Frame rails as drain traps?

[gus]

John,

If you plumb the drains to go into the bottom of the waste tanks instead of the top your makeshift traps will stay full. My 4104 is plumbed like this and it works fine, also stops odors from coming through the drains.

[Iceni John]

john why not put your batterys under the drivers seat thats a huge unused space you would need to make a door no big deal then you can put your gray tank under your shower .
john proud owner of a 57 crown

Not with my bus!   It's a pusher, not the usual mid-engine Twinkie-shaped Crown.   It has the same drivetrain as an MC9, so it drives like one (well, almost).   Here's some pictures of Super IIs:  http://www.flickr.com/search/?s=int&w=all&q=Crown+Supercoach+II&m=text   And here's the specifications for a 38-foot Super II (mine's a 40-foot):  http://www.flickr.com/photos/23546986@N08/5959516820/#in/photostream/  and  http://www.flickr.com/photos/23546986@N08/5958956261/#in/photostream/   And here's what they sound like!:  Rialto Unified School District #B-56 (Crown Coach Corporation)
In other words, not a typical skoolie!

My house batteries will be on the right side between the rear wheels and the bellybin, because the house electrical panel and inverters will be just a few inches away inside the bellybin, and because they'll be very close to the starting batteries to permit easy tie-in for emergency starting boosts.   I've already made slide-out trays for the starting batteries in an unused space behind the right rear wheels which is only a few feet from the main battery switch and starter, much better than before where they needed 20 feet of 4/0 cable to reach the switch, then another 25 feet of 4/0 to the starter.   Under the driver's seat I've made a vented storage compartment for spare propane cylinders, gasoline cans, or anything that could possibly leak fumes or drip.   I also made a spare tire mount under the nose, complete with a winch and a wheeled dolly for the tire to be easily moved around on.   There's a neat generator slide-out between the front door and right wheel (very few buses have enough space there for anything).   My electric air compressor will sit above the front axle between the stacked frame rails there.   As I mentioned before, I will have absolutely no spare space whatsoever under the floor when I've finished!   So saying, there will still be easy access to everything that may need it, such as the steering box and hydraulic lines, all the brake valves and air reservoirs, every filter and all the drain valves.   (Sod's Law says that the only thing without easy access will be the one thing that fails, in the middle of the night, while it's raining, miles from anywhere!)   It's been a challenge fitting 400 gallons of tanks in place without encroaching on any of my underfloor storage bay, but I hope all my hard work is worth it.   In comparison, a mid-engine Crown would be even more difficult, if not impossible, for me to convert as I want.

A friend of mine has a 1957 Crown that he's beginning to convert.   Was yours a school bus or a tour bus?

John

[crown]

 john mine started live as a school bus but then was turned in to a tour bus new paint lugage racks high
back seats ect . now its a hot rod  i did a frame swap 95 frame cunnins alison air ride power sterring ect
john

[Iceni John]

John,

If you plumb the drains to go into the bottom of the waste tanks instead of the top your makeshift traps will stay full. My 4104 is plumbed like this and it works fine, also stops odors from coming through the drains.

Interesting.   Do you run your drain pipes through the tops of the tanks and almost all the way to the bottoms, or do you enter the tanks from lower down?   I've already had my tanks' fittings spin-welded in place so I have to use top-entry, but I could still extend the inlets' pipes down towards the bottom.   It's possibly worth a try.

Thanks, John

[Iceni John]

If all the other advice has not convinced you to NOT use the rails as traps, consider that the acids from sewage will exponentially eat away at the metal.

Don't worry, there won't be raw pee and poo flowing over my frame rails!   It will all be safely contained within DWV ABS pipes or Sch.40 PVC pipes, and it was those pipes that I was thinking about running under the frame rails to get from one side of them to the other.   It's pretty much a case of "You can't get there from here", except I never take no for an answer!

John