Community Forums

Mommaof3sons · 04-30-2011, 04:58 PM

The husband and I went to de-winterize our travel trailer last weekend and when filling the water heater the inlet and outlet hoses started leaking water almost spraying water everywhere. My husband tried dope/plumbers tape, black rubber seals where the gold connectors tighten to the white pipes, some type of plumbers putty at the connectors, and the obvious tightening of the fittings. Every time we try and fill this tank it leaks at the connectors! We want to start camping what do we do? The water heater is only on it's 3rd season! Help please!

KWMyers · 04-30-2011, 07:05 PM

This is pretty much standard plumbing issues but you'll want to be sure to solve the leaks which won't be successful with add-on tape external to the piping. I've had new trailers delivered with plastic nipples fitted into the tank and they tend to leak. Never leak after replacing them with galvanized nipples. Hope this helps. Wayne

Mommaof3sons · 05-01-2011, 10:01 AM

Thank you so much for the advice. Would you advise hiring someone or would a "handy" husband be able to tackle the replacement?

dsbike · 05-01-2011, 11:25 AM

Handy Husband, easy fix. remove the old fittings & take them to your local hardware (Lowes, Home Depot, ect) & get replacements, I would use copper if I was doing the job.

Mommaof3sons · 05-02-2011, 04:02 PM

My husband says the fittings are brass but the tubing is a white plastic. Could that be the problem instead? Hw easy is that to replace? Thanks everyone for your advice!

mahon1993 · 05-02-2011, 04:28 PM

White plastic is probably PEX. Lowes or Home Depot would have "Shark Bite" fittings that would work a replacements just fine. You probably have crimp rings on your fitting now that are leaking. There is really no fix for them if they are leaking. Crimp rings require a special $90 tool to install. A good investment would be a PEX tubing cutter. PEX tube is very tough to cut without the proper cutting tool. "Lowes Depot" has the cutters.
Greg

KWMyers · 05-02-2011, 07:27 PM

Well, we're all guessing which component is causing the leak. In my case, the gray plastic nipples were what was leaking where they screwed into the tank (2 trailers). mahon1993 may be correct but you need to know exactly where the leak is or replace everything in the area of interest. Let us know what you find!