Ever since Seong posted his sewer disposal system mod on the Facebook group Tony was in a bit of a trance. There was a distant, dreamy look in his eyes much like the look he had when he fell in love with me some forty years ago, but it wasn’t love in his eyes.  He was planning something.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Oh, I’m trying to figure our how to connect the black water tank with something flexible…”

Damn van.  Here we go again!  I will be a straw van widow again.

Resistance was futile and after some planning we ordered plumbing stuff online, made several trips to the hardware store  and as soon as the weather was reasonably good, Tony disappeared under the van.

what we wanted to improve

For those not familiar with the Banff – it comes with a combined black/grey tank in the back of the van and a  grey tank under the kitchen sink in the front of the van.  These 2 tanks drain into separate outlets and can be a bit awkward to dump since you have to dump the black water first,  remove the hose once you are done, and attach it to the grey tank that is by the driver side door.  It’s awkward and takes longer to dump – especially when there are people in line behind you.  This mod brings both of the pipes into one valve and eliminates the need to connect the hose twice.

What We Did:

We found this valve on amazon and it was just what we were looking for.

As I already mentioned, Tony spent some time figuring out how to connect all of the pipes to one valve, while considering different heights and angles, pipes that need to stay rigid, and ones that need some flexibility.  We also needed to consider slope, so that there is no wash-back.

Finally, Tony figured out how to fit everything so that it will start and end where we wanted it to.

Below is the dry fit of the components as they connect to the valve from both ends.

Tony disappeared under the van

We removed the old grey water valve and connected new pipes that will run to the new valve

Starting from the sink’s grey water tank, the next few photos show the sequence of connections and what they look like once connected.  below is the connection to the sink’s grey tank.

Looking towards the back you can see the pipe running from the grey towards the the hose cabinet.

We made sure to go above the shore power plug.

The pipe from the grey tank connects into the new double valve and held in place by plumbing strapping.

We cut a hole on the side of the hose cabinet so that we can pass the new hose through into it

We connected a flex hose (that we cut off an old sewer hose and attached connectors on both ends).  The flex hose connects to the existing black tank valve, which we left in place.  In order to empty the black tank the old valve needs to be opened as well.

The new valve attaches next to the cabinet.  The lever on the left is for the grey and the one on the right is for the black.  We can have them both draining at the same time, or one at the time if we choose to.

This is the galvanized metal strapping

We used a couple of rubber couplings to connect pipes so that they can move without snapping. The pieces that needed to be glued together and remain rigid, were glued with ABS cement.

There is an opening now where the old grey tank valve used to be.  We will need to find a cover for it, or perhaps install another storage compartment or a hose holder in this area.

A quick test and everything is functional and draining well.  All we need to do is go on a long trip on some bumpy roads and see how it all holds up.

Thanks for a great tip, Seong!

Material List:

• 1- Valterra T80 3″ Hub x 1-1/2″ Hub x 3″ Bay with Cap Double Ell Rotating Valve

• 2- Camco 39413-X RV Straight Hose Adapter Sewer Fitting (connects existing black valve to new valve)
• 1- Valterra T1029-1 Termination Adapter with 3″ Bayonet x 3″ Spigot (black water side of new valve) This adapter needed to be modified and as shortened to allow the grey water lever to clear the apron bracket 
• 1- 1.5-Inch Rubber  Coupling (connects pipe to the new valve)
• About 4′ 1.5″ ABS pipe (in hardware store)
• 4- 1.5″ ABS 45 degrees elbows (to adjust angle and slope of pipe)
• 1- 1.5″ rubber 90 degrees elbow (connected to grey tank outlet)

BY THE NUMBERS:

• cost: about $140 Canadian 
• time: eternity about 6 hours

If anyone is brave enough to attempt this, please send us a line if you need any clarifications.

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