Failure of low point drain valve?

[desidou]

We just arrived in Louisiana to visit family for the holiday and we are staying in our 19' Bambi. We winterized the unit at our home near Atlanta earlier in the season, so we've been using bottled water for the past day + that it took to drive from GA to LA.

Upon arriving at our camping destination, we gladly connected the water line and disabled the hot water heater bypass valves and turned on the water heater. Almost immediately, we noticed water running from the hot water line in the rear of the trailer - where one of our low point drains are located. My husband asked me to close the valve and when I indicated that it was already closed, we discovered that the valve must be malfunctioning. Thinking that maybe a calcium deposit was the cause of the drain malfunction, we tried opening and closing the drain to dislodge any deposits that would not allow the drain to close properly - thus allowing a stream of water through. Nothing that we could do would eliminate the water leak.

Thinking that we could just live with the situation, we then discovered that this issue also prevents us from getting any hot water from our water heater -- because of the leak, the water drains from the water heater and it would run indefinitely since there is a leak and the hot water never makes it to the faucets. Once again, we're without hot water.

In the 1.5 years we've owned our trailer (we purchased it NEW from a dealer), this is the 3rd trip that we've had where we were unable to have hot water in the trailer. The previous two times were due to issues with the water heater and now I feel like we just have a lemon on our hands...

We're planning to visit the AS factory in the spring to get them to fix some warranty issues that we have (outside of this issue) with the trailer, so we could just add this issue to our list. I am hoping that maybe we are missing something really obvious that someone can point out. Do you have any ideas for troubleshooting this issue or for a short term fix? We may try finding a cork that would fit in the drain line to plug the leak for the short term...any thoughts on this?

I would appreciate any feedback/suggestions you may have.

Thanks!

[2airishuman]

how are you opening and closing the inline low point valve?

cheers
2air'

[desidou]

We are using the valve controls located under the bed in the rear of the unit - they are also accessible via the exterior storage trunk. The only times we've ever opened these valves was during our winterization process - just as the manual tells us to.

I hope this bit of info helps...

[2airishuman]

"I indicated that it was already closed, ....we tried opening and closing the drain to dislodge any deposits that would not allow the drain to close properly"



HOW are you opening and closing the valves at the low point?

they operate differently than the hot water bypass valves..


cheers
2air'

[desidou]

Ours are an oval like knob that look identical to the hot water bypass valves. If the oval knob is perpendicular to the pipe, it's either open or closed and if it's parallel to the pipe, it's reversed. Turn it one way and water gushes out of the hot water low point pipe (red). Turn it the other way and we get the steady leak/drizzle which we are hoping to somehow stop/fix.

[2airishuman]

ahhh....

the lower point valves on mine are metal/brass? and screw in/screw out... several turns to open/close and some folks don't turn them enough times...

the chrome/plastic oval valves you describe,
should be off when perpendicular and on when in line...

i didn't realize they used them on the low water points on bambis...

so you have a leaky one...

a quick fix but still a pia not having hot water...

cheers
2air'

[desidou]

"the chrome/plastic oval valves you describe,
should be off when perpendicular and on when in line..."

Yes, those are the valves. Guess we will look at them again, but I believe they only turn 90 degrees, back and forth. Just wondering how hard it will be to get the leaky one fixed.

[Silvertwinkie]

On our 19' Bambi and our 25' Safari, there is one valve near the water heater bypass that will open and when open, discharge out the lower discharge pipe.

I would fiddle with the lowest knob you see and it should shut off.

[desidou]

On a theory that the knob was keeping me from turning the valve farther, I removed the knob and then was able to tighten it (just a little) with a pair of pliers and stopped the leak. Anway, the fix is in.