Now, let me first say that no one was hurt in this story…except the couple’s fifth-wheel I’m about to tell you about. Keep in mind that this could happen to anyone and is a result of not paying attention to detail. Unfortunately, the result of this tiny little error totaled their beautiful fifth-wheel.
It was a gorgeous Thursday afternoon in March and this couple was headed to Hot Springs, Arkansas, which incidentally is a wonderful town to visit if you ever have to opportunity. They were roughly 3/4 of the way to their destination when tragedy struck. This couple, for sake of anonymity we’ll call them the Smiths, were making one final stop at Wal-Mart to pick up some extra provisions for their stay in Hot Springs. They had been traveling for quite a while and weren’t really in any rush so they decided to just spend a few minutes to stretch their legs in their rig, use the head (that’s the toilet for you non-technical types) and clear some space for the things that they were going to purchase inside the store.
As they exited their RV, they made sure everything was secure and the doors were locked. They made their way into the store and shopped for a considerable amount of time. As they came back and entered their RV, they were shocked at what they saw. WATER covered the entire floor of their unit! How could this happen? It wasn’t raining. As they stood there swelling with every emotion imaginable trying to figure out what had happened, the odor hit them. Their black water tank had overflowed and flooded their entire unit. It was the toilet!
Apparently, the last person to use the facilities never noticed that the foot flush pedal had malfunctioned which allowed the water from fresh water tank continuously flow into the the black water tank. When their black water tank was full, it naturally, overflowed onto the floor of their unit. This was one of the worst possible things that could have happened. Not only was it water, but it was sewage. Their RV was destroyed, a 100% loss and a tragedy on multiple levels. Their wonderful vacation was ruined and so was their beautiful fifth-wheel. Had they used their ears, they would have heard the flow of water. But even more upsetting to them was had they done, what I like to call an “idiot check”, and used their eyes to check their water facilities, they wouldn’t have missed it.
This was purely an accident, but it was a preventable accident.
The moral of the story is NEVER leave your RV with any water running. Check every faucet, the shower and of course…the toilet before you exit your RV. With just a quick “idiot check,” you may save the life of something you love…your RV.
If you have any horror stories you think the rest of us might be able to learn from, don’t hesitate to share them with us on Facebook or Google+. You never know. Your misfortune could save another RVers a lot of heartache and headaches.
