Plumbing in Kitchen

[Jerry Emert]

Yup here I am again!  I'm really not discouraged, I love my new Beaver and I expect to have it around for a long time but...

When we got back from our weekend trip my wife noticed that the sink would not drain.  Took the trap off today to see if it was plugged and to my surprise the floor under sink was soaked, and when the trap came off water came flowing into the dogs bowl I had ready.  The surprise was that it was coming from the wrong side.  Once the sink had emptied the water kept coming from the black water tank side.  It took about 3 dog bowls full to clear the pipe.  After putting the slide out and looking on top I noticed that the flexible pipe hooked up to the drain seemed to have some pretty permanent kinks in it.

So my question is, is it normal to not be able to use the kitchen sink (kitchen in slide) when the slide is in?

As usual thank you in advance.

Jerry
PS, I'll save the story about the leaks I found until later, don't want yall to tune me out.

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Jerry,
Kitchen sink should drain regardless of slid position. Suggest you replace the flex hose asap. After kinking it will break sooner or later. Then you've got  a real mess. I replaced the thin OEM hose after it broke with spa type hose,Got it at HD or Lowes. ID is about the same and it is thick enough that it wont' break and shouldn't kink. Use a heat-gun/hair drier to warm the hose ends before slipping on to the connections.
Steve

[LarryNCarolynShirk]

Jerry,

I took my broken hose to a trailer supply store in Las Vegas.  They said they use the same hose used to fill fresh water in most trailers and campers.  It looks the same as my broken drain hose.  I bought an extra foot, to give more slack and larger radius to the bends.  The hose is inexpensive and has lasted about 6 years without issue.

Installing it is the problem.  Fortunately, I have long arms.  I wish you success.

Larry

[Joel Ashley]

As posted in a related thread some days ago, that flex pipe has its limits.  Nevertheless it should work whether the slide is open or closed.  I determined the basic problem is the factory either cut the pipe too short or didn't allow enough room for an adequate length when they designed the compartment.  If too short it will eventually collapse at the stress point near one of its ends and kink there, then leak at the kink or wherever the fluid backs up to.

Replace it with as long a piece as will fit when the slide is closed.  Clicking on the photo should open it in a larger format and right side up.  This is in the slide open position.  You can see that if the pipe were even a few inches longer, the loop might come into the bottom black pipe connection at less of an angle, diminishing the chance of kinking there.

Joel

[Jerry Emert]

Thank you for your suggestions.  Joel, I remember your post.  Mine is a little different.  I found the kinks on top of the slide when it was out.  Looks pretty easy to get to.  My main question was if it was normal to not be able to use the sink with the slide in.  You guys have answered that.  Now to get a replacement and get it fixed along with the other stuff.  

[Joel Ashley]

I got lucky.  When I went to fix ours, we were in a sparsley inhabited area of large farms some miles east of Ashton, Idaho.  Though a small town of perhaps no more than a dozen retail businesses, it had two hardware stores and a plumber.  Only the Do It Best hardware just happened to have the flexpipe (which I've rarely seen elsewhere), the other one had the right fittings, and the busy plumber happened to be in his shop rather than out on a job at the moment I stopped by, and happily gave free advice about repairs I had little experience with.

One option I'd considered at the time was cutting off some inches from the black pipe in order to install an even longer flexpipe, but it would have been too difficult to get a saw in there and required more fittings and a whole lot more work.  I'm having trouble imagining the thing kinking at the top, so yours must be configured a lot differently than ours.  But if unlike me you have room to work, consider shortening the black sewer pipe to get a longer stretch of flexpipe in there;  but it will require a pipe that has length enough to cut off some.  I also tried 30 and 45 degree angled fittings to put less stress on the flexpipe, but it only worked one direction - when the slide was in the opposite position the flexpipe was stressed at the fitting.  Only a simply longer flexpipe would minimize crimping.

Joel

[Jerry Emert]

After all the electrical problems and a water spot in the roof that developed I just got to this issue yesterday.  We are going out next weekend so it is now a priority.  Anyway, the hose on top of the slide was kinked in two places.  Pretty easy to get to.  I tried Home Depot and Lowes.  I need the braided PVC with an inside diameter of 1.5.  all they had was 1.25 and 2 inch.  They both said they don't carry 1.5.  What do you want to bet the 1.5 is only carried by RV dealers and it will cost three times as much as the 2 inch at HD?  Instead I bought some of the Spa hose as Steve suggested above.  Couldn't get it to stretch over the fitting yesterday.  I got tired of working in 95 degree heat all day so I'm gonna tackle it again today.  Hopefully it will be done today without burning up my wife's hair dryer.
Thanks again to all.
Jerry

[Dick Simonis]

Jerry, if the hose in question is what I think it is, I had good success soaking the end in a pan of hot water.  The heat is more even than using a hair dryer.

