Water Leak Issues

morganm12

George
I have had an ongoing water leak for 2yrs which occurs randomly. Because it appeared to be so small in nature I never considered it a major issue and thought it to be connected to a leak found in the water access located in the basement. The leak in the basement was corrected but the nagging leak in the underbelly kept showing occassionally.
Because this leak was documented more than once prior to the warranty expiration Heartland agreed to cover the work, which I appreciated. I was never in a location close to my dealer (Camperland RV Sales and Service, Conroe, Tx.) when I noticed the little drip drip drip until a few weeks ago. I was within a couple hours drive from my dealer so I called and was asked to bring it in right away which I did. The insulation was removed from the underbelly and found to be saturated with water. The insulation was literally reduced to a pancake batter thickness and so soaked that the techs had to scrape it off the bottom cover and haul it off with a shovel.
A minimal effort was made to locate the source of the water while the belly and holding tanks were exposed. Graywater holding tank # 2 was partially filled and observed briefly. Stan (the owner of Camperland), decided the water was coming through the exhaust port for the hotwater heater when raining. To test his theory he got a soda can filled with water and poured it into the base area of the hotwater heater access and because the bottom wasn't sealed the water seeped out and down the inside wall of the trailer skin and made its way into the belly causing the perceived leak. The bottom of the hotwater heater access was sealed, insulation replaced and we were sent on our way.
In about two weeks (we are fulltimers) the leak showed again. It had not rained for several days. We drained all the holding tanks and waited for the dripping to stop. Being made aware Camperland was not going to search for the source of the leak, I decided to try to find it on my own. I closed holding tank #2 (shower), turned the water on in the shower and vanity basin, filled the tank till it covered the shower floor. WE WAITED. Three to four hours later the "Monster" reappeared. At this point I called Camperland and told them that I had pin pointed the source of the water and wanted to add this to the fix it list, I was already scheduled for another problem. It was at this point that my patience started being tested. After explaining how I arrived at my finding that the #2 tank was the source of the water leak he stated that you can't over fill the holding tanks or they will leak and it can't be fixed indicating that he was not willing to try anymore.
My next call was to Heartland where I was referred to Steve who only echoed Stans assessment of my problem. After a bit of putting up with my discontent he agreed to repairs if it was found to be the tank or a flange, which I could live with. I relayed this to Stan and he still refused to try and fix the leak stating that Heartland did not allow him enough time on the last attempt to fix said leak costing him money for his techs time. I had recently paid him a $100 on an earlier appointment to locate the leak and nothing was found. I told his service writer to tell Heartland that I would bring it back to Elkheart if needed. My question now is, has anyone else had this type of water leak?
Steve told me that he worked for Holiday Rambler and they had the same problem. I owned a 2002 Montana and my wife overfilled the shower tank up into the bottom frequently and it never leaked in 5 years so its hard for me to accept that this is an industry wide problem. With the exception of the above mentioned test to locate the leak, we have not overfilled tank # 2 in this Grand Canyon more than twice in the two years we've been in it.
I categorically state here and now that I don't think the leak is occurrring from overfilling my tank. This is a gravity fed system and not subjected to any kind of pressure from a pump or heat expansion. A simple seal and collar nut like one can find under your kitchen sink at the p-trap would prevent this leak if thats where my leak is occurring. Stan showed me a seal like the ones used and I can't see where this would leak if installed correctly, ie; don't trap saw dust, metal filings, or other foriegn matter under the seal.
In my management training we were taught if you expect or accept mediocrity then thats what you will get. At this time I would be hard pressed to recommend Camperland RV Sales and Service or Heartland products.
 
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jpmorgan37

Well-known member
George;

I am truly sorry to hear of your problem with the #2 gray tank. We have a Grand Canyon and have filled the gray tank to the overflow on a couple of times and never had the problem, so I will say that it is not a typical problem.

John
 

jayc

Texas-South Chapter Leaders
George,
I can feel your pain with Camperland and Stan. I had several issues with him over service problems, but recently I took my trailer to Camping World in Katy and was treated the way I want to be treated!

They fixed my problem with a squeaking floor by dropping the fresh water tank to make the repair and neveer said a word about my not buying my unit there. Ask for Vincent and he will fix you up.
 

vangoes

Well-known member
Morganm12
I overfilled my kitchen holding tank once (trickling in freezing temps) and it leaked badly around the sink trap joints. Easy to get to for tightening......shower would be a different story! OH, did I mention that trickling a faucet overnight will definately fill a tank!!!!!!!! Bad idea!!!!
 

ChopperBill

Well-known member
All tanks FULL, NOTHING should leak! Tell you the truth. I dont even go to the dealer any more. Had to re-do every thing they did. If you have the capabilities and the facilities, I would take the bottom off the trailer(not that hard but can be messy) and fill every thing up and take a peak. Leak should be easy to find and fix then. Guess when I get to old to fix my own stuff I will have to stay home. :(
 

morganm12

George
FOFL. We leave our water trickleing during freezing weather, but we also open the valve on the holding tank.
 
