Yet another problem... - RV-Dreams Community Forum

cherylbrv · RV-Dreams Family Member

Yet another problem...

Barbaraok · RV-Dreams Family Member

Where is your fresh water tank located in relation to sinks, shower toilet?

Barb

cherylbrv · RV-Dreams Family Member

FW tank is the closest to the location than anything else (although still not in the location of where the leak appears to be), but we're watching the level and it hasn't gone down yet.

2riker2go · RV-Dreams Family Member

If you disconnected the city water and the leak is still flowing, that would seem to only leave the fresh water tank as the culprit. Maybe the sensor is not functioning correctly?

Barbaraok · RV-Dreams Family Member

Have you had a heavy rain recently? Water will always find the path of least resistance. Also, do you have a washer/dryer in that general vicinity that might have inadvertently filled and leaked into surrounding wall/floor?

Barb

cherylbrv · RV-Dreams Family Member

No rain to speak of; washer is on opposite side of where the leak is.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

As mentioned over at SOITC, where the water is coming out may not indicate where the leak is actually located. The water can be running to a low spot with a readily accessible hole to run out of.

I think they mentioned to shut off all the valves on the water manifold and then open them one at a time to see if that line is leaking. It could be that you have a line leaking that goes to the kitchen sink.

Terry

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

Another “it depends,” but one way I use to try and determine if I have a leak in the water system internal to the trailer (or MH) is to disconnect the water from outside and turn all the facets off. Turn on the internal fresh water pump. Once it runs and shuts off it should stay “off” for a considerable period of time. If it runs often, then you have a leak. If it doesn’t it means that at least the internal plumbing, with the exception of the outside water line to the check valve, is intact. (BTW, that external water check value is many times a part of the connection at the side of the trailer. I.e. sort of a one piece assembly and isn't likely the cause in this case.)

Don’t let an occasional pump run worry you as you will get a pump run as the water in the hot water tank cools, reducing pressure, and hence a brief pump run to bring the line pressure up to about 45psi.

This most likely won’t find the exact problem you have but it’s another RV trick to help eliminate where a leak may or may not be located.

Bill

cherylbrv · RV-Dreams Family Member

We were going to tackle all this in the morning, but lo-and-behold - no more leak! FW tank is still almost full and everything seems to be working just fine. So no clue what that was all about. Mitch thinks it was the gray tank overflowing, but I would think it would have run into the house, not underneath. Plus the water didn't smell. Then again, leak stopped a while after he emptied the tank, and the awful smell we've been having inside also disappeared.

Ah, the joys of being a newbie and learning all this great stuff!

Thanks, all, for your help!

sdman · RV-Dreams Family Member

I just found out that our bathroom grey water tank will leak at the vent connection when it is completely full. The leak is not enough to keep the water from backing up into the shower pan, but a leak none the less. We rarely let the tank fill to that level so we never noticed it until we had the belly covering down for a different issue. That's when I found that water was accumulating in the center of the covering. I was later told by an RV technician that he has seen many RVs where the vent pipe is not glued into the tank, it is just pushed into it from the top. For us, this not an issue as the leak is really very small and doesn't go anywhere except into the belly covering under the RV. The vent pile is also very well secured from the top so it won't come out of the tank. We will just keep from filling the tank past the top of the vent.

-- Edited by sdman on Thursday 5th of March 2015 10:25:32 AM

Judy L · RV-Dreams Family Member

Hi Cheryl, Just a couple of thoughts based on experience with our previous 5ver (07 Teton Liberty). In the Teton, the sink located in the kitchen slide used flexible plastic tubing (like ribbed pool hose) to connect the kitchen sink drain to the gray water line. Since this hose repeatedly stretched and contracted when the slide was moved in and out, it had a tendency to develop cracks and leak into the belly. This problem was exacerbated if the gray tank was full and started to back up into the kitchen sink line since the gray water would then stand in the leaky hose causing a constant stream of water. Once water pooled in the belly, it would leak out from what appeared to be a knife hole placed in a low spot of the belly (we bought the trailer used so the previous owner apparently put the hole there). We found that we could immediately tell that the gray tank was getting too full when we started smelling gray tank odor around the stairway up to the bedroom. We were able to control the problem by replacing the flexible drain line and never allowing the gray tank to get so full that it backed up into the sink drain line.

I don't know if your Mobile Suite has the kitchen sink in the slide and, even if it does, if there would be the same sort of problem with the drain line, but it does sound like water is somehow leaking into the belly. Once you get it figured out, you may want to think about dropping part of the belly cover to let the area dry out, especially if it has batting style insulation down there.

Good luck getting it figured out. It really does get easier in time. We had lots of problems in the beginning too.

Looking forward to seeing you and Mitch again sometime down the road.

cherylbrv · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks, Judy! Hope to see you again soon as well (not sure if you're following our saga, but we're still here in Arcadia and probably will be for at least another 2 weeks -- waiting for a new pin box).

The sink is not in the slide -- it's in the island in the center of the rig (when the kitchen and dining room slides close, they meet at the middle island). I don't think Mitch has a clue what to look for when he gets underneath, but we'll have RV techs working on the rig anyway to install the pin box when it arrives, so we'll have them take a look as well.

Judy L · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thank goodness for RV techs!

jhilley · RV-Dreams Community Member

The fresh water tank may have been over filled and it is going out the over flow. This would explain why you didn't see a change in FW tank level.

cherylbrv · RV-Dreams Family Member

The answer was that apparently when the cover on the underbelly was put on (it's not clear whether it was by the factory or if it had to be replaced when it was in the shop in Feb after the accident), but a screw was used that was too long and went into the gray tank. We never noticed it before, probably because it was tightly screwed in, but with all the travel and bumps along the way, it got loose enough to cause the leak. After draining the tanks, they have to air everything out and let it dry, then will do a major cleaning and replace the insulating material. We chose to let them put a patch on the tank rather than replace the entire tank because of the time and money involved (it would take at least another week to get the parts, and the tank is buried so far in, that quite a lot would need to be removed to get to it in order to remove and install). If /when the patch stops being effective, we can worry about it then. I'm hoping this was also the cause of the bad smell after just a day or 2.

bigboomer · RV-Dreams Family Member

Cheryl,

Make sure the repair shop contacts the manufacturer of the tank to get the proper repair adhesive and/ or proper sealant to be used. Not all sealants are compatible with all plastics. You maybe able to use a silicone based sealant but depending on the type plastic you may need a urethane based sealant.

Good luck,

Les