I guess I need to look under my sink and see if there is an impending problem.

[Jerry Emert]

Jerry, if the hose in question is what I think it is, I had good success soaking the end in a pan of hot water.  The heat is more even than using a hair dryer.

I guess I need to look under my sink and see if there is an impending problem.

Thanks Dick I'll try that first.  The problem would have been easy to see coming if I had known to look under the slide for it.  The hose was severely kinked in two places.  The problem probably also showed itself by the kitchen sink draining slowly when the slide was extended.  Being a new to us coach neither my wife or I noticed it and maybe it wasn't even slow.  Just guessing.  It is pretty easy to get to on top of the slide with the slide extended though.  Now I just have to brave the 95, feels like 105, temp in Orlando to fix it.

[George H. Wall]

Radiator hose works well, and it will not crack or break, and is easy to work with, using screw clamps.

[Jerry Emert]

Hopefully this is the end of this thread!  I couldn't get the spa hose on it.  I soaked the end of it in boiling water for a couple of minutes.  felt pretty soft but still wouldn't go on more than a 1/4 of an inch.  I looked real close at the one ABS fitting I could see and it looked like it was whittled down on all sides.  Like slices were taken out of it to make it smaller.  So I tried a piece of the same type of Re-enforced PVC that I removed only 2 inch inside diameter instead of the 1 1/2 ID piece I removed.  it went on easy until the end of the fitting and it snugged right into the fitting like it was the perfect size.  Not sure what happened or if it was the right thing to do or if it will hold up but for now it seems to work with the slide in or out without leaks.   I did buy some stainless steel hose clamps so I could tighten it down extra tight without having the hose clamp come apart.  It really looks like somebody modified the fittings so they could cram the 1 1/2 inch pipe on there.  Time will tell.  Thanks to all that have tried to help.
Jerry  
The adventure continues!

[Joel Ashley]

Apparently Jerry, someone previously modified yours.  On mine each end of the 1.5" flex hose glues inside white PVC unions.  Then that fitting screws onto threads on the two black ABS stubs top and bottom.  What you were attempting to do should not have been necessary if the ABS pipe ends had their threads.

I cut off the crimped bottom end of the old hose, then I could unscrew hose and white fitting at the top, and then unscrew the remaining white fitting with short leftover hose stub on the bottom.  I got a can of primer and a can of blue PVC cement as the Ashton plumber instructed, glued one new white PVC fitting to one end of the new (and longer) flex hose, screwed that assembly onto the black ABS at one end, screwed the other new white PVC fitting on the other ABS end, and finally I primed and glued the free end of the hose into that fitting.

Joel

[Jerry Emert]

Joel, mine is a lot different than yours.  All my work was done outside with one arm/shoulder and my head stuck between the LR slide curb side and the coach.  One side of the hose was in the slide coming straight out pointing towards the main body of the coach.  The other connection was in the main body with open end pointing forward.  There was a piece of aluminum on the slide side that formed sort of a tray to keep that part of the hose straight.  I did notice that the ABS fittings were threaded into the fittings they were in but the part I attached to were like the end of a vacuum cleaner hose where you just stuff the hose over it.  Each end had two radiator hose type hose clamps on each end and I bought some new stainless steel hose clamps so I could torque them down tight.  It looked like the fittings were either threaded originally or too large for the hose that they had to put on it.  They had what appeared to be carving slices all over them.  Maybe they couldn't find the female fittings and had to adapt and overcome.  I just know that I couldn't get end over the fitting from that position no matter what I did.  The next size up hose seemed to fit perfectly over the ABS fitting.  No crimps or anything I could see in the hoses after I had finished.  I ran the slide out 3 or 3 times and didn't see any affects on the hose so I am hoping that its fixed.

I also noticed a loose tile and a few that had cracks in them over by the fridge today.  I'm afraid to see what's up with that.  I'll save that for  weekend after the 4th.  Thanks

[Joel Ashley]

Yes, the drain water from mine had seeped beneath the tiles and subfloor, resulting in a couple loose tiles and grout failures.  None of ours were cracked, but it has proven a problem for many owners because finding replacement tiles is difficult or impossible.  Ours came with a stack of spare tiles from the factory just in case, but many people aren't so lucky.

Joel

[Jerry Emert]

Not so lucky, Gorilla glue fixes everything!