Where is the water coming from?

[olcoon]

Here is a question for the experts. We own a 2011 Elkridge 27RLSS. The warranty is about up, & I wanted to look at our fresh water tank to see if there were any problems. I dropped the underbelly from the curbside behind the tires. When I looked between the tank, and the insulation & the tank, it looked like there was a wet area over on the other side. I reached as far as I could, and in fact it was wet. I pulled down on the underbelly & looked between it and the insulation, and water ran out. Not much probably less than 1/4 cup. During the time I was trying to figure things out I did this several more times & got more water to run out. I tried to look from the other side, but couldn't get the underbelly down far enough to look, as it was behind the tires & I didn't feel like taking the tires off. On that side there are 2 lines running from in front of the tires to the rear tires, that are the drain lines for the hot & cold water, and from what I could determine there was more dampness there. I had the underbelly loose for about 2 1/2 days total. The coach was winterized & the water coming out was clear. Everytime I checked in the time the underbelly was loose water came out. Yesterday, I drained the system & charged the lines with fresh water. Had water in the tank, and left the pump on & it didn't cycle on & off like it was leaking. Didn't find any leaks on city water either. This morning I checked it & everything was dry. Our last trip was in Nov. & we did drive through some heavy rain several times. The only time it's been on the road since then, was about 5 trips to & from the dealer, but I don't remember driving in rain. I would think that if it was rain water collected from our Nov. trip, it would be gone by now, and that seemed like a lot of water for just condensation. Any ideas?

 

[Snakebite]

Could it be the vent onthe fresh water tank? Today I filled my fresh water tank for the very first time. It would not take water very well.... kept "Burping"... it took over a 1/2 hr to fill because I had to do it so slowly... When I was done.. I noticed that the floor of the storage compartment was wet. It's a 7 hr round trip to my dealer, so I'll try pulling things apart tomorrow. Anyway... you might see if it gets wet again when you fill your water tank.

Snakebite

 

[olcoon]

Thank's for the reply. Don't think it could be that, haven't had water in the fresh water tank since Sept., don't hardly use it. I had the opportunity to talk to an RV tech the other day & asked him about it. He felt that with the high humidity here in MO it was probably condensation.

 

[Gib]

I have a 2011 34TSRE and have the same problem. The fact that the underbelly is not totally enclosed allows water from the road to get up between the foil insulation and the plastic underbelly. In my opinion the whole thing should be sealed to prevent this from happening. I had another 5th wheel before this one and it was totally sealed up. The other thing to keep in mind is that they are suppose to be rodent proof. I find that around the spare tire and the landing gear jacks there is plenty of room for critters to get in. That brings me to another point. If you are using the docking station hole to bring the water into your trailer the critters can crawl up the hose and easily enter your vehicle.

Hope this helps, I will be sealing mine up when they are finished with the 25 30 warranty issues that have cropped up and I have only taken the trailer on one trip about 100 miles round trip. Not a very happy camper.

Gib Firneisz

 

[olcoon]

Hope this helps, I will be sealing mine up when they are finished with the 25 30 warranty issues that have cropped up and I have only taken the trailer on one trip about 100 miles round trip. Not a very happy camper.

I know what you mean. Our warranty ends this week, and there isn't enough room here to list the issues we've had. Nothing major, but still a PITA! We like it for the most part though. Hopefully we've got all the bugs worked out and go from the sad face to a happy face! Good luck with yours!