Major Water Disaster

[eoddewey]

Last night I went to bed and all was well. The grey/black water valves closed, water to coach and good to go. Woke upo about 1:30 to go to the head and tried to flush toilet. NO WATER!! Thought the water hose had froze, was 12 deg here in Louisville. Tiurned on the water pump and nothing.

Went outside to investigate and there was water running out of the coach from the water bay and all the way up the side of the bay doors to the front wheels. Cut the water off - it was noy frozed- and after about 15 minutes the water stopped flowing out from the bays. I have a temp monitor in the water bay and it has never gone below 50 degrees throughout this cold spell.

My guess is that a fitting failed somewhere in the system. The problem is that you can not see the lines going to the kitchen sink, shower, bat sink/toilet and washer.

Any suggestions?

[Elkhartjim]

Is the water leaking on the kitchen (sink) side slide or the bath side? It sounds like its kitchen side since you have water coming out from the front. Remove all the drawers and you should be able to see the piping. BTW...I hate water leaks as they can be a bugger to find.

Good luck.

[GaryKD]

Hi eoddewey,
I am so sorry to hear about your water problem. Like Elkhartjim I greatly dislike water leaks. Because the OP mentions the leak is in the basement and not in the human occupied part of the coach, try this:

1. Put some water in the fresh water tank. You should be able to do this without adding to the leak. If this task exacerbates the leak your leak may be in the hose that connects the outside water fill point to its' first connection behind the utility panel.

2. Based on the OP, the leak seems to be below the main floor level. You may end up removing the utility bay panel to expose the lines. Put some water PSI on the lines and the leak will manifest itself.

[DBOL]

Come South to where its cooler so you want sweat while you work on plumbing!

[eoddewey]

The problem is fixed. The PEX clamp on the back of the city water inlet came off the fitting and city water was flooding the compartments. Took everything out of the bays, turned on the water a little and there she was.
This spring I am going to re-plumb the water bay. I want to install a water softener and put a whole house water filter in line with my watts water pressure regulator.

Amazing what a little daylight will accomplish. I had the PEX tool, clamps and the job took about 30 minutes from trouble shooting to job done.

Thanks for the response.

[Elkhartjim]

Fantastic! I wish all our leaks would be that simple.

["007"]

Just to let you know when winterizing your coach the pink stuff will not fill the piping behind the water inlet connection to your whole house filter UNLESS you stick a pencil on check valve pin so pink stuff will flow back out of water fill connection.
Had freezing temps before leaving for Nappanee and was going to fill water tank for trip. Didn't fill had to defrost fill pipe with hair dryer to remove ice in tubing.
Never checked pipes behind fill valve location for pink stuff will from now on.

[EngineerMike]

eoddewey- might want to try a double canister setup for your filters. That way you can do a 5 micron string type filter as primary and 5 micron carbon-block as secondary. New string filter every 6 months, new carbon block each year. String filters are cheap- maybe $6, good carbon block will run about $20. You can go ultra-fine (down to sub micron) but pressure will suffer eventually.

I have RO to remove dissolved solids vs the softener which does exchange of soft for hard type of dissolved solids. Softener is usually cheaper but the RO does a fabulous job on actual purification. You'll like the softener. You'll love the RO (IMHO).

[Chickadee]

eoddewey:

First;
.....do I take it by your posting title that you are, or were, in Explosive Ordinance Disposal???? Our son is EOD (E-7 or E-8) just headin AGAIN (4th deployment) to the tropical destination of Afghanistan!!

Second;
.....(Note: mechanically inept dummy here).. re: that "Pex tool" you mentioned...what is it, can ya describe it, and....is it something I'd best use to replace the fresh water tank (low point) drain valve located (in our rig) in the back lower left of our waterbay? It's a simple shut off valve (brass w. small plastic valve handle) used to drain fresh water tank to the ground under water bay. I think I've broken that plastic valve handle and need to replace this valve which appears to be attached to tank drain tube (reinforced clear plastic tube) with a funny looking clamp and likewise to the outflow line with same type clamp. Wondering if I need this "Pex Tool" thing you mentioned? Thanks. Steve

[eoddewey]

Yes, I retired from the US Navy after 30 years in Feb 97. I was in EOD and retired as an E-9 out of Mobile Unit Twelve in Charleston, SC. The best 30 years of my life.

A PEX crimping tool is used to crimp the stainless steel clamps on the PEX tubing to the fitting. I bought an Apollo crimping tool at Lowes for $39, along with 3/8, 1/2 and 3/4 inch clamps in packages of ten. I also bought an assortment of PEX fitting for any emergencies that may arise. Cheap insurance ($100 total +/-).

You can't use regular clamps on these fittings. I learned my lesson on my 5th wheel about regular clamps/PEX clamps and having the tools/items handy in emergencies.

IMOP a regular clamp would work on the drain valve. There wouldn't be very much positive pressure on the valve, only head pressure.

[wa8yxm]

Thought: Do you have an ice maker?

Is the fridge just over the water bay?

I've had a solenoid freeze and thaw and that is exactly what happened.

[a k]

I found if you take your outside facet and hook it up to the water supply line and then winterize it with the pump, it takes all the guess work out what is and isn't winterized. It takes about 2 extra gallons of pinky, but worth it.