Out with the old, in with the New

[acoleman43]

Out with the old, in with the new

Due to the freezing in Texas in February and my lack of properly winterizing the plumbing system, a leak developed on the output of the water pump. The water pump sits under the kitchen cabinets, making it a little tricky to fix the leak. The plumbing was the flex pipe that was used with plastic pex fittings and pex clamps. This is a formula for water leaks as the flexible piping does not have the same properties as pex piping. If you mess with the flex piping a little bit, it will create a slight gap at the fitting. When I replaced the war pump, I was left with a slow leak at the female fitting going over the male output of the water pump.

So, I replaced the 6" long flex pipe going to the water pump with a pex pipe and a brass female fitting. Well, I messed with it too much and the tee fitting started leaking. It started setting in....If I replace that section, another leak will occur down the line.....then another...then another. The best option was to replace all flex plumbing. All pipe and fittings were just under $100. About 5 hours to finish.

No leaks, much more confident that I will not have issues in the future.

It was interesting that below the floor and in the fridge area they used actual pex piping. I wish they would have spent the extra time and money to finish it out with all pex plumbing. I would certainly be willing to pay the extra $200 +/-.

[Country Campers]

acoleman43

Very nice job , unfortunately you are preaching to the choir here. This has been an ongoing issue , which I am sure you have read already , since the early builds. Recently when we got our unit out for the first trip I found a leak as well. I ended up with about 20 feet of the soft hose when I was done fixing the one leak, this was in a hard to reach area as well. There still is some soft hose in the RV but it is in a place that I can not get to both ends, hoping for the best there. It is nice to have the feeling that there "should" not be any more chances for leaks but we do drag these things down some of the best roads in the country.

Brian

[Cate&Rob]

acoleman43


Definitely a more robust plumbing system! Many of us have accomplished this same project . . . going back to when Grand Design started production. If anything, I think they are using even more soft hose on recent builds. There have been many discussions with the factory on this topic. The crimped soft hose to Pex fitting connections meet their own industry regulations as set by RVIA . . . so, this is what they use to expedite connections in production.

You may find that the hard Pex connections directly to your water pump will transmit more pump vibration into the trailer. There are "pump quieting" hose kits available, but I used coils of washing machine hose which has worked well for this purpose. The pump is behind these coils of black hose in the center of the attached picture. I also mounted my pump on vibration isolation feet to further minimize noise transmission.

Rob

[acoleman43]

acoleman43


Definitely a more robust plumbing system! Many of us have accomplished this same project . . . going back to when Grand Design started production. If anything, I think they are using even more soft hose on recent builds. There have been many discussions with the factory on this topic. The crimped soft hose to Pex fitting connections meet their own industry regulations as set by RVIA . . . so, this is what they use to expedite connections in production.

You may find that the hard Pex connections directly to your water pump will transmit more pump vibration into the trailer. There are "pump quieting" hose kits available, but I used coils of washing machine hose which has worked well for this purpose. The pump is behind these coils of black hose in the center of the attached picture. I also mounted my pump on vibration isolation feet to further minimize noise transmission.

Rob

Thank you Rob, excellent ideas.

[mnoakes]

I am convinced! Just had a length of the OM hose completely collapsing cut off water flow in my solitude. What fittings did you use to come off of the water pump and go into the nautilus system? Thank you in advance!

[acoleman43]

Pipe from nautilus seem to be all real pex. I didn't replace any real pex lines, and kept the cheap plastic fittings for those connections. For all new pipe I used brass Apollo fittings from Home Depot. For water pump and sink connection I used the Apollo pex to 1/2" female.

Good luck as some areas were very difficult to navigate. Also, if you remove heating flex hose, make sure your new lines make room for the flex hose once you re-connect it.

[Cate&Rob]

I am convinced! Just had a length of the OM hose completely collapsing cut off water flow in my solitude. What fittings did you use to come off of the water pump and go into the nautilus system? Thank you in advance!

Welcome to our owners technical forum. When you get a chance, please see this info which will help you navigate the forum. https://gdrvowners.com/forum/main-fo...to-new-members

The inlet and outlet of the pump are standard 1/2" straight pipe thread and a "cone seal" connection will work. Either plastic or brass and available at Home Depot or similar. I adapted these connections to male 3/4" hose connections so that I could use coils of washing machine hose to isolate the pump vibration from the solid Pex lines, as shown in the second picture attached to post #4.

Rob