Plumbing hard to reach

[DaveJ]

Hi,

I'm about to try to fix a minor water leak under the bed in the back of my MH and I'm not looking forward to it at all because I have to sit behind the bed and somehow reach all the way over the bed-panel down to where the pump is and it's a real long or impossible reach for me.

Should I find a large thick piece of plywood and lay on it or is the water tank strong enough to lay on while I work on the fittings down on the floor?

Also... I need pipe parts and maybe hose clamps. Can regular hose clamps be used or do they have to be those special (crimp on?) types?

Thanks (again and again )

Dave

[DaveJ]

No need to reply...anyone. I should've tried fixing it before getting in here and asking questions. I fixed the leak and it wasn't very hard at all.

Dave

[thenewkid64]

Dave,

I tried to envision what you were describing and could not do it. One of the issues is that you have one of the newer Motorhomes on the forum. Not many of the members have had to tackle the task. BTW Regular hose clamps work fine, just be sure to get them tight.

So what was causing the leak?

[smily]

I have comparable unit and my pump is below Hallway closet floor.

Only connection I have in the area referenced is the city water connection, which leaked at the coupler, the assembly that mounts on the side of the MH and screws onto white hose.

Is this the problem you were having?

Smily

[wayner1239]

Originally Posted by thenewkid64

Dave,

BTW Regular hose clamps work fine, just be sure to get them tight.

Will hose clamps work on any of the plastic type plumbing? I think mine has polyethylene and someone said not to use stainless hose clamps.
Wayne

[thenewkid64]

I guess i should qualify that.

The tubing that goes to to and from the pump are normally a PVC NSF Soft tubing. The hose clamps work fine there. If you are working with PEX you need to use the proper crimp rings and crimper, or get compression fittings to assure a watertight seal.

[DaveJ]

Originally Posted by thenewkid64

Dave,

I tried to envision what you were describing and could not do it. One of the issues is that you have one of the newer Motorhomes on the forum. Not many of the members have had to tackle the task. BTW Regular hose clamps work fine, just be sure to get them tight.

So what was causing the leak?

The problem turned out to be a fast drip from the outlet side of the pump. On my unit, the water tank is under the bed and the pump is next to the tank on the left side. I haven't had to work in that area before so I didn't know if I was going to be able to reach the pipes without getting down inside the bed frame or lying on top of the frame using a piece of wood and reaching down into the center of it.

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. After I took the matress off (which was the hardest part of the whole repair) I found that I could reach the pump fittings easily. I drained the tank and applied thread tape to the fittings on both sides of the pump. I sure got lucky because I don't have a crimper or any spare parts.....just thread tape.

I think my plumbing might be PEX. It has grey (1/2" I think?) pipe and the fittings are the crimp-on type. Some day I might have to get some tools and parts for this but I sure lucked out this time.

After I saw how easy it was to get to the pump area, I kind-of felt embaressed for asking about it prematurely. It was a lot easier to access than I thought it would be...based on memory and photos I took months back.

Dave

[joel]

For future reference home depot and lowes now have some great repair parts for this type of tubing,they are called QUEST fittings , it also works on copper. Just remember to dig thru their metal compression fitting for extra inside metal sleeves .A compression fitting on the pex tubing will collapse it without some interior support. I just put in a set of water filters using the quest fittings,worked great.