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Old 10-30-2019, 09:37 AM   #41
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Yes the water in an out pipes are visible and there is no visible leakage. Water which I'm still investigating is coming from the bottom somewhere.

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Originally Posted by mainah View Post
The only possible way to check without removing it it would be to drain it dry the floor area with a fan etc. and refill it as it would be in use. The Anode rod is a add on I don't believe they came with one. A pressure test might show some thing but the problem there is the rest of the system it has to be tight or it will slew the test. There are also two pipe fittings in the tank, cold water in hot out usually they are to some extent visible. The bottom of the tank is about as close to the floor as it can get.
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Old 10-30-2019, 05:28 PM   #42
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Like I said it basically lies on the floor and will be pretty much impossible to see a leak. If the floor in that area is wet it's kind of a safe bet it's leaking. This I hate to say is kind of normal older camper stuff.
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Old 10-30-2019, 05:34 PM   #43
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Originally Posted by noralee View Post
Was the article staying that the wand thing wasn't required but good as an add on at this point?.
If you're referring to an anode rod, no. Essentially, the way they work is by "rotting" more quickly than the tank walls so that the corrosion happens to the rod rather than the tank.

That works well for steel tanks, but an aluminum tank like yours is effectively the same density as an anode rod--so any corrosion would be as likely to affect the tank as the rod.
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Old 10-30-2019, 10:15 PM   #44
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Originally Posted by noralee View Post
Yes, water heater on unless I leave town.

Was the article staying that the wand thing wasn't required but good as an add on at this point?

Not sure what you mean by charging the camper up.
To the question on leaving the water heater on all the time, corrosion in a tank with air/oxygen and water in them can be accelerated by heat. The hotter the water, the more it aggravates the corrosion. But, heat is only one element of the corrosion mechanism in your water heater. The actual water chemistry plays a large role in how fast the corrosion reaction will occur. Heat, in most cases makes the corrosion reaction worse.

Making an assumption you do not have a water softener treating the water going to your camper, water also contains minerals that when heated create scale in the water heater. The longer the water is heated, the more scale is created and the scale bakes onto everything inside the tank from the heat. Here is one of many articles on this, this one is an easy read. https://homeguides.sfgate.com/preven...ent-63065.html

In a home, the water heater is left on all the time. Scale buildup happens to these too pending the water chemistry. Well water can be really bad with high mineral and iron content in many cases. I happen to have one of those wells. For a home, it is practical to install and automatic water softener to remove many of the minerals that creates the scale buildup. This helps extend the life of the water heater and have other cleaning advantages to soft water while filtering out iron. Many folks never blowdown/drain their home water heaters routinely. Pending the water chemistry, in 10 years or less they can spring leak. And they are made better than an RV water heater.

Your camper water heater is made for a different use and price point. While the heater can be left on "all" time, in an RV setting the owners generally only use hot water a total of 1 to 2 hours a day. The other 22 hours a day, the water heater being left on is creating scale, cooking it on hard and coating everything inside the tank. When the tank is coated with years of scale, the heat transmission is reduced trying to heat the tank or to measure the temp of the water in the tank by it's sensor on the outside. This then can make the water even hotter as the sensor does not read accurately, take longer to heat and the water temp can get even hotter as the heating system never shuts off when it is supposed to. This higher heat even more aggravates the scale and corrosion. Not flushing the tank often, leaves all the minerals and loose scale build up in the bottom of the tank accelerating the corrosion.

In a camper, if you want the water heater to last the longest from a corrosion leak, or scale buildup, turn the heat off when you are done using it. They only take 20 to 30 minutes to reheat, so just turn it on in advance. And draining the heater periodically over the year helps too. A flush of the tank bottom as a minimum of once a year is a good thing to do.

