Shakedown found a leak. What else to check?

[mojospeople]

Well we took the new 2017 16 TBS out for a shakedown cruise last weekend.  I wanted to run through all the systems to make sure everything works as expected. During our dealer walk through we were unable test the water systems because it was December in Illinois and the unit was already winterized. So, since we are having unseasonably warm weather I de-winterized (thanks for the support!) so we could test these systems.

Findings in order of importance:
The shower drain appeared to be leaking leaving a little trail of water coming out from under the bathroom wall and on the floor. Not much but tonight we tested it in the driveway. Tonight's test was two-fold. Check if just dumping water down the drain produced the leak (not coming from shower head plumbing) and test the grey tank capacity.
It didn't leak into the interior like before but when I went outside, voila! Leaking through the floor and down the wheel well. Too bad I didn't notice that before we dumped 20 gallons of water in there!

Which brings me to the next point. We were only able to get 25 gallons of water into the grey tank before it was full. Specs say it should hold 32 gallons. Does this sound like the vent issue?  I did have the trailer tilted slightly forward hoping that the leak would show up in the same spot (that didn't work) but maybe that affected the capacity by blocking the vent before it was full?

I didn't have time tonight but I was also planning to hook up fresh water and test if there is a leak coming from the shower water supply. I guess if I do this I should plan to discharge the shower water into a bucket in order to not put more water into what I hope is not a water logged floor under my shower!

When I was done tonight I raised the front of the camper well above level hoping to get any remaining leaked water to a the back of the camper where I hope it can drain/leak out. Thoughts on if this was a good idea or not? How to make sure it is as dry as possible before we get more freezing weather? We're not supposed to get a really long or hard freeze just down into the upper 20's overnight this weekend and then back above freezing. What could be damaged if there is water on the floor during that freeze cycle?  I do plan to re-winterize before then. Maybe let some RV antifreeze leak in there? J/K lol

Another thing I noticed with the plumbing - under the sink there are 3 twist on pipe couplers that were loose and one dripped a couple drops of sink water. I was able to tighten them about a 1/4 turn by hand. I'm guessing maybe these work loose during transportation? Should they have some sort of pipe seal on those threads?

Otherwise everything seems to be in working order. This is a really spoiling experience. A radio? A TV? Power everything? I was like a kid on Christmas morning all weekend!

Sorry for such a long post. Probably some thought "TLDR!". But if you did and have advice, I'd love to hear it!
Lori

[djsamuel]

You may have the vent pipe issue.  We rarely use the shower, but one time after my wife then I used it, we filled the gray tank (I wasn't hooked up to the sewer).  We were at Trailer Village at the Grand Canyon and the Ravens there tend to poke through your sewer line if you leave it hooked up.  Water was leaking out from between the floor and the tank.  I can only assume it was leaking from the vent pipe or drain pipe joint.  Never had the problem again as we made sure I kept the gray tank valve open and hooked to the sewer when using the shower.

I had a leaking fitting once, on our second camping trip.  I just tightened it by had and never had another issue.

[Merlin]

Good work to test out the systems. I think tilting the camper a bit to get the water out is fine. It should dry out ok.

The 25 gallons is close to the max you'll get, but any reduction from 32 is probably due to the vent pipe. The design of the vent will prevent ever obtaining the maximum tank capacity since the pipe has to be inserted a bit just to seal. I wish the tank had a flush screw fitting on the top intend of just a hole for a pipe. You could drop the tank and saw some off the vent pipe, but it's a lot of work for what would probably be only a couple extra gallons.

I hope the shower supply plumbing is leakless. That can be hard to access.

Our shower drain was messed up at the factory too, with the connectors being just haphazardly slapped on in holes that didn't line up. I had to remove the shower pan and do some sawing and pipe fitting to fix that mess. Sounds like the same assembly person may still be at work at LL. It's fixable, but the dealer will need your trailer for a while if it's the same issue as on mine

[mojospeople]

Thanks dj and Merlin. I thought I remembered someone having an issue with the shower pan leaking. It's good to find these things this time of year before we get into the busy season. Although if the dealer is anything like the local bike shop my husband works for, they are crazy busy with this unseasonable weather we're having.

Grey tank capacity is kind of important to me because we never have full hookups where we do our camping. Although most of the time we use shower houses at the facilities we camp at and so that reduces our grey waste to just our dish water. I can live with ~25 gallons I think. I'll probably retest it while level at some point. It's nice having tank monitors too! With our old camper I never had any idea what our levels were.

[charliem]

Merlin pretty well summed up the tank capacity issue. The vent pipe is towards the front so tilting forward will decrease the tank capacity. The tank capacity is VERY sensitive to trailer leveling due to its wide flat geometry so your slight tilt probably had an effect. You could tilt slightly rearward to check this but then your shower might puddle in the rear. You're damned if you do and damned if you don't.  Try it again with the trailer perfectly level. If you get 27-28 gallons I'd call it quits and sit back with a cold brew. Welcome to the real world. When the vent problem was initially discovered we were getting only 1/2 the capacity.

[charliem]

One note on the tank monitors. The type LL uses, the internal probe type, is notoriously unreliable. The probes gum up and usually show a higher level than is real. The black tank monitor is the worst, the gray a bit better, and the fresh is usually OK. Judicious use of the black tank flusher and frequent cleaning helps but most users just give up on the black monitor. The good news is the monitors usually indicates full when the tank is really empty so, though annoying, but you won't overflow. The fix is the SeeLevel external monitor but that's a significant mod and some $$. 

[tt2retire]

I had a leak that showed by water coming out from under the shower pan when the trailer was tilting with shower pan on the high side. When tilting the other way the water dripped out near the wheel well. turned out I had a loose connection at the city fresh water connection. Leaking only happened when my fresh water system was under pressure from having the pump turned on. It was an easy fix at the dealer since the fresh water connection fitting could be removed and slid out from outside the trailer.

[PYG RYDR]

Leak from under shower pan.  This weekend I found water coming from under the shower pan while driving in the rain.  I checked the wheel well and think that was dry.  Any idea what where water came from and how to repair?

BTW, I checked previously after a rain while my camper was parked in my driveway for leaks and did not find the leak from under the shower pan.

Thanks in advance for ideas/suggestions. 

[dlb53151]

When I hook up the hose to the black tank clean out fitting on the side of trailer and turn it on, water leaks from the tank.  Presumably from the top, otherwise I would have this problem all the time.  Has anyone experienced this type of leak?


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[Merlin]

Are you sure the tank is leaking?  I ask because my black tank flush fitting froze and cracked 2 years ago when I didn't run enough compressed air through it in the winterization. The leak is just behind the connection for the hose. It causes no problems because it just dribbles out on the ground right below the fitting. If I didn't know what the problem was, I'd think my black tank was leaking. If your tank is leaking, the water coming out when using the flush would be yucky.