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Rhino Elbow Failure

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MapNerd

RVF 1K Club
Joined
Nov 17, 2019
Messages
2,298
Location
Prince William, VA
RV Year
2020
RV Make
Newmar
RV Model
Ventana 4326
RV Length
43
TOW/TOAD
2020 Ford F-150
Fulltimer
Yes
Staying at a state park where the sewer connection is uphill from the pad and on the wrong side. Annoying but no problem, I don’t have a Sanicon (Newmar wouldn’t add it as a special) but I did purchase a Remco Bayonet-Style Macerator Pump and garden hose to lugged bayonet fitting for just this reason.

Hooked it all up yesterday
RV Sewer Drain —> 3” Rhino Elbow Fitting —> Remco Macerator Pump —> Rhino Rinse Hose —> Garden Hose to 3” Lugged Bayonet Adapter —> Rhino Sewer Elbow —> Sewer


Opened black, turned on the pump and it worked great. Closed black, opened grey, no issues. Pumped it all to sewer via a standard rhino rinse hose

Went to do the same today, opened grey, turned on pump. Realized I might as well drain black so stopped pump, closed Grey, opened black and turned on pump...BOOM!

all I saw was a wall of brown coming straight at me as I was crouched under the FWS. Immediately reached in to try and close black but turns out it’s hard to find the handle when you’re taking raw sewage to the face.

moved back and started grasping for the water hose - black tank still flooding the campsite. Wife came out, reached in and shut off black which at this point was now empty. She grabbed the water hose and hoses me down. I walked over to the bathhouse thankfully right next to our site, still completely unaware of what happened or why. Immediately took everything off and started rinsing and scrubbing. DW brought fresh clothes, soap, peroxide and a towel to me.
After taking one of the most vigorous showers of my life, I walked back over and immediately I see what has happened. Something that never occurred to me as even being possible.

The elbow failed causing the Macerator to fall to the ground and all of the tank contents to rush forward to whatever waited in front of the drain, which was me.

after spreading kitty litter over everything, sweeping it up and binning it, then thoroughly rinsing the pad and vegetation, and rinsing, cleaning and disinfecting the wet bay I took this lovely photo, one end of the rhino elbow fitting still on the drain, the other end still on the Macerator pump.
BB9B9C99-B239-4215-A802-4480FE98DDA0.jpeg

We found the clear elbow a few minutes later, 15 feet away. If it’d hit me in the head I might have had the misfortune of getting knocked out and literally drowning in my own feces. Thankfully, I just have the misfortune of having to live with the experience of having been drenched in my own stink.

It never occurred to me that an elbow could fail like that but in hindsight it’s kind of obvious. Those elbows take on an awful lot of pressure and nothing holds them to the connection except the bayonet lugs, which is fine except what holds the elbow to the bayonet fitting? In making them easier to work with by allowing these fittings to rotate and spin freely against their connection, manufacturers have to basically create a friction based attachment between the bayonet portion of the fitting and the plastic elbow which is where all of the lateral force is applied before being forced downward and into the drainage hose. As a result, you lose a substantial amount of strength on these fittings that are taking a lot of pressure from 45+ gallons of wastewater rushing towards a central point. Given that the desired connection is almost always straight down from the sewer drain and through the hose port, I will be looking to create a permanent elbow fitting here.

Now please excuse me while I go drink an entire bottle of everclear...mixed with bleach
 
Last edited:
What a HORRIBLE experience!:sick:
 
I have had worse days but it’s hard to remember when
 
Yikes. Thanks for the warning.
 
I had a Rhino 45 degree elbow come apart but fortunately it was after I had dumped and was flushing the tank...not pleasant but less of mess then MapNerd experienced.

Safe travels.
 
Maybe the lesson here is still with Valterra? And why the heck did Newmar switch black and gray tank sides? Black is LEFT on mine.
 
I read you post in absolute horror and then got to your last line, "Now please excuse me while I go drink an entire bottle of everclear...mixed with bleach." and almost fell out of my seat laughing. Lawd, what a nightmare. That is definitely a traumatic experience. If I were close by, I'd be pumping you and your wife with tequila.
 
Well, I've had my "dark days" at the wet bay, been there done that. I seem to remember a story of someone (cough) wrestling their anaconda sanicon hose with a cap still on it once upon a time? So yeah, a few of us have enjoyed such an experience.
 
Lesson for me is that I am done with adjustable elbow fittings. Solid, monopiece fittings only.

I’ll take that tequila now @ARD
 
We just watched the DVD "RV" from 2006 with Robin Williams. In the movie he had a stroke of bad luck dumping the crapper too. I guess if there is anything positive it is that you didn't have your mouth open when it happened!
 

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