Shower not draining - Caused by unlevel coach?
Background:
Used the shower twice when driving the coach home after purchase in October. Drained fine. Been living in coach for 3 weeks now, but not plugged in to sewer or water, so I was showing at work to conserve water until we got "our routine" down. Have two cats, kept littler box in the shower. They are usually indoor/outdoor, but kept them in for the first week after the move so they knew this was home. Unfortunately, the cats got very sick, and despite some basic precautions, the shower endured a minor war.
The spot we moved on is not level - ground at the rear tires is about 18 inches from the front to the rear tire, and it was parked like that, unleveled, for the first week. To give you a frame of reference on how unlevel that is, when I tested the leveling system, it was able to compensate for about 7 inches of heigh difference (on the 34' model). After the first week, I noticed there was a small amount of water in the shower. Assumed it was 'body water' from the cats. A few hours later, I put the FT on homemade leveling ramps/blocks and leveled her out. After the blocks + leveling, we are still about 5" higher at the front than in the rear. While leveling, water went away from the edge, and in the shower drain. Checked the bays (surface check - no screws removed) and found no moisture. So because we had wet/cold weather moving in, and I had rooftop accesories projects ongoing - I wrote this one off as "fine for now" while I dealt with more important items.
Fast forward to today. Cats are no longer using the shower as a litter area, and I was finally ready to start showering at home, but thought I should check the drain again just in case. Popped the drain top and, SURPRISE, water is standing 2 inches below the drain. So I figured that that I hadn't covered the drain well, and the cats had kicked enough litter down there to mix with some residual hair from the prior owners and cause a clog. But other than directly at the drain, my 24" snake and 12" angled needle nose pliers couldn't find anything in pull at in the water.
But here is the strange part.... I wanted to see better to be able to work the snake, so I tried to clear the standing liquid. I took a small liquid medicine syringe and pumped out about 2 cups of water, but the level of the water only dropped half an inch, if at all. It felt to me like that drain pipe was going uphill, but because of our unlevel parkng surface, the water couldn't make it around whatever corner it needed in order to get in the gray tank?
My question: Is it possible that the angle of the coach isn't letting the shower drain properly? Or am I just being naive, and I have a much bigger problem with a cat litter blockage further down the line?
Other things worth noting:
- After clearing the initial debris at the top of the shower drain, the water in the line STINKS. Not sure whether from 'cat body water' or other sources...
- Been using both sinks multiple times a day every day for 3 weeks, and they run and drain fine. No strange odors from the sinks.
- Checked under shower frame, under sinks, and edges of the wet bay. Still no leaks/moisture to be seen.
- Tank monitors read just under half full for all three tanks, and they have all been working correctly.
- I plan to dump and refill tomorrow
- Looks like some of the piping can be viewed if I take off the panel next to the dump valves... is that standard? Lot of screws on that thing for an access panel, so I don't want to poke around unless it's the right way to go....
Thanks,
James
Topic: Shower not draining - Caused by unlevel coach?