In our camping situation, we do dishes once a day. We pick doing them after the nighttime meal. We turn the water heater on when we sit down for the meal. By the time we are done eating and table cleared, the water is up to temp. When done with the dishes, the heater goes off. Taking a nighttime shower, it comes on again before and during the shower then off. Come morning, the water is still warm enough to wash up first thing in the AM. We also drain the heater after each camping trip. It gets a flush each camping trip.

Yes, it takes time to remember to turn it on in advance, but it becomes habit to turn it on in time after enough forgets.

So yes, given your RV heater is on all the time, and you are on spring or well water that may not be conditioned, it is possible to corride through a leak in 6 to 7 years if the water chemistry is right.

I think you got it now, no need for an anode rod in your aluminum water heater. It is not going to help.

Sorry for using the wording "charge the system/camper". That is shop talk slang slipping through, for turning on the water or air to pressurize, (create the pressure) in the camper water piping and water heater system to do the leak check.

And yes, the leak check will only tell you if there is a water leak "somewhere" in the camper water system. Bottom line, any water leak "inside" a camper is a bad thing and should be dealt with quickly. Once you know for sure you have a leak, then you have to hunt down how to find it. If there is no leak, the hunt turns to some other way water is getting to where you are seeing it. The water pressure decay test is simple and quick to do for someone with basic plumbing skills. Pulling out the water heater and testing it, ranks up there with needing a little more skill then the pressure decay test. Still very doable, you just may need a friend to help you with both.

If you have medium to high confidence you believe the leak is coming from the bottom of the water heater, then start making ways to pull the heater out and check it. If you are not really sure, the pressure decay test at least tells you, the water heater does not leak if ithe test pases, thus preventing you from pulling the tank out and testing it.

If you are going to pull out the water heater, suggest getting some piping ready to bypass the water heater piping if it turns out to be the problem. It will take some time to buy a new tank or a complete water heater. Then you can at least use the rest of the camper water, just not hot water.

Hope this helps

John
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Old 10-31-2019, 06:28 AM   #45
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Here is something to think about, a large portion of central NC has a lot of manganese in the water. Aluminum and manganese do not play well together the brown stains on your water inlet are indication of manganese so the likelihood of tank perforation is higher than normal.
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Old 10-31-2019, 08:17 PM   #46
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Thank you

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Originally Posted by Tinstaafl View Post
If you're referring to an anode rod, no.

That works well for steel tanks, but an aluminum tank like yours is effectively the same density as an anode rod--so any corrosion would be as likely to affect the tank as the rod.
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Old 10-31-2019, 08:28 PM   #47
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I'm pretty confident after some more exploring that the leak is coming from the water heater bottom.

John, i clearly have not had good water heater etiquette. I was under the impression that sediment will stay on the bottom of tanks because the drain is too high so cleaning it was futile. I haven't bothered draining it. Maybe I should go ahead and drain it first when the weather clears. See if that gives me any more info b4 pulling it out. I'm still trying to understand the flushing process, as well as the the pressure check you mentioned.

Yes. I should have a stopper or something to cap the water should I take the tank out. Good idea.

Many thanks for your time, patience and knowledge.


Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnB View Post
To the question on leaving the water heater on all the time, corrosion in a tank with air/oxygen and water in them can be accelerated by heat. The hotter the water, the more it aggravates the corrosion. But, heat is only one element of the corrosion mechanism in your water heater. The actual water chemistry plays a large role in how fast the corrosion reaction will occur. Heat, in most cases makes the corrosion reaction worse.

Making an assumption you do not have a water softener treating the water going to your camper, water also contains minerals that when heated create scale in the water heater. The longer the water is heated, the more scale is created and the scale bakes onto everything inside the tank from the heat. Here is one of many articles on this, this one is an easy read. https://homeguides.sfgate.com/preven...ent-63065.html

In a home, the water heater is left on all the time. Scale buildup happens to these too pending the water chemistry. Well water can be really bad with high mineral and iron content in many cases. I happen to have one of those wells. For a home, it is practical to install and automatic water softener to remove many of the minerals that creates the scale buildup. This helps extend the life of the water heater and have other cleaning advantages to soft water while filtering out iron. Many folks never blowdown/drain their home water heaters routinely. Pending the water chemistry, in 10 years or less they can spring leak. And they are made better than an RV water heater.

