# Slow water draining.



## oldenstar (Nov 9, 2006)

After my first night away in my new Mooveo I am generally well pleased.

However the water takes for ever to drain out of the sink, and is not much better in the washroom basin.
On contacting Hayes they say that all Pilote vans are the same due to the way they route the waste pipes with their gravity draining.(I note that this was not part of the sales spiel)

Has anyone come up with a way of improving the situation, other than by using a bowl which we will probably do,
TIA
Paul

Has anyone come up with a way of improving


----------



## maddie (Jan 4, 2006)

Hi oldenstar this may or maynot help-try useing a plunger to see if that helps.you can also check that the waste pipe is cut off a couple of inches into the waste tank top and not left to coil in the bottom as this will slow the flow down.
terry


----------



## drcotts (Feb 23, 2006)

Hi
A 3/4 in (most common size) waste pipe with 2 gallons in the sink should take less than a minute to drain. This is simple hydrodynamics. It matters not where the pipes are routed. 
As the other post said if they have not made a common sense job of pluming it in then this will cause the problem. Have a look for crushed pipes, kinks or sharp bends. Also look for possible areas where air can lock. I betcha if the pipe came off the sink by mistake the sink would soon empty. SO i think they have fobbed you off with an excuse there mate.

Phill


----------



## duetto96 (Jul 6, 2006)

I'v got the same problem on a 2007 autotrail tracker. Slow drain from sink and basin. I'm guessing the basin and sink have different routings to the waste tank, or at least most of the way, so it would be bad news if both just happened to be routed badly, were individually pinched or whatever.

More inclined to think there is a common point in the drainage that is affecting both.

My question is, would it be safe to use regular household drain clearing stuff to at least rule out any 'natural' waste/blockage, or is the van plumbing a bit delicate for those chemicals? Any recommendations? 

David


----------



## oilslick (Oct 3, 2007)

*Autotrail*

If you look at the sizes of the pipes underneath the autotrail then you wont be surprised how slow it is. Anyway what does it matter? we accept our sink is slow.


----------



## bill (May 10, 2005)

I've found that the speed at which my kitchen sink drains is quite sensitive to how level the vehicle is, this applies to the bathroom as well to a certain extent. 

In the case of the kitchen I think the slowness is caused by an airlock because if I twiddle my finger in a circular fashion in the plughole air bubbles are expelled and draining speeds up. Funny the things we do to solve our problems. So a 'twiddle' may help.

In the case of the bathroom the pipe may only need its path moving very slightly, I say this because when I had a couple of BeenyBoxes fitted the pipe was moved slightly and this solved what had been slow draining until then.

bill


----------



## sailor (Aug 23, 2005)

I have recently swapped a Pilote Aventura for a new Reference.

The Aventura was very slow to drain the sink; the bathroom was not too bad. We lived with it.

The Reference is vastly better. I have no idea why! 

Unlike some vans (eg the CI I hade before), Pilotes have u-bends and water traps, which might make them slower to drain than some, but have the benefit that they keep any smells from the waste tanks out of the van.

Jeff O


----------



## duetto96 (Jul 6, 2006)

Oilslick, I agree, its hardly life and death but it does iritate just a bit when you have a sink full of manky water 30 minutes after you pull the plug.

I used a plunger on the kitchen sink and after a short while it seemed to clear a treat. I then used the plunger in the bathroom which caused far more problems than it cured and then the kitchen sink went back to being blocked! Perhaps I was sucking and blowing a dead rat up and down the plumbing in between the sink and basin!


----------



## oldenstar (Nov 9, 2006)

As a further update on this subject our Mooveo is now noticeably better at draining-in fact sometimes the water simply rushes away!
I did in fact try the plunger, but I somehow doubt if this made the difference.

What surprises me is that the outflow is not consistent-can't be the level because we didn't move the van on site, and it did happen to be just about perfectly level (pure luck), but the emptying rate does vary.

Anyway it is no longer a problem so not a negative for the Pilote genre-the Mooveo impresses me more and more with use.
Paul


----------



## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

Our present van seems to drain well but the 2 previous vans needed a bit of help when they got air locked. We were concerned that using a plunger might be a bit fierce for what is basically a plastic pipe drain so I used to use my hand:

Put your hand, palm downwards, over the plughole withthe palm itself over the actual hole. Lift your wrist up and down so that you can feel the seal forming and breaking and the water in the sink glugging as you change the pressure in the pipes. It's a bit like doing CPR on someone !

I find this worked every time and we didn't need to carry a sink plunger.

Every now and then, usually at the end of a trip, I dissolve a biological washing powder tablet ( or dose of biological washing powder) in a jug of warm ( not hot) water and, when we've emptied the waste tank, pour this down the sinks. It has 3 effects: degreases the pipework, ditto the waste tank and also, a surprise to me, brings up our rather dull stainless steel sink a treat.

