Welcome friends to another episode of RV tips And Trips.

Today we are going to talk about “Finding an Easy Solution to a Broken RV waste Tank Valve”

My RV has 3 waste tanks. One is a black tank and the other two are gray  tanks. One is for the kitchen sink and the other one is for the bathroom sink and shower.

The problem is with the kitchen tank valve. It got stuck in the open position. Over Time the valve did get more difficult to operate until finally, it seized. When I tried to close the valve by the handle the metal rod bent. The rod passes through a bushing which then connects to a cable which then goes to the valve. There is no way to straighten it out. So now it won't pass through the bushing. So besides replacing the valve you would also have to replace the cable assembly with the new handle. The valve itself is not located near the valve handle. This means I would need to open the underbelly of the trailer to get at the valve.

 I called keystone to ask where the location of the valve is. They said it can be as far as 100 inches from the handle. I then asked them if they could give me a diagram of the plumbing but they denied me. They said that information was “proprietary”. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper. I really didn't feel like just arbitrarily cutting open the underbelly to trace out where the cable goes.

So I decided to get a valve that just connected to the outlet pipe temporarily, this way I could close off the outlet. I got the Valterra Twist on waste valve.

What an easy way to solve a problem that could be a headache. I guess I was pretty lucky that the valve got stuck in the open position rather than closed.

All three tanks share the one common outlet. So I drain the kitchen tank first by opening the add-on valve first and leaving it open till I have finished emptying the other tanks and then closing it when I'm done.

It was a simple and cost-effective solution to the stuck open kitchen valve. It really has worked out well and who knows? Maybe I will eventually replace the actual valve.