Your camper water heater is made for a different use and price point. While the heater can be left on "all" time, in an RV setting the owners generally only use hot water a total of 1 to 2 hours a day. The other 22 hours a day, the water heater being left on is creating scale, cooking it on hard and coating everything inside the tank. When the tank is coated with years of scale, the heat transmission is reduced trying to heat the tank or to measure the temp of the water in the tank by it's sensor on the outside. This then can make the water even hotter as the sensor does not read accurately, take longer to heat and the water temp can get even hotter as the heating system never shuts off when it is supposed to. This higher heat even more aggravates the scale and corrosion. Not flushing the tank often, leaves all the minerals and loose scale build up in the bottom of the tank accelerating the corrosion.

In a camper, if you want the water heater to last the longest from a corrosion leak, or scale buildup, turn the heat off when you are done using it. They only take 20 to 30 minutes to reheat, so just turn it on in advance. And draining the heater periodically over the year helps too. A flush of the tank bottom as a minimum of once a year is a good thing to do.

In our camping situation, we do dishes once a day. We pick doing them after the nighttime meal. We turn the water heater on when we sit down for the meal. By the time we are done eating and table cleared, the water is up to temp. When done with the dishes, the heater goes off. Taking a nighttime shower, it comes on again before and during the shower then off. Come morning, the water is still warm enough to wash up first thing in the AM. We also drain the heater after each camping trip. It gets a flush each camping trip.

Yes, it takes time to remember to turn it on in advance, but it becomes habit to turn it on in time after enough forgets.

So yes, given your RV heater is on all the time, and you are on spring or well water that may not be conditioned, it is possible to corride through a leak in 6 to 7 years if the water chemistry is right.

I think you got it now, no need for an anode rod in your aluminum water heater. It is not going to help.

Sorry for using the wording "charge the system/camper". That is shop talk slang slipping through, for turning on the water or air to pressurize, (create the pressure) in the camper water piping and water heater system to do the leak check.

And yes, the leak check will only tell you if there is a water leak "somewhere" in the camper water system. Bottom line, any water leak "inside" a camper is a bad thing and should be dealt with quickly. Once you know for sure you have a leak, then you have to hunt down how to find it. If there is no leak, the hunt turns to some other way water is getting to where you are seeing it. The water pressure decay test is simple and quick to do for someone with basic plumbing skills. Pulling out the water heater and testing it, ranks up there with needing a little more skill then the pressure decay test. Still very doable, you just may need a friend to help you with both.

If you have medium to high confidence you believe the leak is coming from the bottom of the water heater, then start making ways to pull the heater out and check it. If you are not really sure, the pressure decay test at least tells you, the water heater does not leak if ithe test pases, thus preventing you from pulling the tank out and testing it.

If you are going to pull out the water heater, suggest getting some piping ready to bypass the water heater piping if it turns out to be the problem. It will take some time to buy a new tank or a complete water heater. Then you can at least use the rest of the camper water, just not hot water.

Hope this helps

John
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Old 10-31-2019, 09:31 PM   #48
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Originally Posted by noralee View Post
John, i clearly have not had good water heater etiquette. I was under the impression that sediment will stay on the bottom of tanks because the drain is too high so cleaning it was futile. I haven't bothered draining it. Maybe I should go ahead and drain it first when the weather clears. See if that gives me any more info b4 pulling it out. I'm still trying to understand the flushing process, as well as the the pressure check you mentioned.
Here is the flushing tool I use. There are other brands. Mine is a Camco one https://www.amazon.com/Camco-Rinser-...s%2C535&sr=8-4

Here it is in action. Start with the heater drained. I use a better hose shut off in front of it, I'm not so trusting of the little valve they provide.


