Repair or replace black water tank

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Ingram7Pearl3
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Joined: June 9th, 2016, 11:52 am

Repair or replace black water tank

Post by Ingram7Pearl3 »

Have a 1999 21' Concourse Chinook with 48,000 miles. While traveling, we blew a rear tire tread and it hit the black water tank and tore a hole. Where do we find a new tank to install? Would appreciate some help.
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Blue~Go
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Location: 1999 Concourse

Re: Repair or replace black water tank

Post by Blue~Go »

Welcome to the forum! (Although sorry you are joining under adverse circumstances.)

I think I may have posted a bit more elsewhere here, but at any rate my 1999 Concourse (good year! :D) has a black tank that was made by Inca Plastics. It's 15 gallons, and Inca's part/model number is H229. I believe Inca is still in business, so you may be able to buy a new tank from them.

One thing I think I remember reading is that although the tanks are black in color, they are not ABS plastic as is often the case with black plastic tanks. I mention this as there are ways to "weld" ABS but I'm not sure if they would apply to the Inca tanks.
1999 Concourse
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kdarling
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Re: Repair or replace black water tank

Post by kdarling »

Yep, you have given their website as well.

http://www.incaplastics.com

While that tank is no longer listed in their catalog, they say to call for help anyway.

Oh, and here's how to repair small holes: http://www.incaplastics.com/page8.html
1994 Concourse dinette, Ford 7.5L (460 V8)
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Blue~Go
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Re: Repair or replace black water tank

Post by Blue~Go »

Aha, so they are polyethylene even though they are black (it says in the repair guide).

I have this vague memory that someone else had a similar problem and got a new tank from them within the last year or two. I'd certainly give them a try. And given the way the black tank is in there above the grey tank (seems like you'd have to drop them both?), it'd be nice to have a known good/new tank in there.

OTOH, if a good repair could be made without dropping the tank, that might be an argument in favor of a repair, for the same reason (tank is above grey tank).

You've probably seen this, but here is an excerpt from the 1998 Chinook manual (I don't have the '99 digitized) that illustrates the general plumbing layout.

You may want to click to enlarge. This is also included (probably in larger format) in both the 1998 and 2000 manuals which I have uploaded to the reference sub-forum. Chinook's system drawings are something I've always appreciated (not all RV brand owners are lucky enough to get them).
Waste water system drawing late 90's.png
1999 Concourse
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Blue~Go
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Re: Repair or replace black water tank

Post by Blue~Go »

I have been debating whether to add this, because I didn't want to pour salt in the wounds, plus it may not even figure in to the issue. But with that introduction, please know I'm not being judgy. It's just that a lot of the "common knowledge" out there is saying opposite things, so it's easy to not know.

So, with RV tires (trailer tires are the same in some respects), the important thing is age. That is, how long it has been since the tires were manufactured. (As soon as they emerge from the mfgr, the rubber starts to deteriorate.) Every tire will have a date code on it (only one one side of the tire). It's probably easier to Google it and see a bunch of illustrations vs. me talking about it, but it's at the end of the DOT code and is a four digit number that represents week/year of manufacture of the tire. In other words, 4911 would be the 49th week or 2011, aka December 2011. Not all tires are "factory fresh" when purchased (I try for the freshest I can get, and won't accept anything older than six months - it's fine to specify but you do have mention it - a friend bought tires for his RV that were TWO YEARS old (he didn't check/specify).

The general recommendation on an RV is to not run with tires that are more than 6 years old (so my buddy paid for new tires, but had already given up 1/3 of their lifespan). Some say you can go longer, but that may be with caveats such as "have them inspected annually by X." I just stick with six years, because tire problems are no fun on an RV (not that I need to tell you that).

This 6-year recommendation is regardless of how the tread looks, whether the whiskers are still on them, how "new" they are (in terms of purchase), etc. It's all about the date code on the tire. While shopping, I looked at RV's with "new" tires that had "perfect tread," but the date code showed them to be 5-1/2 years old. That meant I'd be figuring new tires into the purchase (not necessarily a deal breaker, but just something to take into account).

