Water Heater Leaking & Floor Damage

Old-Biscuit wrote:
RV sub-floors are like sponges when it comes to water.
They absorb the water and then swell up and then fall apart.

When you get the sub-floor exposed......you will then be able to determine amount of damage from the water.

Had a fitting on water heater line crack....filled living room and kitchen with over 1" of standing water.
Immediately ripped carpet and linoleum out and was able to save main sub-floor.
Missed one spot in corner of main slide out.
Found it the next day....too late! Sub-floor was completely swelled up and like mush.
Main slide out had to be removed and new sub-floor installed.

Almost $7000 in repairs

NO...RV sub-floors and water DON'T get along very well.

This is one thing that really ticks me off about many RV's. We spend so much money on them, and they use PARTICLE BOARD or the like for floors. Why not just heavy duty plywood? Spend $50 more on the floor...

Drives me nuts.

I wanted to follow up in this thread since you guys had already provided a lot of info here. It turns out that it wasn't the tank as suggested but one of the lines cracking around the end that was flared to meet the fitting on the tank.

The repair was easy enough, but now when I fill the system I can't get any water flow. This is on both the hot & cold faucets both in the kitchen & the bathroom. The pump does come on, and it does fill the hot water tank, so it seems to be working, but after its filled I get no water coming out elsewhere.

I think I've done everything correctly when filling the freshwater tanks & hot water heater - pressure release valve on hw tank is set open when filling, water pump is on & hot water taps open.

Am I just missing something?

I assume you have been in touch with your insurance company.
A friend had a similar incident a couple years ago. Total repairs were over $3000. Cost him $250 deductible.

Good luck with your repairs.

Dave

Certainly you can repair only the damaged portion. Sounds like you have some undercariage damage from the blowout, so it will need to be looked at anyway. By the way, are you sure it's your water heater? Could you have damaged the plumbing near the water heater? I'd look at that first, remember the WH is a pretty substantial metal container, the pipes are plastic.

You said this happened this weekend in orginal post.
The concern now is getting it dried out. After it dries you decide next step: could be no big deal, leave it alone, or you might have a few spots fix, you might decide now is the time to put in vinyl floor or gee, that's a good spot for a rug. Only you have to determine if this is a minor "fender bender" or "worse case".
I mean drying it out with lots of air flow.

Okay, that all makes sense. I guess the only question is, if there's damage that needs to be replaced, can I just repair that area without having to gut the RV and rip up the entire floor? It's really localized to the area around the water heater (at least it looks this way now), and it's all easily accessible under the bed in the back. Can it just be cut out and replaced or am I going to have to pull out everything back there & replace it all?

If it's not as easy as all that, because it's not an area where we'll be walking, can I get away with just doing nothing? I'd have to find a way to reinforce the area under the hot water tank to make sure that doesn't fall out, but beyond that there's really nothing putting direct weight on that section of flooring since it's under the bed. Could I just secure the water heater & tank & just replace the insulation underneath & let it be rotten?

Just because wood framing gets wet does not mean you have to replace it. My test to see if there is wood rot is to stick something like a small knife or even your fingernail into some good wood nearby where you think damage might be. Then stick same pressure into wood you are unsure about. Wood that needs replacing will feel like mush or a lot softer than good wood.
But first step is to get it any wet wood as dry as you can. And maybe some wood would need replacement due to accident damage. Any water in flooring (particle board products) really likes water and warp and swell, get dry as soon as possible. And time will tell if any damage occurs.

RV sub-floors are like sponges when it comes to water.
They absorb the water and then swell up and then fall apart.

When you get the sub-floor exposed......you will then be able to determine amount of damage from the water.

Had a fitting on water heater line crack....filled living room and kitchen with over 1" of standing water.
Immediately ripped carpet and linoleum out and was able to save main sub-floor.
Missed one spot in corner of main slide out.
Found it the next day....too late! Sub-floor was completely swelled up and like mush.
Main slide out had to be removed and new sub-floor installed.

Almost $7000 in repairs

NO...RV sub-floors and water DON'T get along very well.