Then stick the wand into the drain hole of water heater and turn it on just about wide open. Rotate the wand along with pushing it in and out, just not all the way out, blast all over. It will start loosening up and mixing up the sediment into the flush water. Then water starts gushing out with sediment in the water. After a minute or so of flushing, "shut the wand off" then pull it out. Let the water stop draining, then go at it and blast inside some more. Keep doing it.


I often put a 5 gallon bucket under the drain off area. Then the draining water dumps a lot of the sediment water flushing out into the bucket so I can see it. If I let it all run on the ground, I can't tell when the heater flushes clean. I dump the bucket between the tank drainings and the next flush out. I keep at the flush, fill half the bucket, dump and start over until the I can get a good half a 5 gallon bucket full of drain water with no sediment in it.

I have always flushed my heater in the T310SR every year in the spring before we start using it. It does not take very long if I have done it every year to run clean.

Then I started restoring 10 to 14 year old project campers. So far, every one of those I'm not sure was ever flushed or long and far inbetween flushings. It took me almost 25 to 30 gallons of flushing in the bucket to get one of them to come clean. It came out solid brown for the first 15 to 20 gallons. Finally it started to break into a haze but still took a lot more to come clean. It is common, folks do not realize how much crud collects in the bottom over the years. And as such, they may have never flushed their tank.

Oh and heads up. Do not turn on the wand full blast when it is not in the drain hole. The water pressure is so high, the wand will start bending backwards and your going to get soaked. I learned the hard way. Or should I say, the wet way.

Mainah uses a wet/dry shop vacuum I think. I tried that this spring, made up a gizmo to adapt the 2" shop vac hose to both a 1/2" poly flow tube and a 3/8" poly flow tube to get in the drain hole. I could not figure out how to get the hose to go down into the bottom of the tank. Maybe the hose was too rigid. It just would not flex down once in the heater even if I had it curled down going in. Maybe he can help show us how to do it by the vacuum method. Soft vinyl hose maybe? These heavy dirty heater, if we can maybe vacuum out a lot of crud first and then flush the rest, would make the process go quicker.

Hope this helps

John
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Old 11-01-2019, 03:34 PM   #49
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If you are going to remove it instead of capping the ends now would be a good time to instal a heater bypass system. In the future it will make you life a bit easier for draining flushing the heater.
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Old 11-04-2019, 09:14 AM   #50
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Grateful for this tutorial.

I'm going to pull the tank out this week. I'm attaching a pic of a cap. Can someone confirm this is the correct piece I need to cap the water line so I can still use the cold? I counted just needing 1 for the water line coming into the tank.

Other questions on my mind:

How do I inspect the tank itself since it is surrounded by styrafoam?

How can I decipher (and it may become obvious) if a leak is from the tank or from the connection I can barely glimpse, from the front (facing outside) to the tank itself. Or, I may just be glimpsing the heater pipe...come to think of it.

Any suggestions for on demand water heaters, very low demand (just dishes and hand washing), that works well for small camper and not break the bank if this one goes to the dump?

Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnB View Post
Here is the flushing tool I use. There are other brands. Mine is a Camco one https://www.amazon.com/Camco-Rinser-...s%2C535&sr=8-4


Mainah uses a wet/dry shop vacuum I think. I tried that this spring, made up a gizmo to adapt the 2" shop vac hose to both a 1/2" poly flow tube and a 3/8" poly flow tube to get in the drain hole. I could not figure out how to get the hose to go down into the bottom of the tank. Maybe the hose was too rigid. It just would not flex down once in the heater even if I had it curled down going in. Maybe he can help show us how to do it by the vacuum method. Soft vinyl hose maybe? These heavy dirty heater, if we can maybe vacuum out a lot of crud first and then flush the rest, would make the process go quicker.

