Airstream fresh water tank drain valve replacement

[Bobbo]

I took possession of my brand new Airstream in May, 2017. In November, 2022, 5&1/2 years later, when I went to winterize, the plastic handle of the fresh water tank drain valve broke off. Every place that I tried to grip it to turn the valve to open it also broke off.



I didn’t want to replace it with another plastic valve to repeat this in 5 more years, so I found this aluminum flange that would replace the plastic one. It takes a 1/8” NPT valve.



Since it was bright RED, I wanted to paint it silver so it wouldn’t stand out. I bought this 1/8” NPT Plug and put it in the flange to block the opening.



And used this silver paint to paint the upper surface. I made sure not to get any paint on the barb where the hose connects, or inside the flange.



I then got this 1/8” NPT brass shut-off valve and installed it in the flange.



Since I didn’t want the valve shooting water in my face when I opened it, I got this 1/8” NPT elbow to redirect the water flow downwards.



Here it is, ready to install.



And, the final result. (Note that I did have to cut the 3/8” barb off the flange. The hose was 1/2” so the 3/8” was not needed, and the flange was too long to fit with it on there.)

[AdventureAS]

The link to the red flange is not working. Can you please let me have the link?

r.n.barrick at gmail.com

[Bobbo]

I built the replacement valve, then had a Mobile RV Technician come install it. He said that he HATES working on Airstreams. Airstream builds them like they will never have to be fixed. It took him 1&1/2 hours just to replace that drain valve. He said that any other brand, it would have been a 20 minute job. TOPS. He had to go inside the trailer and take a panel off so he could reach the back of the drain to loosen the hose clamp, then again to tighten the hose clamp.

[QCMan]

Wow! Amazing how the nine most expensive letters in RV'ing uses the same components as my camper that probably cost 1/4 of an airstream except the manufacturer of my trailer put the drain where it will not be affected by uv rays. Had that same piece in a trailer for ten years and it was still functional after ten years.