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jimtoo

Moderator
I had a similar leak, very small and hard to find. Finally found that under normal conditions, taking a shower the leak was almost none existence, but if tank got to full and shower water started standing, it leaked big time. I found mine was an "elbow" fitting in the drain under the shower that was not properly glued. If you remove the panels in the basement, you should be able to see plumbing under the shower. Water went right into belly and not into basement.
 

morganm12

George
For those who read this post, Steve has contacted me and told me that he (Heartland) would help me locate a suitable place, other than Camperland in Conroe, Tx., to make the repairs needed to resolve my water leak. He also gave me the choice to bring it back to Elkhart which I will likely do. Thanks for your remarks.
 

msleeper

Member
I have a leak on a 3400 BH Through my investigation i found that one of the fitting for the tanks (#2) vent stack is not connected as from the factory about 2 18" above the tank. So when the tank is full istead of the water raising up the vent stack and not letting the water drain, it eould run out of the stack to the under belly.
I have been putting off visiting Stan at Camperland for my experience with them is far less then optimal.
Now i keep an eye on the tanks fill gage and drain the tanks more often, where i used to wait till the tub wouldn't drain to tell me it was full.
 

woodenit

Member
Another way would be, put a different colored die(food coloring) in each source that you think was the culprit. After it leaks follow to the source of the color.....or not:)
TJ
 

donabel

Active Member
back to Elkhart ,or RV Capital to the rescue

I had to take mine back to Elkhart.
After 12 months and several dealer's attempts(??) to repair my issues , resulting in more problems and damage to the unit beyond the original problems, I found myself working less than 300 miles from Elkhart.

I took it there and I have to say, the gang at RV Capital are on top of the situation. They found and fixed problems explaining every complaint that I have listed for the past year. Several of the dealers have told me they found no problems, but Brian and the crew found something wrong at every issue.

I am in the burn in stage now, I left Elkhart on Saturday, and all seems to be well.
My intermitant leak turned out to be a pinhole in a seam of the water heater, a defective faucet and some loose connections.

They peeled back half of the roof and fixed the problems there and reglued the roof.

I had slide awnings put on while I was there, and their prices were very reasonable ( installed for what I could purchase them in boxes elsewhere)

I can't say enough about them, and I guess I had better not say anything about the dealers that I went to or I will be censored.

RV Capital is Aces.

Don ( a much happier camper)
 

morganm12

George
Thanks for your post. Going back to Elkhart is not on my favorites list, with diesel cost rising really fast. I am hoping for a fix on my problem. Thanks for the vote of confidence.
 

htneighbors

Unbelievably Blessed!
Water Leak

I had a water leak recently in the Cyclone. :mad: I had just returned from work, walked in and turned on the water heater switch. (I've been turning it off during the day, while I'm gone.) Messed around for a few minutes, relaxing from the work day, then decided to go fish for a bit. Grabbed the poles, walked down to the lake, was gone for about 2 hours total. (Only caught 3 :(.) When I got back, there was about a 2' wide little river of water running from under my control panel, across the floor to the carpet under the dining table. :eek: I grabbed a towel, dried up the floor and then began looking. Since the leak was practically right below the main bath toilet, I checked there first. No leaks! Ended up checking in the access hole in the wall, the shower, under the sink - nothing wet above the source of the water inside the Cyclone. :(

Went out to the storage compartment, removed the wall to access all the wiring and plumbing, found a trail of water leading back to the water heater. Quickly checked the hand fittings for tightness - tweaked them a little, but I had also tweaked them a little during my PDI. The COLD (lower) one was wet, but the HOT (upper) one was dry. Dried up all the water down there and kept looking around at every PEX line, coupling, elbow, fitting - everything. No leaks. Thought I stopped it! :eek:

Next day, checked for leaks before I went to work - Nothing! Came home after work, turned on the water heater, went about my business. Ran water when needed - sink, toilet, etc. Kept checking periodically for leaks down below. Nothing. Next morning - had a puddle about 4" right under the water heater lines! :mad: Turned off the main from the CG, bled the pressure at the kitchen sink and went to work.

When I got home, turned on the CG source, DIDN'T turn on the water heater, ran water in the kitchen sink, waited, checked for leaks, ran more, waited, checked again. Continued this process with each water outlet in the front of the rig - toilet, shower, bath sink, - no leak. Finally at 10pm, I turned on the water heater and crawled into the storage with my flashlight - watched and waited. And watched and waited. And watched and waited. No leaks! At 10:30, I crawled out and when my feet hit the ground, I looked back over at the water heater - A LEAK from the HOT (upper) outlet! :eek: Quickly - again - tightened it up - TIGHT! It seems, every other time I would check it, it had stopped dripping and the heat had already dried it up where it had started! NO LEAKS SINCE - knocking on wood! :cool: You never know with water leaks!
 

morganm12

George
Hello all,
We arrived at RV Capital Service Center yesterday evening. We were parked out back of the shop and this morning work began to locate the water leaks. The leaks were located and now we are waiting on authorization from Heartland to fix said leaks. I understood that the fix was already OKed per Steve at customer service.

Has anyone dealt with Lippert. I need to speak to them about my landing gear cutting off intermittently while unhooking from my truck. The guys here at RV Capital Center think I have a bad motor or breaker. This is one of those things that I ask Stan about two years ago and his typical "oh its OK" response. I think Lippert has a longer warranty than does Heartland. I'd like to get it fixed. It's aggravating to raise the trailer 1 or 2 or 3 inches at a time until it clears the hitch.
 
George, I spoke with a fellow at Lippert a few days ago on a slide problem I was having. If I remember right, his name was Vance, and he was very helpful. I suggest you give them a call - 866-524-7821.

Karl
 
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