Hope this helps

John
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Old 11-04-2019, 12:11 PM   #51
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Also welcoming other tips on removing a water heater. I must have removed the previous one and I did install this one, but that was quite a while back.
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Old 11-04-2019, 03:26 PM   #52
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Turn off the propane first!! You will need to find a 3/8 30* compression plug to plug the propane copper line if you intend to use gas for the fridge etc. The styrofoam is in two pieces they incase the heater may be taped but they come off easily. The plug looks like what you need do not put anything on it just screw it on snugly. Yes I fabricated a bunch of odds and ends to a clear flexible tube to suck out the tank it's better than nothing but less than perfect. If they put a drain tap on the bottom they couldn't sell new tanks!
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Old 11-04-2019, 11:15 PM   #53
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Here is the gas plug mainah is talking about. And yes, turn the LP gas off first.

Lowes should have the plug. Home depot may too or most any good hardware store.


Using 2 wrenches, one to hold the brass gas valve fitting, the other to loosen swivel nut on the LP gas line, unscrew the nut and plug the gas line. Use soapy water to leak check the gas connection when you turn the gas back on.




I'm not sure what model water heater you have, an all gas one (you have to light the pilot) or one with electric direct spark ignition. If you have electric direct spark ignition, you have to unhook the wiring at the back of the heater. Turn both the 120 VAC power off if yours has an electric element. And pull the 12 volt fuse or turn off the battery power if your has electronic ignition to the water heater. If yours is all gas and you have to light the pilot, then there is no electrical to unhook.

This heater has an 120 VAC electric element that has to be unhooked. The yellow romex cable going to the junction box on the back.


This one also has electronic ignition. There will be 3 or 4 wires 12 VDC with wire nuts on this vintage. 4 wires comes on the newer water heaters. Note the color connections/combinations and unhook these. Sometimes you cannot get to these until you take the heater part way out. And if doing so, try not to pinch the wires when taking the heater out.


Drain the water in the heater, pull the drain plug out and the piping by opening the low point drains and open the faucets to let air in so the water can go out. You can lift the safety relief handle on the heater also to let air in.

Get a small dish or paper towels or both. Put the towels under the bottom water line fitting in the back of the heater. Unscrew the bottom piping and the top piping. Try and get any left over water in the dish out of the fittings.


I cannot see how your heater is piped. The one above uses Pex swivel fittings to connect to the non swivel adapter fittings screwed into the back of the heater. The cap you linked will not work to plug those types of swivel fittings. Take a pic of what yours looks like and we can better make a suggestion.

Now the heater is unhooked on the inside and ready for the outside to get unhooked.

When outside, drop the cover down and take out all the screws around the outside flange of the heater holding it to the camper. There are silver metal corner plates that will come off. There is one left on in this pic. Take them off so they do not fall out.


You can take the cover off to not get in the way. Look at the hinge pivot area. Looks like this. There are spring tabs over the silver bent rod that makes the hinge. They hold the hinge to the heater


You can use a screwdriver and gently lift or tap the spring clip and tap the hinge rod towards the center. The hinge will then unhook from the cover and then pull the cover off the other hinge rod. You can remove the other hinge rod if it's in your way. Try not to bend the spring clips too far, or bend then back in place if you do.


Using a heat gun or hair dryer, warm up the outer flange all the way around. Using a dull putty knife, about 1" wide blade, with all sharp edges ground or filed smooth on the blade tip to not scratch the siding. Work the putty knife into the old warmed up putty tape. With light force, pry all around the flange to help break the putty tape seal. The heater will move a little away from the wall when the seal breaks loose.


Once you have worked the putty tape seal loose, grab the heater and start wiggling it out. It is a tight fit to the hole and needs to be wiggled until it come out. It is not that heavy empty of water. About 30 lbs maybe a little less.


You will need to carefully remove the styrofoam insulation. There is a plastic band strap on the newer ones. Try and work the strap off without cutting it. If it will not come, then you have to cut the strap. The foam insulation is in 2 large pieces.

