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Old 03-13-2015, 01:13 PM   #21
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I agree, it makes no sense to use cheater vents. Perhaps they were having problems adequate venting with sinks not draining and just attempted to throw stuff at it. Especially if the drain is in a slide-out, perhaps it does not take a very good downhill route to the tank.

My bathroom sink is also plumbed into the black tank. While on the one hand, Thor probably did this for convenience sake, you can use it to your advantage.

What I do is when I dump the black tank, I open the spigot to the sink in the bathroom. That way, I get fresh water going into the tank while black water is coming out. And I have the option of flushing with hot water, which might... I say might, help keep the black tank clean.

Sort of a poor man's tank rinsing system...
Before I dump I do just that. I run hot through the sink first. Whether or not it helps, I don't know but havent had black tank issues yet.

Weird thing though, at a recent rv show we looked at some high end diesels. They had cheater vents. Couldn't see the roof. But the tanks need to be vented so I wondered why they too use these valves. Smh. 😕

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Old 03-13-2015, 01:16 PM   #22
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"Cheater vent"? That term is new to me.

Our Axis only has 1 vent on the roof (I had assumed that since the black & grey tanks are right next to each other they probably just plumbed the two vents together but now I may have to take a closer look).
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Old 03-13-2015, 01:34 PM   #23
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I had to look it up myself... supposedly cheater vents are only intended for the RV industry, but they are finding them in some houses - which is apparently not up to code.

Plumbing Check Vent | Mobile Home Repair

Apparently the consensus is they really don't work.
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Old 03-13-2015, 04:01 PM   #24
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I had to look it up myself... supposedly cheater vents are only intended for the RV industry, but they are finding them in some houses - which is apparently not up to code.

Plumbing Check Vent | Mobile Home Repair

Apparently the consensus is they really don't work.
Known as aav, air admittance vent/valve. They're big in europe. A lot of state local plumbing codes don't allow them at all or are restrictive about their use, rv use is ok. They work, however they do fail. Roof vents can leak, clog ect.
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Old 03-13-2015, 09:17 PM   #25
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Well it turns out our Axis does have a "Cheater Vent" on the black tank. Found it in the little cabinet under the bathroom sink. The roof vent is purely for the grey tank. This is probably why they routed the bathroom sink to the black tank; otherwise the only vent would be when the toilet valve is open.
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Old 03-13-2015, 10:07 PM   #26
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Well it turns out our Axis does have a "Cheater Vent" on the black tank. Found it in the little cabinet under the bathroom sink. The roof vent is purely for the grey tank. This is probably why they routed the bathroom sink to the black tank; otherwise the only vent would be when the toilet valve is open.

Curious what year? My parents Axis is a 2013 24.1. And have two roof vents and a cheater.
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Old 03-13-2015, 11:05 PM   #27
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2013 Axis? I didn't think they made a 2013? (I believe the ones sold in the Fall of 2013 were 2014 models.)
Ours is a 2014 purchased in Feb.
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Old 03-14-2015, 01:45 AM   #28
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2014. I barely know it's currently 2015 lol. They bought it in 2013
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Old 03-16-2015, 05:06 PM   #29
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The slide of my 2014 Four Winds 33SW just broke for the 4th time. Time to take action with lemon law. These things are junk.
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Old 03-16-2015, 05:21 PM   #30
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The slide of my 2014 Four Winds 33SW just broke for the 4th time. Time to take action with lemon law. These things are junk.

If it makes you feel any better, Shwintek slide mechanisms are also used on Winnebago products.

