Leaks on shower ports

[Mhastings14]

We have a brand new 2021 Imagine 2400bh and After our first freeze in Northwest Georgia, it seems the swivel pex fittings that fit on the back of the shower ports front and back have pulled apart. I may have thought I didn’t do the antifreeze the proper way but after happening to all of the swivel threaded fittings I’m thinking that something is up here. The swivel part came off of the pex fitting itself. Anyway, We found this out when getting ready to go to our winter trip in Destin. We first found The back shower port because it completely separated from the fitting and started a mess! What’s interesting though is that it coverts from pex to some other hose before going to the port. Only about 8 inches of it. It’s more bendable than pex though. It had a 1/2 pinch pex crimp on it going to a 1/2 pex fitting , but I could not get a 1/2 crimp ring on it for nothing! Since it was only 8 inches I cut the ring off the existing tee fitting and replaced with pex pipe only. Problem solved for the back shower port. Now the current problem.
On the front shower port the hot fitting has this bigger 1/2 inch hose on it and if I cut it I’m not sure I can get the pex crimp on it. I can’t replace it entirely with pex like I did the rear because the hose disappears into the underbelly. Anyone know what type of hose this is? I looked at the forums and saw a lot of conversation on “soft hose” but it looks different than the hose I have on mine. I’ve included a picture of what I’m referring to. Maybe it is the same I’m not sure

[Country Campers]

That is a similar type "soft hose" as the ones that have been discussed here. I have the same white hose from the pump to the water panel. The actual hose is not the problem. The hose has a larger inside diameter than the pex fittings outside diameter , this is the problem area. You can do one of 2 things. Replace the "soft" hose with pex , or replace the fittings with the proper hose barb for 1/2" hose. If you use the hose barb I would recommend using a hose clamp instead of the pex ring.

Brian

[Mhastings14]

Thank you for the reply. Right now the hot side is holding but I’ve developed a paranoia about trusting this fitting so I will replace when I get home. For now I’m turning off the water whenever we leave the camper or at night. I saw a rv repair van during our trip to destin and I ask what they do. He said you can heat up the tubing to make the 1/2 inch crimp fit. NorthgateRV where we bought it from said they’ve never had an issue but sometime it is hard to get the pex crimp on the hose. I can’t replace the soft hose without dropping the underbelly so I may give the heating up a try. If that doesn’t work I will try a new barb and hose clamps I tried a hose clamp on the back port with a 1/2 pex fitting and it leaked like crazy so I wasn’t a big fan of that either.

[Country Campers]

Thank you for the reply. Right now the hot side is holding but I’ve developed a paranoia about trusting this fitting so I will replace when I get home. For now I’m turning off the water whenever we leave the camper or at night. I saw a rv repair van during our trip to destin and I ask what they do. He said you can heat up the tubing to make the 1/2 inch crimp fit. NorthgateRV where we bought it from said they’ve never had an issue but sometime it is hard to get the pex crimp on the hose. I can’t replace the soft hose without dropping the underbelly so I may give the heating up a try. If that doesn’t work I will try a new barb and hose clamps I tried a hose clamp on the back port with a 1/2 pex fitting and it leaked like crazy so I wasn’t a big fan of that either.

As you mentioned "For now I'm turning the water off whenever we leave the camper". This should always be the practice. At any time you could have a water issue , leak or maybe someone left a faucet on a slow drip , when you return if there is a problem it will not be a fun time cleaning up. I have never heard to heat up the tubing to make it better and can not comment on that.

Brian

[howson]

Mhastings14 -- I'll echo Country Campers advice: always turn off the water heater and turn off the park water source when leaving the camper for any length of time. The awnings always come in, too, when the DW and I leave the camper. I'm don't mean walking the dog around the park when I write "leaving the camper..." (hopefully it's clear).

Just like locking the doors--do these couple of extra preventative steps every time and it will become a habit that will save you grief at some point down the road.

Howard

P.S. "Destin"? You're just down the road! Today is a gorgeous day in NW Florida! (Sorry Rob and Brian...)

[Mhastings14]

Yes I agree with shutting the water off. I guess I’m just more paranoid than usual. I don’t want to leave the camper for a second without turning off. Also I wouldn’t normally turn the water off at night either. Lastly, yes, the weather yesterday was amazing. The thunderstorms coming in tonight maybe not so great, but we will see

[Cate&Rob]

Mhastings14
Many of us have been down this same road, with leaks between the soft hose and a fitting designed for Pex pipe. The soft hose end on an otherwise Pex line is becoming more common since Grand Desgn uses this to expedite final assembly between the water lines and the fixtures.

It is fairly simple toy make up "repair connections" that adapt from Pex fittings and pipe to a 1/2" hose barb and a hose clamp which are the correct attachment to the soft hose (See attached picture)

When leaving the RV for any length of time, it is wise to shut off both the water and the water heater. An easy way to do this is to plumb a solenoid valve into the city water connection and connect this to the water heater switch. (See attached pictures) When leaving the RV, we turn off the water heater which also closes the water feed to the trailer by way of this solenoid valve. If we are operating on tank water and/or propane water heating, these switches can be turned off in the main panel as well.

Rob

[Mhastings14]

Thank you for the solenoid idea. I might try this in the future. For now what do you guys think about the 5/8 barb idea plus a 5/8 pinch clamp instead of a hose clamp?

[Country Campers]

Thank you for the solenoid idea. I might try this in the future. For now what do you guys think about the 5/8 barb idea plus a 5/8 pinch clamp instead of a hose clamp?

The soft hose will not fit onto a 5/8" hose barb , you would want a 1/2" hose barb.

Brian

[Cate&Rob]

Mhastings14
5/8” would be an unusual size. A 1/2” “hose barb” fitting will be a proper fit to the 1/2” ID hose used by Grand Design. It is important that this fitting go into a fresh section of hose . . . not the end previously distorted by clamping to the Pex fitting. A hose clamp will secure the hose to the hose barb fitting.

Rob

[Mhastings14]

Sorry, I thought I had read that somewhere about the 5/8. You are right, it is a 1/2" hose barb fitting that works the best. I am still not certain of using the hose clamp though. I would much rather find a clamp fitting that works if I could find the right size. Also, what do you think about this thread where they use a polybutylene to pex adapter?
https://gdrvowners.com/forum/operati...-312bhts/page1

I'm still not sure how they got the 1/2" pex pinch clamp on the soft hose. For the life of me I cannot seem to get the pinch clamp on. I still think my hose is a different than the one I keep seeing pictured. It is a braided vinyl hose (possibly pvc?) than the solid red/blue soft hose. I'm going to respond to their thread as well as ask them how they got the pex clamp on.

[KamFlyer]

One of the things I have been kicking around is using an Arduino microcontroller to monitor a water flow sensor. If the water continues to flow for more than a few minutes, turn the water off with a solenoid valve. It could also monitor my water leakage detectors and do the same if they sense moisture.
Just in the concept stage at this time but hopefully I can get some time later this summer.
-Rob-