Then inspect the tank. Look for water stains/corrosion at the start of a pin hole or at the bottom of the tank or top and bottom water line fittings. Odds are high with it leaking this long, there will be some water staining helping point to the leak. It you cannot find anything that looks like a leak, try filling the tank up to the drain hole. Or plug the drain and pipes and fill it totally with water. While that is not a pressure test, it will help show some water leak. And if that does not show anything, then you will need to do a low pressure air decay test with the tank filled with water inside.

Hope this helps

John
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Old 11-04-2019, 11:33 PM   #54
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Any suggestions for on demand water heaters, very low demand (just dishes and hand washing), that works well for small camper and not break the bank if this one goes to the dump?
The on demand ones, do you have a good source of electric power or are you thinking of gas one?

They are getting more popular, but I haven't used one other than they need a good amount of electricity to run them if your going electric. Getting the power installed may be more cost then a new tank heater.

I did a fast hit on the web and found this one. It would go in the old heater hole.
https://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/...-gswh2_42.3250

On the gas type, you have to check, but odds are high you have to make sure you can vent the gas exhaust outside. The one above does have that feature. Others I have seen are made for outside and not inside.

Again, if your heater is all gas, a new Atwood 6 gallon tank one all gas pilot light may be cheaper than tankless. Even a electronic ignition gas only one may be less. Need to do the cost comparison.
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Old 11-06-2019, 04:30 PM   #55
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Removed water heater today!! I'm convinced though that it is not the cause of the leaking. Several reasons why.

1. The water would have been hot leaking out and it was not. The surrounding area would have been heated up from the constant leaking. It was not.
2. There was no noticeable damage on the w heater. Obviously we haven't given it a pressure test, but it looked pretty good. It's a good thing we pulled it out bc we were able to clean it out well. I'll spare you the nightmarish visuals, but it was disgusting and no way would it have been enough just flushing out from installation.
3. Since there was no noticeable damage on the tank itself causing a constant leak, it would not be possible for it to create the amount of leaking on the exterior. So I feel safe ruling it out at this point. And turning my attention back towards the water inlet valve.

There was a lot more moisture under the heater location and inlet valve area than expected. So I'm letting things dry out while the heater is out for a few days. That will also give me more info. I'm leaning towards replacing the valve and regulator, and adjusting the exterior plumbing as suggested. But will see how drying out goes the next couple days. Curious on theories now. If mine stays legitimate.
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Old 11-06-2019, 06:25 PM   #56
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This is good news!! At least you are not looking at a new water heater at the moment. And you can get to drying out the camper some while you tackle the rest of the issue.

Glad the water heater came out OK.

We are "almost" as curious as you are to what you are going to find as the leak. Please report back on the findings.
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Old 11-06-2019, 07:11 PM   #57
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I'm trying to find out if my inlet valve's metal base has a hollow space between interior and exterior metal, or if it is one solid piece of metal. It is a round recessed one and I wasn't able to find any angled pics online.

Thanks John. I will keep updating as I learn.

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This is good news!! At least you are not looking at a new water heater at the moment. And you can get to drying out the camper some while you tackle the rest of the issue.

Glad the water heater came out OK.

We are "almost" as curious as you are to what you are going to find as the leak. Please report back on the findings.
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Old 11-06-2019, 09:50 PM   #58
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Quote:
Originally Posted by noralee View Post
I'm trying to find out if my inlet valve's metal base has a hollow space between interior and exterior metal, or if it is one solid piece of metal. It is a round recessed one and I wasn't able to find any angled pics online.
Your pics "seem" to match the metal round glanded ones I have seen. But I am not 100% sure what you have is one of those.

These 2 pics of yours




That style, on the ones I have seen, the white metal mounting flange is single layer sheet metal formed into that shape. Meaning there is no air gap between the inside and outside of the white metal we see in the pics. It is just a single layer thin mounting flange. The one side is outside, the other side is the inside.

