Hey Everyone, I'm sure y'all getting used to my username poping up now. Anyways for those that Don't know I'm fixing up a 79' Wilderness Camper. My issue right now is that My water Heater Lines Broke. On the back of my water heater I have two grey lines coming out (I'll try and get a photo next Time I'm working on it) the line broke just outside of the heater unit, the other end of the broken lines are on the ground right now. they are Identical lines but one has a shut off valve. Which goes where? and is just clean cutting and patching with some Heat resistant PVC and contact cement good enough?

I'd suggest that you replace them from the heater to the nearest fitting. I used PEX pipe. One of your lines probably has a check valve in it. That would be the output (typically topmost, but check on the heater for markings). The cold water supply would have the valve. With those two valves in the lines, you can bypass the water heater for Winterization.

Peacester wrote:Anyways for those that Don't know I'm fixing up a 79' Wilderness Camper. My issue right now is that My water Heater Lines Broke. On the back of my water heater I have two grey lines coming out ...Grey water lines, along with this being a 40 yr old camper, likely means this is QUEST tubing, not PEX, and if that's the case you'll find joining the two problematic at best since QUEST is slightly different outside diameter than is PEX. Normally one would suggest using quick connect fittings such as Sea Tech or Sharkbite but they're made to connect PEX tubing together ... a problem for you to be sure. That said, do you really want to try to rely on a 40 yr old water heater? ... perhaps time to replace it with a new one. ;)

Take a piece of the old pipe down to hardware store and talk to a plumbing guy - he should be able to identify the old piece and suggest a fix.

Thanks for all the Replies. I will be taking a better look at it once I clean the trailer up and taking one of the broken pieces to the local hardware store and see if I can't figure a good fix.

Fixing My Water Heater | Good Sam Community

20 Replies

mobeewan
Explorer
Jun 22, 2018
Actually the grey tubing is Polybutylene. It was installed in Mobile homes, travel trailers and houses from about 1978 to about 1995. There was a large class action suit due to problems with it breaking down and eventually leaking and causing water damage. You would be better off replacing all the grey tubing with PEX. As you can see the water heater tubing has already failed. And cpvc is actually a better choice over PVC for hot water use, but PEX is even better and a lot more flexible. It can be used with the correct support brackets to make short bends.
westend
Explorer
Jun 22, 2018
ScottG wrote:
Yep, that's Qest tubing. You can still get fittings at some H/W stores and it's really pretty good stuff if you use said fittings or COPPER crimp bands. It got a bad name when they introduced aluminum crimp bands. Those would eventually stretch and cause a leak (in my case at 2:00 AM).
Right it must go with tides, mine parted at about the same time. What a mess that was.

The OP should seek assistance or research plumbing a good bit. I've never met an owner or plumber that was so hard up that he couldn't ditch that quest pipe and put something better in it's place. BTW, there is no good glue for quest, AFAIK. It also gets hard and brittle in 40 years.

And yes, Sharkbite may fit quest. Its sealing ring fits a range of diameters.
Gdetrailer
Explorer III
Jun 22, 2018
SoundGuy wrote:
Peacester wrote:
Anyways for those that Don't know I'm fixing up a 79' Wilderness Camper. My issue right now is that My water Heater Lines Broke. On the back of my water heater I have two grey lines coming out ...

Grey water lines, along with this being a 40 yr old camper, likely means this is QUEST tubing, not PEX, and if that's the case you'll find joining the two problematic at best since QUEST is slightly different outside diameter than is PEX. Normally one would suggest using quick connect fittings such as Sea Tech or Sharkbite but they're made to connect PEX tubing together ... a problem for you to be sure. That said, do you really want to try to rely on a 40 yr old water heater? ... perhaps time to replace it with a new one. ;)

:R

Yes, grey is "Quest" , you have that correct, BUT, you are dead wrong about shark bite fittings not working with Quest lines.

I to have a 30 plus old TT, it HAS lots of the ORIGINAL Quest lines in tact.

When I rebuilt the trailer I did have to make a couple of changes to the water lines and have successfully used Shark bites to make those changes.

It has been 10 yrs since I rebuilt the TT, not one drop of water has leaked from those Shark bites.

The reason Shark bites work is because they use a rubber "O" ring inside to make a water tight seal.

Shark bites are also designed to make copper to copper, Pex to copper and have no issue what so ever dealing with Quest lines.

Copper, Pex and quest all have slight different diameters which the tight fitting O rings have no issue working with.

Just have to be patient and not force the fitting on, also helps if you REMOVE any burrs that happen when you cut the pipes. I like to slightly bevel the ends of the lines, helps the O rings to start over the pipe easily without damaging the O ring.
ScottG
Nomad
Jun 22, 2018
Yep, that's Qest tubing. You can still get fittings at some H/W stores and it's really pretty good stuff if you use said fittings or COPPER crimp bands. It got a bad name when they introduced aluminum crimp bands. Those would eventually stretch and cause a leak (in my case at 2:00 AM).
Peacester
Explorer
Jun 21, 2018
SoundGuy wrote:
Peacester wrote:
perhaps time to replace it with a new one. ;)

Its defiantly on the list, but not in the budget right now, so when it breaks I'll have a excuse to upgrade :D
Peacester
Explorer
Jun 21, 2018
Thanks for all the Replies. I will be taking a better look at it once I clean the trailer up and taking one of the broken pieces to the local hardware store and see if I can't figure a good fix.
ksg5000
Explorer
Jun 21, 2018
Take a piece of the old pipe down to hardware store and talk to a plumbing guy - he should be able to identify the old piece and suggest a fix.
SoundGuy
Explorer
Jun 21, 2018
Peacester wrote:
Anyways for those that Don't know I'm fixing up a 79' Wilderness Camper. My issue right now is that My water Heater Lines Broke. On the back of my water heater I have two grey lines coming out ...

Grey water lines, along with this being a 40 yr old camper, likely means this is QUEST tubing, not PEX, and if that's the case you'll find joining the two problematic at best since QUEST is slightly different outside diameter than is PEX. Normally one would suggest using quick connect fittings such as Sea Tech or Sharkbite but they're made to connect PEX tubing together ... a problem for you to be sure. That said, do you really want to try to rely on a 40 yr old water heater? ... perhaps time to replace it with a new one. ;)
westend
Explorer
Jun 21, 2018
Sorry, duplicate.
westend
Explorer
Jun 21, 2018
I'd suggest that you replace them from the heater to the nearest fitting. I used PEX pipe. One of your lines probably has a check valve in it. That would be the output (typically topmost, but check on the heater for markings). The cold water supply would have the valve. With those two valves in the lines, you can bypass the water heater for Winterization.

Forum Discussion

Fixing My Water Heater

20 Replies

About Travel Trailer Group

Related Content

Identify water heater

Water Heater Replacement Recommendations

Atwood water heater problem

Suburban SW12DEL Water Heater On/OFF switch melts???

Tankless water heater