtube link on a lack of proper venting, I'm still wondering if you couldn't put a ball valve in the line somewhere and just keep it cracked a little bit. Maybe crack it and remove the handle. It doesn't take much for air to balance, but it would keep so much water from escaping. Just a thought.

**daveb** · 11-23-2014, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 86Scotty

Though still a little bit shaken up from CarringB's excellent Youtube link on a lack of proper venting, I'm still wondering if you couldn't put a ball valve in the line somewhere and just keep it cracked a little bit. Maybe crack it and remove the handle. It doesn't take much for air to balance, but it would keep so much water from escaping. Just a thought.

Yeah or just tee out a small air bleed around the ball valve and down or back into the drain itself so the size of the line restricts flow. How big does the air tube need to be? I guess if your on a constant angle (like parking in SF) you could lose water if it sits long enough. Seems you could just run the air tube higher than the tank and it would be a done deal. Saw this on making a ball valve. I would think there would be a way to modify the fitting to allow air flow while restricting large water flows.

[youtube:xnr13vys]

gcvt · 11-25-2014, 11:14 AM

It appears as though angling the tube up has indeed helped the situation. Filled up yesterday and drove around for a bit. The overflow is at the rear of the tank so obviously I lose most of the water while accelerating or going up hills. So that's exactly what I did - accelerated and went up hills. The tank used to be down about four inches, but now it's only down about one inch. I'd say that's pretty good for a quick free fix. I'll still look into a valve or plumbing fix, but this will work for now.

Thanks for all the help and ideas.

86Scotty · 11-25-2014, 12:41 PM

No problem. Very few hills in the Bay Area.

gcvt · 11-25-2014, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 86Scotty

No problem. Very few hills in the Bay Area.

LOL, yeah it took me a while to find one

Going camping in the Mendocino National Forest this weekend so we'll see how it goes. I'll top off again before we leave, and lose whatever water we're gonna lose getting to the highway. Once we're on the highway, we're good. Anyone have a cistern on top of their van, heh! It's supposed to rain every day we're there.