Where's the valve?

[Urbanhermit]

Hopefully I'm in the right place and since this is a new thread, it's not a duplicate.

2006 Cayman 36: Water tank empties overnight or quicker. I see a solid stream draining roughly inboard of the refrigerator. I found a black half-inch rubber hose descending vertically from above and inboard of the frame, terminating above the frame. Only four or five inches of it are visible. It seems there should be a valve somewhere that has come open or been opened. No work has been done inside or outside at that fore/aft location. Water drains with the pump off.

Does anybody know where that hose comes from, what its purpose is, and where the surely-extant valve is?

[Jim_HiTek]

Ice maker water supply? If you have an ice maker? Those have a valve under the sink but I'd think that you'd have noticed water leaking from the refer vent if there was a tear in that plastic pipe.

Condensate draining from the refer? Are you in Florida or near a coast?

Of course you can just clamp it off where you can access the hose with a C clamp or pair of needle nosed clamping pliers while you trace it.

In my '02, it has a center mounted water tank with a remote cable that was used for draining the tank. Mine leaked all the time as the bayonet valve had aged out and I'd lose a tank full of fresh water within a couple days. I just bought an expanding rubber plug and plugged that drain hose...but my drain hose was like 1.25" in diameter.

[Urbanhermit]

Jim, thank you, but the hose drains the potable water tank in a very short period of time. It drops a solid half-inch-diameter column of water. I've got the RV in the shop for a new slide out awning and other matters. A valve will be put onto the end of the hose. I don't like solving a problem without knowing where the problem came from but without certain knowledge of where the hose originates that's the practical thing to do.

[David 70]

There may be a cable that opens and closes the drain valve. Look in all you compartments for a handle that is attached to a cable.

[BoJango]

Urbanhermit, I noticed a stream of water coming from my motor home while visiting Cherokee, NC once. I didn't search for a drain hose. I replaced the fresh water fill valve located where my hose was connected to the inlet. Stopping the overflow with a plug will probably cause more problems. With water steadily coming into the fresh water tank, it has to go somewhere. Try cutting the water off at the spigot connection on the pedestal and give it time to drain out enough and see it that's your problem.

[Urbanhermit]

Thanks, but it's not the overflow. That wouldn't drain the whole tank, or drain it at all, and the overflow comes down farther aft and not as heavily. I think the suggestion that something with a valve in it fell off, though I can't think what that would serve.

[jacwjames]

Best thing to do is measure the location of the hose where the water is leaking underneath and then go into the basement and see what is above.



I have four valves that drain the water piping and tank, three of them are grouped pretty close together in the same compartment the water pump and manifold it, the fourth on is in my wet bay.



If you have stuffed piled in the bays you might not see it, mine are not easy to get to and hard to see.

[Urbanhermit]

jacwjames, thanks for the suggestion but I'm sure there's no valve in the bays (curb side) and I'm familiar with the valves on the street side: two half-inch drains in the wet bay, a big tank drain in the bay forward (power cord). Unless there's a valve behind the metal grate below the refrigerator, there are no drain valves inside the coach. Given where the hose terminates, above and inboard of the frame, I suspect something with a valve in it fell off.

[jacwjames]

Where is your water heater.


Mine is on the curb side and there are some valves associated with it. Not sure if there might not be a water heater tank drain behind it. It would make sense that it would be plumbed to drain the water heater underneath.



But not sure how that would drain you tanks.

[Urbanhermit]

That is the most likely possibility other than something falling off. The heater is on the curb side and the hose is close to directly under it, but I see no hoses/valves associated with the heater other than the popoff valve. it drains with a largish plastic plug at its bottom. But I'll look again. I admit I haven't opened the cover for the purpose of looking for a hidden valve. Thankee.

[jacwjames]

My water heater is in the small compartment that has two sliding plexiglass panels. The water pump, Manabloc valving and all the piping is in that compartment along with transfer switch and inverter. If you have a leak or broken pipe and the compartment gets water in it it could drain out that hole. I'd check the piping going to the fresh water tank and make sure you don't have a problem there.

[David 70]

Originally Posted by Urbanhermit

That is the most likely possibility other than something falling off. The heater is on the curb side and the hose is close to directly under it, but I see no hoses/valves associated with the heater other than the popoff valve. it drains with a largish plastic plug at its bottom. But I'll look again. I admit I haven't opened the cover for the purpose of looking for a hidden valve. Thankee.

There will not be a valve to drain the water heater. They all drain by the plug on the bottom on the outside.

[Urbanhermit]

Originally Posted by David 70

There will not be a valve to drain the water heater. They all drain by the plug on the bottom on the outside.

That's what I thought. Buy like Sherlock Holmes, when the logical is eliminated, I'm ready to at least consider the illogical.

[saks1672]

Originally Posted by Urbanhermit

That's what I thought. Buy like Sherlock Holmes, when the logical is eliminated, I'm ready to at least consider the illogical.

Sounds like a stuck check valve.