Sticky Waste dump valve

[Paul Champagne]

On our Thunder the Black water dump valve is sticking tried wd40 on the manuel release seems to work but the red light will not shut off even though the valve is closed

[Roy Warren Co-Admin]

We had that problem years ago after my mother-in-law visited and she put down some paper waste that wouldn't dissolve.  It got stuck in the slot where the plate closed.  It wouldn't leak, but the light stayed on.  The only way to resolve this is to open the valve, completely drain the tank and in my case I had to open the valve to get at the material and make sure it was all out.  You might be able to reach in and dislodge whatever is caught, but after you are done working on it, I would put some Vaseline on the rubber gasket to allow the plate to easily close and give it a little lubrication.
Roy Warren

[David T. Richelderfer]

Soooo... the red light is telling you the closing plate is not seating all way into the closed position?  What about using a wire hanger to reach in?  Just be careful to not scratch/tear the seal.

[neil omalley]

Like Roy, I had a similar problem-valve was actually closed to the point of not leaking but was partially blocked
so that the light remained on.  As Roy I also had to drain as much as I could and disassemble the valve. ( I am assuming you are talking about an electrically operated valve?) A coat hanger/wire would not really be viable as you will be unable to see the blocked area and there is a good possibility of you tearing the gasket.  p.s. the disassembly was not truly a huge deal.  You do have to remove the water distribution panel but other than being kinda PITA it also is not a great deal. Good luck.

[Paul Champagne]

Well I think I will fill the tank with fresh water then open it half way then close it to see if the light goes out failing that I am hoping the rush of water on a full tank will push whatever is in there through the valve...wish me luck

Thanks for the tips

[Edward Buker]

Paul,

If you cannot get this to clear up with flushing water through it and you find that you have to pull the panel I would order a new valve and change it out. It is a pain to get the panel out and get access to the valves and pull it. The light is driven by a magnet in proximity to a reed switch when the gate is in the open position. It is not likely that the position sensor is given you a false reading. Many of these valves were mounted with the shaft of the valve in a horizontal position. Since those early installs the valve manufacturer has learned that debris gets on the shaft and seals and begins to cause the valve to bind up. The newer instructions tell you to have the shaft closer to vertical and that keeps the shaft and shaft seals cleaner over the life. If you can gain some access, just enough to view your valve install, and you see that the orientation of the shaft is horizontal then there is even more of a reason to just change it out. I was barely able with the tank build configuration to get the new valve to be vertical when I changed out mine. My grey valve is original, the black valve was the problem child.

Later Ed

[Tim Bentley Co-Admin]

I have freed my valves up several times with silicon spray.  Drain your holding tank, flush it, and add a small amount of fresh water to cover the valve.  Spray a fair amount of silicon in the toilet and flush it down, operate the valve several times to free it up.  I have done this on both electric and manual valves and it works great.