Part of living in an RV full-time in a harsh environment is being highly cognizant of the condition of your house/vehicle systems and an ability to preempt repairs. Waiting for something to fail on an RV is a recipe or major problems that can be very expensive.
I recently replaced the bladder valve on my black-water tank due to a likely future failure of this critical and nasty valve. Whenever I would drain the tank, I noticed that the valve was very stiff to pull. Knowing that the valve was stiff, I foresaw the handle eventually pulling off, or the valve itself separating from the pull rod. So, I decided to replace it on my terms, rather than its terms.
I replaced the valve in under an hour and replaced it with an improved model from what came on the rig. I chose this route because of all the things that can go wrong on an RV, I don't want my shit tank to have a stuck valve. That would be an awful and potentially expensive failure. Imagine a broken valve with a full tank. Not gonna do it.
Replacement of this valve is just an example of foresight and having a feel for vehicle systems and their condition. It takes a meticulous sense of mechanical health of these sorts of systems to prevent failures, rather than wait for them. It is kind of like car maintenance -- some listen for ticks and squeaks and then work to understand and eliminate them before a failure happens. Same goes for full-time RV living. It saves time and money in the long run to repair things before they break on your watch rather than chaos's watch.
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