89 Excella plumbing problem???

[pokyjoe48]

We just bought this trailer a couple of days ago and Got the old girl home yesterday and lookin her over and can see she's in need of a good cleaning from front to rear, top to bottom. Well that's not going to be at all bad, she's all there and really looking pretty darn good. So I decide to startup all the systems in the ole girl. Started with all the electric functions, lights, switches, outlets, etc. All's well. On to propane, Fireup the stove/oven, OK, fire the furnace, OK, fire up the fridge. OK. Then it's on to the water system, notice there is water in the holding tank and the plug is in the water heater, so I cringe a bit and turn on the water pump. I open the cold water at the sink and it's OK, then open up the hot water side and wow!!! STINKY! Dang, now I get to sanitize the water system. I drain all the water, fill up with fresh water and a little bleach and run water thru the whole system. So far so good, open all the fossets one by one and things are progressing nicely. I close the last valve and notice that the water pump is still running, look around and no drips at or under the valves, go outside and look for anything outside and, oh whats this,water dripping under the drivers side wheel well. Go back inside and look under the bathroom sink and see a fine mist of water spraying from somewhere between the sink and the shower wall. I finally break out the Inspection mirror to try to locate the problem and WITH the mirror I can kind of sort of see the cracked pipe, but to get to it there is no way without taring half the bathroom apart. So now I think I'm just going to shoot myself in the head. I really am kidding. I haven't figured if I'm going to have to tare the shower out to get to the problem area or go under the trailer a pull the inner fender out. Either way ,I'm sad. PS I'll take volunteers...

[nickcrowhurst]

Joe, I feel your pain. I have the same 25ft Excella, 1988 vintage, and the problem you have is the one that has concerned me for the 16 years I've owned the trailer. The failure hasn't yet happened to our trailer, but I've thought long and hard about how to fix it. It is the least accessible pipe in the whole trailer. It passes under the shower, and emerges under the slide-out vertical shelving unit. So, what would I do? Cutting through the underside of the trailer or removing the shower seem equally horrible options to me.
I would first experiment with one of those coils of hard wire used to thread electric cables down the wall cavity of existing buildings. (Google "fish tape") I would feed the wire from the bathroom end, and see if I could get it to emerge on the other side of the trailer. If successful, I would then draw cord through on the end of the wire. I would then buy flexible potable non-translucent water hose with internal diameter the same as the outside diameter of the broken pipe, and pull that through with the cord, using a rolling hitch and some electrical tape to connect them. With "all stainless" hose clips I would attempt to use the flexible hose to bypass the damaged section, after cutting it out.
I'd certainly try that first. Good luck.
Nick.

[pokyjoe48]

Looks like the only thing I can do is remove the shower pan. The thing that really concerns me is the fragility of the plastic. I'm hoping that there is still enough flex in the 26 year old stuff. Then there's getting to the shower drain. I removed the heat vent and I can see the drain pipe its now a matter of getting to it with a wrench. Kind of like putting 10 lbs of stuff in a 1 lbs container.

[pokyjoe48]

I was careful with the shower pan and all went well. Once the pan was out of the way the water hoses that run under the shower pan were easier to get to. One of the elbows had a crack in it so I tried to replace it but when I put the old hose back on the new fitting the old hose was a little to hard and refused to take a good bite even with the new sqeeze clamps.So what I did was to replace the original elbow with a "Flair-it" elbow fitting and that took care of that problem. Put the stall back in and so far so good. yeah! Barkeep! scotch on the rocks...

[nrgtrakr]

We bought a 1975 Overlander recently. The PO claimed everything worked. I did a worst scene rebuild in my head weighed against price of admission for the used one vs a new one. We bought it, brought it home, and everthing needed help - electrical (both), water (complete replace), gas, body leaks, towing.

But it is still cheaper than new and I know it inside and out now.

Good job!