Waste water draining blocked

[bmassaer]

On holiday with our 2007 T5, we started to notice a bad smell in the bus... Realising that the filthy water tank was not draining anymore. I was able to drain the water through the inspection hole, but inside I could not reach the drainage hole. Inside the left cupboard I tried to uncouple the draining pipe, but it's too tight and very hard to reach... Do you think there's another way to fix this draining problem, or should I wait until we get home?

 

[NZCol]

Had same problem, put a plastic jug over the sink plug hole and use a hose up the exit pipe. Make sure your jug is well and truly held tight !!! Other way is fill the sink full and then pull the plug a few times, that usually dislodges whatever is stuck. Then rinse out with milton etc and watch what goes down it, we have som eemsh over ours for this very reason.

 

[bmassaer]

But it's blocked between the tank and the outside... So filling the sink won't help... And about hosing up the exit pipe: I will try this, but doubt the hose will find it's way...?

 

[NZCol]

The hose won't but the water might and dislodge whatever it is in there (ours was carrot !)

 

[bvddobb]

The drain tap itself has a pretty narrow bore... any smudge down the sink will eventually block the drain of your waste water tank.

To resolve the waste water drain issue read Lewis' entry in this older thread. His method has worked for us several times already. Be careful with chemical unstoppers; the tank is plastic, the drain tap is copper, usually not a good idea to use too aggressive stuff on them.

For a long term solution: replace the small bore drain tap with a wider bore tap. Smudge will flush out more easily.

 

[bmassaer]

At first I had to read these instructions a fourth time before I understood. Then I thought this trick was only a big joke. But I tried and guess what... It worked! Wauw, a big hug for you all!

 

[velucas]

I had the same problem with the water drainage. We made some nasi-goring (sic) and did the dishes. Using the blobber several times with a full sink, solved the problem. The only thing that came out was een little bit of rice-grains. So this is a sensible part, I guess. (sorry for Denglish). By the way :the popup roof that corrects itself after sacking. Haha. What a fix to correct a problem that exists for years. But OK, that is another thread.

 

[David Eccles]

this worked for me just now with very very slow draining, not a total block
poke stick gently up pipe under bus in case of blockage there
pour washing soda crystals (from any hardware shop) into sink plughole then trickle very hot water to dissolve
let
wait a bit
put jet nozzle on hosepipe and flush up through the drainpipe (best to close sink unit cover)
repeat hose flush from top, down the sink plughole
this seems to have done the job - fingers crossed

 

[OConnors]

This is an old post but it just happened to us. The problem with any kind of jetting up the waste pipe or plunging down the sink is that there is an overflow pipe "downstream" of the red handled valve.. It goes from the top of the waste tank. The way we unblocked it was to take off the circular panel on the LHS of the LH cupboard. You can then see the overflow pipe coming up out of a plastic T piece. We took this pipe off easily and then put a finger over the hole in the T piece. We then put a hose up the waste pipe outside the van. This meant the pressure was against the blockage and not just venting around the blockage and out the plug hole. I can't see how the jug works as this would cause equal pressure either side of the blockage?

 

[ed6789leopard]

Had same problem, put a plastic jug over the sink plug hole and use a hose up the exit pipe. Make sure your jug is well and truly held tight !!! Other way is fill the sink full and then pull the plug a few times, that usually dislodges whatever is stuck. Then rinse out with milton etc and watch what goes down it, we have som eemsh over ours for this very reason.

Just recently took delivery of a used Cali that had been sat around due to Lockdown. The waste was blocked and not emptying, tried this and it worked a treat! Thanks for sharing!