All that's not to say that you couldn't have a tread separation on a new tire (and that's not to even mention running over someone else's "de-tread" in the road).

Again, welcome, and I hope you do feel like sticking around here - we're glad to have you!

BG
1999 Concourse
Ingram7Pearl3
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Joined: June 9th, 2016, 11:52 am

Re: Repair or replace black water tank

Post by Ingram7Pearl3 »

Thank you so much for the info regarding my black water tank. Will let you know how I end up solving the problem.
reddingnative
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Joined: August 14th, 2017, 6:52 am

Re: Repair or replace black water tank

Post by reddingnative »

Blue~Go wrote:I have been debating whether to add this, because I didn't want to pour salt in the wounds, plus it may not even figure in to the issue. But with that introduction, please know I'm not being judgy. It's just that a lot of the "common knowledge" out there is saying opposite things, so it's easy to not know.

So, with RV tires (trailer tires are the same in some respects), the important thing is age. That is, how long it has been since the tires were manufactured. (As soon as they emerge from the mfgr, the rubber starts to deteriorate.) Every tire will have a date code on it (only one one side of the tire). It's probably easier to Google it and see a bunch of illustrations vs. me talking about it, but it's at the end of the DOT code and is a four digit number that represents week/year of manufacture of the tire. In other words, 4911 would be the 49th week or 2011, aka December 2011. Not all tires are "factory fresh" when purchased (I try for the freshest I can get, and won't accept anything older than six months - it's fine to specify but you do have mention it - a friend bought tires for his RV that were TWO YEARS old (he didn't check/specify).

The general recommendation on an RV is to not run with tires that are more than 6 years old (so my buddy paid for new tires, but had already given up 1/3 of their lifespan). Some say you can go longer, but that may be with caveats such as "have them inspected annually by X." I just stick with six years, because tire problems are no fun on an RV (not that I need to tell you that).

This 6-year recommendation is regardless of how the tread looks, whether the whiskers are still on them, how "new" they are (in terms of purchase), etc. It's all about the date code on the tire. While shopping, I looked at RV's with "new" tires that had "perfect tread," but the date code showed them to be 5-1/2 years old. That meant I'd be figuring new tires into the purchase (not necessarily a deal breaker, but just something to take into account).

All that's not to say that you couldn't have a tread separation on a new tire (and that's not to even mention running over someone else's "de-tread" in the road).

Again, welcome, and I hope you do feel like sticking around here - we're glad to have you!

BG
The date of purchase on my tire receipt is 2008, I'm ready to purchase new tires. The current tires are BF Goodrich Commercial LT225/75R16 115/112Q M+S. Are there any other brands that you would recommend. I'm new to the forum.

Thanks
Chinook Concourse Manufactured 6/1996
1995 Ford E350 Chassis, 7.5L 460
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SMan
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Re: Repair or replace black water tank

Post by SMan »

I'll throw out that I also replaced the tires on my Chinook with less than 15K miles due strictly to their age. My tire guy (I've been buying from him since the early 1980's) recommended Cooper Discoverer (same size with a M/S rating) to replace the Michelin's that came stock on my Chinook. He said that they would perform the same both in terms of ride and handling at a cost savings over the Michelins. I have been very happy with them.
Steve aka SMan
2004 Premier V10
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Blue~Go
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Re: Repair or replace black water tank

Post by Blue~Go »

I have Michelin LTX M/S 2 tires, which are one of the often-recommended ones. I'm happy with them (have had them on for about 3 years/25,000 miles), but it's not like I can compare them to a bunch of other ones since I haven't run the other ones. I did briefly consider the Michelin XPS Rib, which is also often recommended for Class C rigs. However they have very stiff sidewalls. I decided that might be great for a maxed out E-450, but might be detrimental for a fairly lightly loaded E-350 that already has enough "action" in the rear suspension.
1999 Concourse
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