G


----------



## maddie (Jan 4, 2006)

hi oldenstar so if it was not down to the plunger what do you put it down to?
chemicals ?or reroute of pipes ? what :lol: 
terry


----------



## vardy (Sep 1, 2006)

Dear Grizzly - You are definitely NOT doing any CPR on me!!!!!! :lol: :lol:


----------



## oldenstar (Nov 9, 2006)

> hi oldenstar so if it was not down to the plunger what do you put it down to?
> chemicals ?or reroute of pipes ? what
> terry


Hi Terry

Simply don't know-I remain, 'Puzzled, of Brixham' .
If the outflow was consistent I would think that it was the plunger 'wot dun it', but as it varies-well.
Have not attempted chemicals nor any 'innard jiggery-pokey', so will simply accept the improvement with gratitude.
Paul


----------



## maddie (Jan 4, 2006)

Hi Paul mine varies too but a quick plunger jobby does it ,then again I put in u bends into the pipe-work so I supose it could be down to pressure combined with suction :lol: glad it got sorted .
terry


----------



## maggielou (Mar 25, 2008)

Soda chrytals have no chemicals and will not damage the pipes or seals. I use them to clear and clean all my water pipes and drainage at home and in my MH.

Use almost boiling water in the house but a bit cooler in the MH.

Very effective.


----------



## gaspode (May 9, 2005)

maggielou said:


> Soda chrytals have no chemicals


Wow - it may be different in these PC times - but when I were a lad soda crystals were simply another name for Caustic Soda 8O

No chemicals - caustic soda is a VERY hazardous chemical.

Please don't try drinking it. :roll:

PS: I don't recommend putting it down your M/H waste pipe either.


----------



## maggielou (Mar 25, 2008)

Soda chrystals are not related to caustic soda.

Not even a distant 2nd cousin 100 times removed.

Sold of the shelf in most supermarkets.


----------



## gaspode (May 9, 2005)

maggielou said:


> Soda chrystals are not related to caustic soda.


Phew, thank goodness for that. 8O

I was just a bit worried that members might start pouring buckets of caustic soda into their waste tanks. :roll:

Mind you........................some members.....................Mmmmmm???? :wink:


----------



## maggielou (Mar 25, 2008)

Oh dear you could be right. Surely not. Gosh you only have to read the instructions and see the chemical danger sign on Caustic soda to relalize that its lethal stuff.

One thing they wouldn't have to worry about pong anymore. No pipes, no plughole, one very expanded waste tank.

Big Notice. DO NOT USE CAUSTIC SODA IN YOUR HOME, MH, OR ANYWHERELSE.

hope this will do.

Sorry for any confusion.


----------



## cliver (Jun 11, 2008)

We also have a Pilote, a Galaxy 270 (although this is probably immaterial).

We have only had it for 2 weeks, but we noticed that the kitchen sink drains VERY slowly. We bought some chemical from our local caravan shop, and over a few days kept adding a bit, and flushing - no change.

Upon further investigation, by following the drain pipe from the sink to the dedicated waste tank, (it seems we have two), I felt a sharp kink in the pipe. in a place that is almost impossible to get to, without cutting a larger hole in one of the underfloor plywood panels. This must have been a problem when it was manufactured, and seems to have been caused by the pipe being twisted. How the previous owners lived with this I don't know? But maybe this is the norm for MH's from what I have read on this thread.

The solution has been to book it into a local dealer for their attention in August before we travel to Spain.

Interestingly, the bathroom sink has a bent pipe to act as a trap, but neither the shower or sink have this!

Hope some of this helps,

Clive


----------



## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

Washing soda crystals ( = sodium carbonate)dissolved in hot water are a very good way of stripping the flesh off biological specimens.

Not as lethal as caustic soda but still treat it with respect, don't get it in your eyes and wear gloves if you're going to wash up in it. It degreases skin as well as drains.

G


----------



## cliver (Jun 11, 2008)

*Solution found*

Whilst away in Scotland, and rather than waiting for what may have been an expensive repair job at a dealers, I decided to have a go at fixing our slow draining sink myself.

Whilst following the pipe from sink to waste tank, it became apparent that the original pipe had four REALLY bad twists in it, which had almost caused the pipe to collapse on itself, which I thought could be well be the problem.

After a visit to a Koi fish and garden centre where I purchased a 4 mtrs length of 25mm black reinforced pipe, I set about the job of replacement.
This was not as easy as I had expected due to access problems to the pipe run, but the job was eventually completed.

I have deliberately left a 'loop' in the new pipe run to ensure there is a water trap in the line - to avoid smells coming back up the pipe from the waste tank.

The system is much better at draining. It does not run away as quickly as either the sink nor the shower, but I put this down to the fact that the sink is normally filled up, and emptied in one go, whereas the shower and bathroom sink are left to run away whilst the water is being supplied. Or in some cases with the bathroom sink, this hold significantly less water than the kitchen sink.

Cost - £12 for the 4Mtrs of pipe and two new clips to secure.

I would suggest that anyone having a similar problem checks there pipe run by feeling it for kinks. Ours may have had these at point of sale, but I think they are compounded by the fact that hot water softens the pipe, and can therefore allow it to distort, possible causing it to collapse - as in our case.

Many thanks to all who have contributed to this thread, your comments and advice have been greatly appreciated,

Clive


----------