Their slides also fail. But, their Shwintek parts are individually serialized to the RV, and cost even more to replace than the exact same components used in your Four Winds.
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Old 03-16-2015, 05:29 PM   #31
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Other than the frustration of having the slides continually break, it's a 3 hour round trip to take the RV in for service, then another 3 hours to go get it back. Then there's the fact that the service department is so backed up that they put me on hold to bring it in for a month, then when I take it there they are still backed up and they don't start for another two months. Then it takes weeks for them to do the repairs. I'm not exaggerating, I have all this in the paperwork. It has spent almost as much time in the shop as it has in my driveway. It disrupts our plans for trips, they won't give us a loaner, etc. Right now we have a trip planned in 2 weeks which we will either have to take it with the slide broken, or not go. We paid $700 just for the pair of concert tickets we were going to attend. There is nothing pleasant about having this RV.
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Old 04-09-2015, 07:21 PM   #32
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I have noticed lately the smell of holding tank in the cabin when driving, it was extremely windy one day it happened, the other time not so windy but both times going up and down mountains seemed to trigger this. I have a Hurricane 27k and have about 6000 miles on it and this a new problem. Also, it happen after I had emptied the holding tanks. I am going to look for cheater valves and check the one on the roof, if anyone has other ideas let me know! I was wondering if the p traps lost water going up the grades..
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Old 04-09-2015, 07:32 PM   #33
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I've heard these work really well. I haven't tried them myself, since I don't know what is going to happen with my RV.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001FC7DUC/...I1KLRKVBWWZIOR

Another thing, I'm not sure about yours, but on my RV the lavatory (bathroom sink) drains to the black tank, so if that P trap runs out of water, you will get black tank fumes.
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Old 04-09-2015, 09:08 PM   #34
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The "cheater vent" is really called an Air Admittance Valve.

Used commonly in RV's, mobile homes, and even sticks and bricks in locations such as kitchen island sinks.... where it's not possible to vent the fixture.

Good timing on reactivating this thread. I had a similar bad smell problem at the end of my trip last weekend. My initial trouble shooting led me to believe that maybe the vent stack plumbing was loose or disconnected.
I filled my tank up to just inside the sink (over the level of the toilet) and no leaks were found.... then I discovered that my lav air admittance valve was less than hand tight.... so I'm suspecting that was my problem.... er at least that's my hope.
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Old 04-10-2015, 02:08 AM   #35
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FW, just read up on check / cheater vents on the link you provided. My old 2003 Class C Sunseeker 3100ss had one in the kitchen and so does my Hurricane now.

This is a quote from the linked site FW had listed - doesn't this sound like the epitome of THOR?

"Installing a check vent is much simpler than running a pipe up through the roof. To save money, many mobile home manufacturers opt to use check vents under sinks rather than spending time to run a vent pipe up through the roof. "
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Old 04-10-2015, 02:25 AM   #36
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I've heard these work really well. I haven't tried them myself, since I don't know what is going to happen with my RV.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001FC7DUC/...I1KLRKVBWWZIOR
I installed one of those siphon vents last year on my coach and I have had no stink issues at all. While I have not checked, I don't think I have any cheater vents as both grey and black tank are vented to the roof.
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Old 04-10-2015, 03:11 AM   #37
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Just a tip that I learned on these. When you install them, coat the threads in Vaseline. It seals the vents and keeps things tight.
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Old 04-10-2015, 09:23 AM   #38
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I installed one of those siphon vents last year on my coach and I have had no stink issues at all. While I have not checked, I don't think I have any cheater vents as both grey and black tank are vented to the roof.
Although my tanks are also vented to the roof I have 2 cheater vents installed as well. I have one cheater on the kitchen sink drain and another on the bathroom sink drain.
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Old 04-10-2015, 01:09 PM   #39
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I installed one of those siphon vents last year on my coach and I have had no stink issues at all. While I have not checked, I don't think I have any cheater vents as both grey and black tank are vented to the roof.
Here's the drain schematic for my coach. I have one under my kitchen sink and another under my lav. (baloon #2)



Incidentally, I have one in my house too, under the kitchen island sink, and it's not a home from a low end builder. These are not at all uncommon and not low-end.... although I do think it would be a better solution to vent through the roof when possible, such as in the RV.... in an island sink, it's really not possible to vent through the roof unless you add a column up to the ceiling for the pipe.... but who wants that coming out of their island.

If you google air admittance valves, you'll find plenty of info about failures of these things.... bugs jamming them open, etc...
But the way I look at it, it's just a maintenance item.

I'm just hoping that my valve being loose under my lav is the source of my problems, and not a fitting between there and the tank loose or not glued..... that would be a real pickle since you'd have to tear apart the coach to get at it....
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Old 04-10-2015, 01:13 PM   #40
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Strobm, did replacing the valve fix your problem?
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