Help removing hot water heater and plumbing stack

[drrhein]

I noticed the basement floor was a bit soft, further investigation revealed the mess shown in the photo.


Removed all of the floor except that which is under the HW heater and plumbing stack. Anybody help me of how to remove these? Just enough to get the old floor out. I didn't even know the upper water heater fitting was cracked and the water was running under the floor. Couldn't even see anything until the wall was removed, then the leak was apparent. This system badly needs a simple drain pan under the HW heater and you can bet I'm putting one in. The crappy way this is built, the water just collects under the floor until the wood gets saturated and falls apart. This is a three year old Grand Canyon and most of it's life it's been dry and not connected so this is indicative of construction materials quality, which ain't very good.


Getting there but the framework was rotten too so I've removed that except for that which is under the HWH. Looks like the thing was built before the final assembly so it'll have to be built in-place in sections.


Dennis

 

[danemayer]

Dennis, I'm really sorry you've got all this damage. And I'm afraid I don't have any advice on repairing the wood.

When you do get to putting things back together, you should replace the plastic check valve on the water heater outlet with a brass check valve. You might be wondering why RV manufacturers would use a plastic fitting in the first place. My understanding is that the brass fitting manufacturing process deposits a tiny amount of lead in the brass fitting. Because of the strict environmental restrictions in at least one state, RV manufacturers use a plastic check valve. And as you've found, plastic is not as durable as brass.

Sometimes the plastic fitting can be very difficult to remove. If yours falls apart with plastic stuck in the metal threads, there are several approaches people have used to remove the old plastic. A lawn sprinkler nipple remover tool from Home Depot or Lowes may do the job. If not, you can try scraping the threads with a hacksaw blade. Or perhaps a Dremel Tool with a small wire brush might do the job.

Again, sorry you're going through this. If I hadn't already replaced my check valve, your experience would be enough to motivate me.

 

[ParkIt]

Whoa! So sorry you are having to deal with this!
I also am not sure how you would remove the stack in your unit, ours has the HWH below the shower so if it were me, I'd take out the shower unit to get to all of the plumbing and possibly the HWH. I wonder if you call Heart Land and ask if they can send you the schematics they will do that and more even though its out of warranty.

Now I know to replace our check valve as well if this has been the culprit in water damage like yours.

Wish I could be of more help for you.

 

[brianharrison]

The plumbing stack could be cut and re-coupled with a "repair coupling"; not sure about the code in your area but a plumber should be able to chime in. I would be comfortable using this repair approach. You should look at the stacks and see if there is enough flexibility to move laterally, or possibly up to drop the new floor "hole" over the cut stack stubs.

It may be more effective to notch the new floor to slide around the stack and add a cover across the notched sheet to seal it up. I have ran this cover in houses across to the two support beams on each side of the notch.

The hot water heater should be able to be unscrewed from the front flange (from outside the trailer) and slid back into the coach, or out?. I'll look tonight at mine, have not had it out, but have removed other SOB Rvs water heaters in this manner. I do see from the pics that your Grand Canyon has the water heater beside the UDC, mine is on the door side beside the batteries. My furnace is in the place where your water heater seems to be located.

Brian

 

[ParkIt]

I keep looking at the pictures and if it were me, I'd cut the stacks about 2" below the upper floor to get those out of the way. Depending on where your WH is in your unit, if its under the shower that is a one piece unit and I'd cut the bead and move it far enough to get to the water heater from the top to remove it.
As for the frame you can cut out the existing cross beams and built and I beam up then put new 2x4's with truss grommets to attach to the I beam. The stacks is where I'd use a screw fit and neck then run the same cut off stack, thread it and screw that up to seal.

I'd also be calling my insurance company just in case as well as Heart Land but I'm not there so it's difficult to know what all repairs are needed and how to get to them. You might be able to use a moisture meter to see how far it spread which I hope isn't any further than what you've found so far.

 

[ParkIt]

The plumbing stack could be cut and re-coupled with a "repair coupling"; not sure about the code in your area but a plumber should be able to chime in. I would be comfortable using this repair approach. You should look at the stacks and see if there is enough flexibility to move laterally, or possibly up to drop the new floor "hole" over the cut stack stubs.

It may be more effective to notch the new floor to slide around the stack and add a cover across the notched sheet to seal it up. I have ran this cover in houses across to the two support beams on each side of the notch.

The hot water heater should be able to be unscrewed from the front flange (from outside the trailer) and slid back into the coach. I'll look tonight at mine, have not had it out, but have removed other SOB Rvs water heaters in this manner. I do see from the pics that your Grand Canyon has the water heater beside the UDC, mine is on the door side beside the batteries. My furnace is in the place where your water heater seems to be located.

Brian

I've pulled a water heater the same way you did but it was on an RV so the basement set up was very different and made it easy. Not sure if there is the same clearance and attachments as RV's vs towables.

 

[rjr6150]

Dennis
If your asking about the two black plastic ABS plumbing stack easy removal. Both look to be 1 1/2" just cut them out and when ready to replace head to one ot the big box stores and purchase four what is called no-hub fitting in that size. Photo on one type below when I had the plumbing shop used these all the time.
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[drrhein]

I probably need to remove the UDC too, any idea how that comes out? I've about concluded that I can notch around the plumbing stack.

 

[JohnDar]

I think the fitting you'll need is called a "Fernco" fitting. Take the size of the pipe you're trying to join to a plumbing supply house and they should be able to fix you up. HD and Lowes has them, but might not have the size you need.
The water heater should be removable from the outside of the trailer. Look at the Manuals section under the Tool tab and you should find info on the water heater and how it's installed.

There is no repair for rotted or delaminated plywood, just replacement.

 

[aatauses]

Sorry to see the problems you had. Concerning the water heater---go to the manual section here on the forum--you can see how to install and go from there. Be careful with electrical including the 12V, along with your gas connection. I was one who broke the plastic check valve, so was considering taking out the heater to get at the connection. However with the help of the forum, used a dremel and tap and should be back in business tomorrow.
al
currently in Kenai, AK

 

[khalsey]

Sorry about your problem. I had to replace half of my basement floor a couple of years ago and thought you might be interested in the flooring I used. This is from a old post. Re: My basment floor is sagging, anyone else notice this?

I had to replace half of my basement floor (offdoor side) in my 2006 Landmark due to getting wet and unable to dry out with bottom wrap and rubberized flooring cover on top. It is 5/8 inch decking and with the rubberized flooring was about 11/16 so I replaced it with 3/4 decking from SpaceAge Synthetics www.spaceagesynthetics.com From the factory the flooring with cover goes under the wall so the 3/4 inch without cover was slightly thicker but went under wall without too much work.​

I used the "Versatile" decking and the lady (Julie) that I talked to told me that they had seconds (cosmetic blemishes) that would work for my purpose so the price of the material was reasonable but the shipping is very high priced. I had them cut the sheet into 3 pieces so they could ship them FedEx. There is one center 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" aluminum cross member running front to back that is about 46" center to side spacing. I added a cross support for the joint of the pieces I installed.//heartlandowners.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=20721&d=1344610371&thumb=1//heartlandowners.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=20722&d=1344610710&thumb=1//heartlandowners.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=20723&d=1344611219&thumb=1//heartlandowners.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=20724&d=1344611620&thumb=1//heartlandowners.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=20725&d=1344611750&thumb=1​