The brass gold piping part, is a separate piece that mounts through a hole in the white metal mounting flange. There may be some kind of seal between the gold pipe and the white flange, or there is no seal at all and just a close fit the 2 parts that water could weep through the small clearance between the 2 parts given the right circumstance.

Hope this helps
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Old 11-07-2019, 08:17 AM   #59
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I hope there is a seal in there because I can't see where else there could be a leak from the valve. This morning there is evidence of a continued leak so I can rule out the water heater.

The valve will be replaced next. Are they all standard size? Can I buy one that is not recessed ad long as it's round? Or do I need to get exactly the same one? Will order online asap.

Also, does anyone have an inexpensive regulator that they recommend? I have 3 here that are not great.

Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnB View Post
Your pics "seem" to match the metal round glanded ones I have seen. But I am not 100% sure what you have is one of those.

That style, on the ones I have seen, the white metal mounting flange is single layer sheet metal formed into that shape. Meaning there is no air gap between the inside and outside of the white metal we see in the pics. It is just a single layer thin mounting flange. The one side is outside, the other side is the inside.

The brass gold piping part, is a separate piece that mounts through a hole in the white metal mounting flange. There may be some kind of seal between the gold pipe and the white flange, or there is no seal at all and just a close fit the 2 parts that water could weep through the small clearance between the 2 parts given the right circumstance.

Hope this helps
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Old 11-07-2019, 08:57 PM   #60
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Originally Posted by noralee View Post
I hope there is a seal in there because I can't see where else there could be a leak from the valve. This morning there is evidence of a continued leak so I can rule out the water heater.

The valve will be replaced next. Are they all standard size? Can I buy one that is not recessed ad long as it's round? Or do I need to get exactly the same one? Will order online asap.

Also, does anyone have an inexpensive regulator that they recommend? I have 3 here that are not great.
If you think water is wicking down the brass piping to inside the camper from outside, maybe use some paper towels to dry the inside brass pipe. Then place a few dry ones around the pipe and come back in an hour or so later and have a look. If the towels are wet, it helps point to where the leak may possibly be getting into the camper.

You do not have to use the exact same fresh water inlet valve. There are other brands and styles that will work, the issue may be mounting over the hole in the camper. And I do not know if they seal any better around the brass piping. All the styles I have seen only seal by a slight tight fit of the pipe to the flange. No real rubber seal there. As long as there is no water leaking in that area, then seem to work.

This one looks close to yours by your pictures, It has 1/2" NPT female threads on the inside. And the description calls out some dimensions you can check.
JR products no. 62115
https://www.amazon.com/JR-Products-6...184115&sr=8-43

Or this one too from Valtera. This one give you a new male fitting from inside the camper the JR product does not. May have to search at the Valtera site for dimensions.
https://www.amazon.com/Valterra-A01-...3184824&sr=8-2

This is one of the other styles, just the mounting is different. This kind may be too small to cover over the large hole in the camper. Again the seal to the outside works is not much different.
https://www.amazon.com/JR-Products-6...3184654&sr=8-1

On the regulator, I gave up on the restrictor type of RV regulators and bought a better quality Watts all brass spring and diaphragm adjustable regulator. This one. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Watts-LFN45...-Valve/3503148 That one costs more and you have to buy fittings for it and get a pressure gage in the system to set it. While this works great for me, it does cost more.

Camco and others have now come out with better options to RV water pressure regulators. Here are 2 of them and these are better than the restrictor types like you have now.

https://www.amazon.com/Camco-40058-A...183056&sr=8-31

And this one which has a better gage on it.
https://www.amazon.com/Renator-M11-0...3183056&sr=8-3

Those 2 are setup for garden hose fittings and have a gage so you can set it at 50 psi and they pass better volume then the restrictor types.

you will have to insulate any of them for cold weather

PS. Don't forget you need to put new butyl sealing tape between the camper and the new city water inlet valve flange where the flange screws to the camper. Rain water will leak in at the flange if it is not sealed.

Hope this helps

John
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