City water and Pex re-plumb

[Belegedhel]

I'm getting ready to replumb my trailer (with pex), but have already hit the first question, which is what to use to go from my city water inlet valve to the interior of the trailer? Should I go with a hard line (copper, etc.) and then convert to Pex on the interior, or just start with the Pex and have it exposed to the elements?

[idroba]

Use the PEX, and if you are concerned about sunlight damage, paint it where it is exposed. It is about the only thing which I can imagine would hurt it at all.

[Steve Bryant]

Belegedhel,
Do you have a picture of your current water inlet. My trailer has a Surflo inlet that is basically a chromed plastic unit. The inlet is twenty plus years old and I plan to use it again as I re-plumb using PEX. If yours is copper, that could be reused also in my opinion.

Here's a picture of a new version of my water inlet.

[Thalweg]

I just did mine last weekend. The back of my inlet had a female 1/2" npt fitting, so I just screwed a male npt to pex adapter into it. So it's pex all the way to the wall. My trailer is a little older than yours though, so it might be different.

[Belegedhel]

Hmmm... I'm liking the looks of that Surflo unit pictured above.

I'll have to describe what mine originally looked like, as I didn't take a picture of it before beginning to disassemble the trailer almost two years ago. Basically, the connection just looked like a conventional household garden faucet (or hose-bib), which attached to a a section of 1/2" copper pipe which ran along the outside of the street side frame rail in between the bumper and the body. the pipe then just went through a notch in the banana wrap and then up through the subfloor to connect into the plumbing system inside the trailer.

[Farmer Dan]

I did the same thing, on my '89 Excella 25', as Thalweg except my inside fitting was the male fitting, so I began right there with the PEX female sharkbite and 1/2" PEX tubing from the city water inlet. I used all sharkbite fittings in spite of the cost, just for the convenience of installation ease.
Dan

[Argosy Heir]

On my Argosy renovation , I had a similar garden hose bib back by the rear bumper. I opted for a stainless steel marine water inlet that I fit in to the rear trailer frame. It looks more finished than the copper fitting did.

[Silverflames]

My original set up was like listed above. A hard copper pipe conning down right next to the sewer connection. I opted to install one fitting for the city water and another one for the air line. I wanted to be away from the sewer line. I worried about cross contamination. Sobibplaced the intake about waist level next to the hot water heater.

Also this means most of the intake is inside the trailer, so there is "less" of a risk of freezing. I have to say it just about killed me having to cut big holes in the body.

[Belegedhel]

Yep, the cutting of new holes in the body part of the solution gives me pause for thought (I have been patching up holes for the last year). I'm guessing that there was some method to the madness in the original design, ie., that this placed the valve and connection outside of the trailer so that if it leaked it wouldn't drip into the trailer, plus it was down low, so it gave another opportunity to drain for winterization. Another question I have is whether a Valve is needed at the city water inlet. If there is a check valve in the system, then it seems that it would be redundant, but then again, if there is a check valve,then the inlet wouldn't function as a drain very well.