Question for all you RV plumbers out there

[Steve]

God you gotta love previous owners of RV's. The things they will do to avoid fixing something right. The first picture shows where the pressure regulator from city water was removed and bypassed with garden hose and hose clamps. You'll never get a tight fitting with a piece of copper pipe, a garden hose, and a hose clamp. Of course this leaks and has rotted out the floor.

http://www.airstreamforums.com/attachments/gallery/files/5/7/4/0/bad_plumbing.jpg

Now question to all you plumbers out there, how do I fix this the right way? Is there some sort of pressure fitting I could put on the end of those copper pipes that would get me a better seal on the garden hose?

The next picture show my other problem in the back end. Both of the valves to empty the water system leak water from the system continuously and at least need to have new washers put in them.

http://www.airstreamforums.com/attachments/gallery/files/5/7/4/0/bad_valves.jpg

Now I tried turning the top cap nuts on these things as hard as I could but I thought if I got out any heavier artillery on them I'd just crack them off. I don't know if these are the original valve or not but they look like it. Any suggestions on how to fix or replace?

HELP!!

[Steve]

Anybody ever use a product called "Just for Copper" for soderless joints between copper pipe? Does it work?

[Burksee]

Anybody ever use a product called "Just for Copper" for soderless joints between copper pipe? Does it work?Sorry, never heard of it. For RV applications I'd suggest using poly pipe or soft copper. Compression fittings for soft copper, compression or crimp couplers for poly. I've gotten away from gate valve and use mostly ball valves. They cost more but IMO are way more reliable and user friendly! :)

If you wanna stick with using garden hose they make a fitting that solders onto the copper that you can hook a hose couple to. Get a garden hose end/repair kit install that on the hose end to attach to the copper/fitting. ;)

Replacing any rotted wood with wolmanized plywood or composite lumber will eliminate any further or future issues.

[kroppe]

Steve,

What's on the other side of the garden hose? I would recommend piping it all with CPVC, but need to know what is on both ends of your pipe run. CPVC is easy to cut and, fittings are available, and is assembled with solvent glue - no torches or clamps. CPVC is normally used for potable hot/cold water piping. Avoid PVC as it is normally used for drain/waste/vent piping and not potable systems.

[Ogre]

A typical RV has a garden hose connection that immediately is plumbed into a check valve, to prevent back flow, and then to the interior plumbing via a tee. The tee is generally on the outflow side of the pump with the pump acting as a check valve preventing back flow into your fresh water holding take. The tee has 1) input from city water, 2) input from pump, and 3) output to remaining interior plumbing. Generally at the city water hook up there is a strainer in the line to catch large particulates.


City Water => Check Valve => Tee ==> Remaining Interior Water Connections
Fresh Water tank => Pump ===^

All new RV's are plumbed with PEX (cross linked polyethylene) tubing. This is generally done for two reasons. First, the stuff is easy to work with and is flexible. Second, the pipe takes enormous abuse including some freezing and thawing and will generally not spring a leak nor lose it physical properties. The kicker to this is that the fittings used in the past for the pipe did not give as readily as the pipe itself and would freeze and crack. PEX tubing has two different type of connections. The first type of connection has a ring crimped on the outside and these connections are very secure. These connections are very similar to compression fittings on copper tubing. The kicker to this is that the crimp tool is well over $100. Many places as HomeDepot rent these crimping tools. The second type of connection is describe at: http://www.flair-it.com/ . The newer black connections apparently have flexing properties more closely associated with the tubing. I have used the older Flair-It connections (white connectors) before and they work just fine.

My best advise would be to first look at your city water connection. If it is fine then plumb from there but if not fine then any good RV place carries these connectors. I would then use PEX tubing with the Flair-It connectors to complete the plumbing.

[Steve]

I gotta get this thing out of my driveway so I'm looking to do it so it will last but also not looking the re-plumb the whole unit. I'd be ok with garden hose there but was at Lowes today and did not see any fittings that would so directly on 1/2" copper pipe to screw a garden hose on. A ribbed fitting that would go on the end of those copper pipes would work as well. Replacing the valves I think is going to be harder.

[Steve]

I did get the stems out of the valves without cracking them. Here is what they look like. Any idea where a replacement(s) could be found? Really not looking forward to replacing the valves. The copper job I can handle.

http://www.airstreamforums.com/attachments/gallery/files/5/7/4/0/valves.jpg

[Erik]

Originally your air stream was plumbed with copper and brass using flare fittings and pipe thread fittings. Most likely through the years freeze damage occured making the copper lines impossible to work with due to expanding. The owner/owners theres probably been multiple owners, did what they could at the time to fix things easily as possible. Some of your system now has qest fittings, "uncopper" fittings, and plain ole garden hose spliced in. The gate valves in your pics are probably not OEM. They look more like CPVC plastic or "uncopper" and they were probably purchased at a hardware store or lumber yard/home improvement type store. You might get lucky and find parts to fix them, but I wouldn't count on it. More likely that you can find new ones and simply replace them? Lowes and other similar stores carry the "uncopper" fittings that are fairly easy to work with. Brass pipe threaded valves will work too. The only trouble is the plastic pipe thread adapters you have there often leak when threaded into brass. If you put lots of tephlon tape on the threads you can sometimes get them to seal. If you really want to do it right though PEX is the way to go for RVs. The only trouble is having the tools to work with it. Our crimpers cost $300.00 each.
When we fix stuff like this in the shop we just have to do the best with what there is to work with, and what the customer can afford. It's not fun by any stretch of the imagination. Something the "new" guy would get stuck fixing :)

[kroppe]

Steve,

Garden hose ends use NPT threads, which are standard pipe threads. You can get standard copper adapters, both female and male, that will attach to garden hose with no clamps. Just use teflon paste or tape to make a leaktight connection. Not sure if this is exactly what you're trying to do, but you do have options if you want to keep the hose.

[Steve]

After two hours at Lowes tonight (man I hate Home Depot) and lots of friendly help, I have the parts to fix the problem. Man I can believe how rotted out the floor is back there from water from pipes and water from outside both of which I'm working on. It will feel good to actually start putting things back together instead of tearing things apart. I'm got brass ball valves and am not using PEX as I don't have the tools.