Hot Water From Cold
We got out camping for the first time this year this past weekend. As such, I ran water through the camper to push out the antifreeze I put in last fall. Then, I switched the valves to fill the hot ...
Forum Discussion
Someone has been in there before and modified the piping. There is white-ish and clear PEX tubing which is residential. RV PEX is normally blue and red. Copper PEX compression rings have been used. Residential type PEX shutoff valves have been used.
No real problem with the shutoff valves, but there should be a shutoff valve at the hot water swivel fitting like there is for the cold. In normal (non-winterized) mode, the valve between the hot and cold lines should be off and the other two valves open. It should work in the normal mode as is, but there should be the 3rd valve for winterizing to keep antifreeze from getting back into the HWH. I don't think this is the cause of your issue though.
I can't make out what is between the HWH and the swivel fittings. Can't see the bottom one but the top one looks like there is a shark-bite fitting in there. Maybe a check valve was added? Or maybe two of them? ("Swivel" fittings are the ones with tabs on them so you can undo/tighten them by hand.) Just doesn't look right. On our HWH, the swivel fittings connect directly to the tank. If they added a check valve (or two), maybe one has failed or is in backwards?
If they have made hot and cold piping modifications, what has been done throughout your camper?? It kinda looks like the red hot water line comes out of the HWH then goes up to the kitchen faucet. That would mean only the kitchen faucet would get hot water. Is there a tee hidden behind the HWH that can't bee seen? The incoming cold line and connection to the kitchen sinks looks like it should work fine. From below the city water inlet, it looks like there is a cold water line running to everything else inside??
Hard to tell exactly from the photos, but something may not have been plumbed correctly. One question would be why anyone made changes. It wasn't done by an RV dealer. Was the HWH heater replaced perhaps? Does anything in the bathroom look like it was modified also? Maybe whoever did this just got something wrong somewhere....
No real problem with the shutoff valves, but there should be a shutoff valve at the hot water swivel fitting like there is for the cold. In normal (non-winterized) mode, the valve between the hot and cold lines should be off and the other two valves open. It should work in the normal mode as is, but there should be the 3rd valve for winterizing to keep antifreeze from getting back into the HWH. I don't think this is the cause of your issue though.
I can't make out what is between the HWH and the swivel fittings. Can't see the bottom one but the top one looks like there is a shark-bite fitting in there. Maybe a check valve was added? Or maybe two of them? ("Swivel" fittings are the ones with tabs on them so you can undo/tighten them by hand.) Just doesn't look right. On our HWH, the swivel fittings connect directly to the tank. If they added a check valve (or two), maybe one has failed or is in backwards?
If they have made hot and cold piping modifications, what has been done throughout your camper?? It kinda looks like the red hot water line comes out of the HWH then goes up to the kitchen faucet. That would mean only the kitchen faucet would get hot water. Is there a tee hidden behind the HWH that can't bee seen? The incoming cold line and connection to the kitchen sinks looks like it should work fine. From below the city water inlet, it looks like there is a cold water line running to everything else inside??
Hard to tell exactly from the photos, but something may not have been plumbed correctly. One question would be why anyone made changes. It wasn't done by an RV dealer. Was the HWH heater replaced perhaps? Does anything in the bathroom look like it was modified also? Maybe whoever did this just got something wrong somewhere....
