Shower drain Hepvo trap

[rbs]

2015 Classic, shower is draining kind of slow, and wanted to remove the Hepvo waterless trap and clean the hair out of it, but want to find out if anyone has performed this task? Looks like the Hepvo was assembled with some healthy doses of plumbers compound, the hardening kind. Not a lot of room to work in the space either, so I'm wondering how someone went about this before I tackle it. The bathroom sink is apart not to replace the sink stopper.

[OTRA15]

You may have done this search already, but FYI and FWIW here are the mentions of that drain valve, scattered throughout Airforums:

https://www.google.com/search?q=Hepv...=airforums.com

I seem to recall some mentions of taking some out.

Good luck,

Peter


FYI
FWIW

[Bubba L]

Sounds like you only have a couple of choices. You may try a 1/2” water hose with the brass end cut off and see if you can shoot some water with pressure to blow out the Hepvo. If you try and run a plumber’s snake in there you’ll ruin the duck bilked flapper in the Hepvo. Or, try with effort to unscrew it. If it’s stiff plumber’s putty, you may try torquing it toward tight to break the putty bond, then unscrew. Sorry, haven’t heard of this issue. Good luck

[66Overlander]

I replaced the bath sink Hepco in my 2016 Classic last year - it was clogged with soap scum, probably from using minimal water to wash our hands. Luckily our shower drain still runs ok, probably because showering uses more water.

A repair technician at Airstream told me that the shower Hepvo is much tougher to replace and that soaking it with white vinegar can disolve the soap scum to make it run better without replacing it. I'll definitely try that if the shower drain ever slows down. I might even decide to treat all our Hepvos with white vinegar annually (or more frequently) to keep them running.

[rbs]

Originally Posted by OTRA15

You may have done this search already, but FYI and FWIW here are the mentions of that drain valve, scattered throughout Airforums:

https://www.google.com/search?q=Hepv...=airforums.com

I seem to recall some mentions of taking some out.

Good luck,

Peter


FYI
FWIW

thank you for your help and best wishes

[PatLee]

When you get the hair all cleaned out, I recommend you keep a drain protector in the drain to prevent hair from going down. Mine looks like this. I have one for home as well and they work great.

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by PatLee

When you get the hair all cleaned out, I recommend you keep a drain protector in the drain to prevent hair from going down. Mine looks like this. I have one for home as well and they work great.

Not sure that will fit in rbs’s drain.

Originally Posted by rbs

2015 Classic, shower is draining kind of slow, and wanted to remove the Hepvo waterless trap and clean the hair out of it, but want to find out if anyone has performed this task? Looks like the Hepvo was assembled with some healthy doses of plumbers compound, the hardening kind. Not a lot of room to work in the space either, so I'm wondering how someone went about this before I tackle it. The bathroom sink is apart not to replace the sink stopper.

Will that drain protector fit in your drain? I thought the Hepvo drain assembly was right up level with the shower floor +/- ?

Peter

[Doc Foster]

We used a little tool called the Drain Weasel to clean out our shower drain in 2016 International.

Once you clean out the hair, use some sort of shower drain cover - we use something like this - https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Grips-Cle...n%2C147&sr=1-7

[OTRA15]

Bingo!

Easier to clean hair off that kind of filter IMO.

Peter

[StuartsDad]

Once you get it cleared, consider investing in a TubShroom. Fits perfectly in our shower drain and possibly the best thing I bought for our AS under $20. I clean it off after a couple of showers and glad all that hair is not going down the drain.

[n2916s]

Ditto on the Tubshroom. Simple, effective design and cheap.

[rbs]

Hepvo recommends high air pressure, so I'll go with the vinegar then rig up something put some pressure into it, then check for success. Thought I would post a picture of the trap and it's tight location. Picture quality not the best, but it would be a challenge, more difficult by the compound used on the joints, hopeful for air pressure/vinegar. Also ordered a Tubshroom. Replacing the bath sink stopper, the OEM disintegrated. Got the time, might as well make things better

Thanks for the help always appreciated

[OTRA15]

Thanks for the update . . . good luck!

Peter

[66Overlander]

Originally Posted by rbs

Hepvo recommends high air pressure, so I'll go with the vinegar then rig up something put some pressure into it, then check for success. Thought I would post a picture of the trap and it's tight location. Picture quality not the best, but it would be a challenge, more difficult by the compound used on the joints, hopeful for air pressure/vinegar. Also ordered a Tubshroom. Replacing the bath sink stopper, the OEM disintegrated. Got the time, might as well make things better

Thanks for the help always appreciated

I had to use a pipe wrench to undo the couplers on the Hepvo under the bath sink due to the pipe sealer Airstream used. No way hand strength was enough to undo them. I have no idea how you'd get a pipe wrench on that shower Hepvo given the right space around it.

[rbs]

there is absolutely no room to operate a pipe wrench, a strap style wrench would be the only option. In my opinion a person would need to undue the connection at the gray tank and work backwards to remove the waterless trap, in a very awkward body position working in very tight quarters. The waterless trap in the bath sink was a carbon copy of your experience, and I ended up replacing the entire assembly because of damage to the compression nutt on the elbow. Pray you never have to replace the drain assembly in the shower

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by rbs

. . .
. . . Pray you never have to replace the drain assembly in the shower

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Yes, I realize this is an old thread .....

One "interesting" thing about the Hepvo trap as installed in our Classic:

The right angle that goes from the sink drain to the trap mates "hard" against the trap. There is no gasket or other seal. They simply taper one end of the trap and smash it into a flat surface on the right angle piece. Both are nice hard PVC. Unless those surfaces fully mate (and dig in a bit), you will not get a watertight seal. The treads on the "nut" that pulls things together are not located to take care of this.

What to do? A very standard 1.5" "sliding gasket" just happens to fit there fine. That's no big surprise, it was actually designed to accept that gasket since it will install in a "slide on" fashion. If (contrary to the instructions) you put that gasket back in, it will crust better than the PVC will. It makes a watertight joint a lot quicker than trying to put in 25 pounds of thread seal .... ( I tried the thread seal approach first ).

Bob