San Con - Auto Drain Valve Motor

We experienced a failure with one of our Auto Drain Motors on the way home from Florida this year.  After we got home I disassembled the Auto Drain Motor.  Once disassembled the failure was easy to spot.  The drive gear was split in half and just fell off the drive shaft.  I called Barker Manufacturing (http://www.barkermfg.com/autodrain.html) at 1-888-367-6978 and ordered a drive gear that they supplied at no cost.

Barker Manufacturing provides no instructions on how to open the Auto Drain plastic housing.  I studied the installation manual carefully before I started and here is what I did to open the plastic housing.

1.  Turn off DC power at the Store/Use Switch.
2.  Remove the "Strain Relief" device from the front cover.
3.  Remove the two bolts that attach the Auto Drain to the valve.
4.  The front cover and the base are held together by friction.  Place a large screwdriver in the slot below and to the right of the Patent Label and twist.  The front cover will start to separate from the base.  Continue around the housing until the front cover is completely separated from the base.
5.  Remove the four screws holding the motor assembly in place.
6.  At this point, I had access to the drive gear.


NOTE:  Check to see if the Auto Drain is attached via a connector or butt splices to the operating switch.  On my 2012 2551, the Auto Drain is connected to the operating switch via butt splices.  I chose to leave it connected.

IMPORTANT: Before you reinstall the Auto-Drain to the valve, ensure that the safety space is provided (see Page 1 Figure 2 of the installation manual). This space is needed so that the valve will fully close without jamming the electrical mechanism and damaging the Auto-Drain. To set the safety space make sure the valve and Auto-Drain are in the fully closed position.

Here is a link to the installation manual for the Auto Drain: http://www.barkermfg.com/auto%20drain2.pdf


Barry

 No need for me yet, but....   Great To Know    A Helpful for you Barry!

It's been a "Helpful" day for me.  I'm on a role here... The spare tire compartment used to store an emergency 3" gravity sewage drain hose.  I am going to put my emergency use Rhino-tube in there.

My Rhino tube came with sealing end caps to prevent dripping while being stored.  No need for them yet as mine is still brand new.

Another helpful from us. When people put all these solutions on here, I dutifully download them for future use but secretly pray we'll never need them. I'm always amazed when you guys calmly disassemble these things, fix them, then put them back with no problems. I'm sure many bad words will be involved if John and I ever have to give it a go. Of course, we didn't actually know this part existed so the learning curve would be MUCH longer.

Thanks Barry!