1968 Travel Queen Resto Mod - 8. Fresh Water

This is where my fresh water cold and hot manifold is supposed to go. One branch will go to the city water inlet. The fresh water pump source from the tank comes into the manifold from below, where you see the CPVC pipe stub toward the bottom left - from the copper line outside the cabinet shown previously.



Note the piece of Reflectix over the wing surface. That's where one pipe will lay, and it might act as one last bastion against the cold for freeze protection.

Note also, below the water heater at the far distance (left side). In the dark brown wood toward the top - that's where the bathroom hot and cold water copper pipe stubs will enter this cabinet where they will connect to the manifold.

Now let me just say here and now, I could probably have made this job a lot easier, and quite a bit cheaper, had I simply crimped Pex throughout here. But - well..., I guess I just didn't WANT Pex! It's great, and simple, and convenient, and it's tried and true and well proven... but you know me!

I guess I wanted something just a little different.

For starters, I wanted easy removal capability of the cabinets (which is a relative statement), but able to "disassemble" systems and components for cabinet removal. And a cabinet hole diameter that matched the pipe diameter without need for an escutcheon. I know right? I don't even know how to pronounce it! So it was cool to discover all the Sharkbite fittings. And yes, I could use either copper, or Pex or my end choice, CPVC with the Sharkbite fittings.

And I'm into pain. Kind of a glutton for punishment, if you know what I mean. So here is the puzzle.



Using a tubing cutter for all the one inch pieces seriously reduced the deburring needs.

Here's how that went together.



Note the Sharkbite coupler at the lower left, and the metal 1/2" to 3/8" reducers at the top right for connecting the galley sink faucet hoses.

The red handled 1/4 turn valve is the water heater bypass - in current position it separates the cold at bottom from the hot at top. Turned vertical, it will mix hot and cold lines for winterizing and bypassing the water heater.

In addition to the water tank inlet near the Sharkbite, the cold has five 1/2" MPT nipples, one for the city inlet, the other four for fixtures/components. The hot side also has its four nipples for fixtures/components.

Also note at the top left, the two elbows with threaded ends. Those go into the hot water heater. Checking the heater installation instructions, they said nothing about a specific type of material, for heat resistance or something, and I knew from my past home stuff that CPVC was designed early on for hot water accommodation where PVC wasn't. So I gave it a try. But I did need to cut a notch out of the bread board cleat so I could spin the upper elbow..



Now to get the manifold to stand up right, I pursued the completion of copper. Now I'm not the best copper sweater. But I do okay, I guess. Some of these guys could have used just enough solder to seal the joint with a nice pretty little silver ring around the joint. Lil' Queeny got me! That's what they make emery cloth and steel wool for. Also I knew this might happen, so I purposely put the visible joint under the copper mounting strap!



I checked all the fixture/component ends and bought three lengths of quick connect "under cabinet braided hose connectors", a 12", a 20" and a 30", then test fit their lengths to all the portions prior to buying my final selections. Also, I found a neat hose with shut-off valve, 1/2" FIP on one end and a Sharkbite at the other (for the bathroom pipe stubs still to come). These I installed for the bathroom branches. The other branches? I chose against the cost and complexity of shut off valves for the other fixtures/components, except of course for the water heater branches, for when bypassing is used.

Then I got to work. Son-of-a-gun! I couldn't get those darn 1/2" FIP braided hoses to grab onto several of the 1/2" MPT nipple threads correctly! What the heck is going on? Did they invent a new thread when I wasn't looking? As it turned out, this manufacturing flaw was my problem.



Look at the end of that nipple. A short segment of un-threaded extension. That was just enough to prevent thread grab.

I got down in there with the Dremel tool and a sanding cylinder, some emery cloth to finalize, and made it work.



There was a bit of cleanup needed on several others, to make a smooth surface for the hose's internal rubber seal to seat.



The new city water inlet check valve nipple was one of the worst offenders and I broke the plastic c-clip holding it to the housing. I ran down to the locksmith to get a little metal clip (similar in function as those clips that hold your locks in the access doors).

I have a better picture of the whole system coming up. For now look at the hanging hoses outside the cabinet. Shut off valves with Sharkbites. Both valves leaked! In the off position. After several flushes! That dog don't hunt. They were taken back to the store. For now I just threw on some 1/2" caps to reserve the bathroom branches.



After fussing a bit and setting thread connections, several little leaks were controlled - including a hose barb near the water pump. Then I set about testing all the fixtures (this was by using the city water connection, no gravity fill going on yet - except to say the check valve in the water pump was working, so city water pressure had made its way to the exit port of the pump, but no further - just as advertised).

So first in line (at the left) are the capped bathroom branches.



Then left of the bypass valve are the hot and cold water heater branches. To the right of the valve are the galley sink branches, then the exterior spray port branches, and finally on the cold, the city water connection.

The clear plastic hose (bottom right) is the galley sink sprayer hose.

Here's the water heater connections, with shut off valves.



This view shows the back of the galley utility wall. At left, the city water connection. At right, the spray port connections. And below those, the galley sink sprayer pull-out hose. That will still need some attention for smooth operation. I may try and find a more flexible metal type hose (like on showers). I really dislike the stiffness of the plastic ones.



And this is a pretty good "step back" view.



So everything was working well. Time to test the water pump and gravity fill storage tank system.

I filled the tank only about four inches. So the upper vent and fill hose connections at the tank and fill station are still untested, but that will come. The lower connections (drain and water pick-up, and all through the pump system, filter, winterizing bypass, etc. are all good).

Here are two views showing access to that stuff. The space between the tank and wall is about 8-9".

This view shows the vented battery box and vent hose in the foreground. The smaller braided hose from the pump, looped to the copper pipe (not in view), the pump itself and three wire groups: battery red and black, pump red and white, and several wires into the loom which go to the vehicle connection. Also in view, the tank drain valve, and the clear anti-freeze pick-up tube for the winterization valve feature.



This view is more bird's eye and includes at the far end, the fresh water pick-up out of the tank, and nearer to your eye, the vent connection at the top of the tank.



I successfully tested system pressure and water heater operation for two days (leaving water heater burn off over night - don't want that run unattended until the camper is not in the garage). No leaks, water heater operation is flawless, so that completes gas checks too!

And that's the internals - the workings behind the scenes. The production going on behind what the audience sees. And how does it look from the stage? Well, I kind of like this view from the balcony.