Leak while away

wmowat wrote:
Hi Folks,

I'm new to the forums but have run into a bit of a problem. I drove my travel trailer from Canada to Orlando for the holidays. All was going well until we noticed some water pooling into the bathroom this morning. I traced it back to a connection at the water tank I believe. I'm running off of city water and it seems to be coming directly from the joint somewhere. When I was inspecting it I noticed the plastic connections were a bit loose and tightened it but that didn't seem to help at all. It could also be coming from above where the seal is. I attached a pic of the area the leak is coming from (cold water joint). Any advice? I'm very new to rving and far from home so I'm not sure if I should just shut the water off until I get home. I have a pressure regulator on my city water connection but and wondering if the pressure is still too high. No leak from the hot water tank, just cold.

What psi does your pressure regulator indicate? Borrow a regulator with a PSI gauge, then check for leaks.

Blue Lines are the COLD water .......white braided line comes from pump discharge and feeds cold water system. City water ties into cold line

The two connections are on the Water Heater
Cold (Blue) goes in bottom of WH Tank
Hot (Brown?) comes out top of WH Tank

The valve on blue line is the cold inlet/bypass valve for WH

If leak is from either cold/hot fitting (black connectors) they should seal up when tightened---hand tightening should be enough or just a little snug up with pliers. Not too much or you can crack fitting
May have to unscrew and check that seal inside fitting is not cut/torn

If leak is from either cold/hot 'nipple' (sliver) they should seal up with tightening using channel locks or small pipe wrench. Caution.they are threaded into an Aluminum tank with aluminum threads


If leak is from connections on 'Ells'/'Ts' where the 'bands' are used...those are PEX Crimp Rings. Special tool used to 'crimp' them closed.
Usually have to replace vs tighten.

Yes, turn off the city (aka shore) water. If you've got some water in your fresh tank, that's great. With that water, you just turn on the on board pump when you need water, turn if off afterwards to minimize the leakage as I assume it's a pressure leak. With no pressure on the system from the city water, the leak will likely slow to a stop when you shut off your pump. When you need more water, just add to the tank.

You can go weeks...months...using your on board tank and pump ONLY WHEN YOU NEED WATER and shutting it off later. And likely, the leak will be slow enough that it won't do any damage. Put a plastic tub under it if you can.

When you get home, then work on it. Don't let a little leak spoil your vacation.

Of course if your leak is from the fresh water tank itself, you'll have to do something. But usually that's not the case.

Are you sure the leak is not from the hot water tank? My aluminum tank Atwood was leaking where the nipple was welded into the tank it's self. Had to reweld it. I had to put my paper towels exactly where you have yours placed. With some research I found other Atwood water heater owners had the same problem, not many but enough to see it occurs. When the original weld was made and the welder finished the weld he didn't slag the beginning of the weld and it caused a slag inclusion and a leak occurs.

Thanks for the quick replies. I do think that one of the connections could just be loose. I will try a quarter turn to see if that helps. Otherwise, I'll just fill the tank and set the bypass as recommended. Happy new year all and thank you again!

ksbowman wrote:
Are you sure the leak is not from the hot water tank? My aluminum tank Atwood was leaking where the nipple was welded into the tank it's self. Had to reweld it. I had to put my paper towels exactly where you have yours placed. With some research I found other Atwood water heater owners had the same problem, not many but enough to see it occurs. When the original weld was made and the welder finished the weld he didn't slag the beginning of the weld and it caused a slag inclusion and a leak occurs.

I don't think so, it seems to be coming directly from the seals somewhere. Likely where the grey connector screws into the tank. Also, I did get a chance to use it in the summer before I put it away and didn't have a problem.

“I'm running off of city water” Yes, it needs to be fixed, but why run off city water? High pressure is not your friend. Fill your fresh water tank and use it instead. Just because you can hook to city water doesn’t mean you should.

I also shut my city water connection off when I leave the trailer, or when I go to bed, just to avoid a leak turning into a major issue. Something to think about.

Can't help with the leak but we ALWAYS work off the Freshwater Tank and use the pump. That way if the pump comes on in the middle of the night you know one of two things: someone used the facilities or there is a leak.

In our Motorhome, the cold water connection at the hot water heater would work itself loose just driving down the road. After the 2nd time it happened, I unscrewed the fitting, put some teflon tape on the threads and tightened it back on by hand. Never leaked again. Check the simple stuff first.

-Michael