Leave faucets open?

[Heelshock]

We don't winterize our TT out here in AZ, but it may sit for 3 or 4 weeks. I popped in there yesterday and found water on the bathroom floor and traced it to underneath the vanity sink. I opened the tap and a tremendous amount of pressure had built up in the line, a line that had none when we parked it.

I'm thinking that our daily temperature swings here in the desert might have something to do with the pressure? 40 degrees at night, up to 80 during the day. Wise to just open the taps?

[mrekim]

When thinking about leaving the the trailer full of water for long periods of time this thread may be enlightening:


Water Filter Advise

[Old-Biscuit]

What you have there is..........a lazy installer at the factory that had a hand full of crimps and some short pieces of tubing so he used them VS going and getting a couple of longer pieces to use. They are paid 'piece work' and going to get more tubing would take time.... :S

The tubing is 1/2" PEX
The fittings are put on using crimps (bands) and a crimping tool.
You have to cut them off.....cut them diagonally across the band almost into (careful NOT to cut into tubing) and then twist them off with pliers.

You can purchase a PEX crimping tool and crimps at most hardware stores (Home Depot/Lowes/ACE).....the bands are different retail then the ones you see used in mfg.

Other options.......Flair-it fitings, Sharkbites (Home Depot), Gatorbites (Lowes).

I prefer Sharkbites.......little more expensive but so easy to use (no Tools), don't leak, can be easily removed ('U' shaped tool--$2) and they WORK! Just make a straight/clean cut/no burrs and press them on ........done.

Here is info on PEX tubing and tools etc.......LINK

Sharkbite info......LINK


As for that anode rod in your Suburban WH......it did exactly what it was suppose to do. Sacrifice itself and protect the WH tank (Glass-lined STEEL tank)
Time to replace.........75% gone (just like yours)



AZ has hard water.......if you are gong to do a lot of camping in hard water areas (See map) might I suggest a portable water softener.
Hook up your water pressure regulator to CG faucet, then an in-line filter, then softener then to city water connection on RV. They use regular table salt to regen them (cleans the resin beads after they have collected the minerals---about 2 weeks. Takes 30-40 mins to do the regen)

Your water heater, faucets, toilet water valve, shower etc. will last longer/not scale up. OK for bathing, dishes but might want to use bottled water for coffee/tea. Not that it tastes bad it's just that non-dairy creamers clump.
We used one whenever in hard water areas. Works great.
On-The-Go and FloPur are two brands.

[Heelshock]

Ahhhh...me thinks I will replace.

[Heelshock]

And 6 months in AZ hard water got me this. I've done some searching for a replacement (Suburban 6 gal heater), but I'm striking out.

EDIT: Or is this what a "good" suburban anode rod should look like?

[Heelshock]

Well, I got all the water systems flushed and drained today. I'm very glad I have you guys because nobody at the dealer ever told me to do this. I wasn't able to find the leak in the line when I had it under city pressure, but I'll keep an eye on it. Here's a pic of my hot water line heading up to the vanity. I've never seen connections / clamps like these so I don't know what I'm dealing with if they do leak. I'd appreciate if someone could put a name to what they are so I can research them. Like I said previously, I would have assumed that one piece of tubing from the floor would be better than 3, but there they are.

[GrandpaKip]

djsamuel wrote:
Just follow that hot water line up to the faucet connection. If it is a threaded joint, just see if you can tighten it. I had a leak at the city water hookup connection, and all I needed to do was tighten that connection. It had loosened up to the point where I could easily turn it by hand.

I try to make it a point to check all the threaded connections every month or so. All of them in our camper are made to be hand tight, no tools. Takes less than 10 minutes.

[djsamuel]

Just follow that hot water line up to the faucet connection. If it is a threaded joint, just see if you can tighten it. I had a leak at the city water hookup connection, and all I needed to do was tighten that connection. It had loosened up to the point where I could easily turn it by hand.

[Heelshock]

westend wrote:
Drain, yes, but what about the leak? Chances are, next time the system is pressurized, it will still leak. You may want to pressurize the supply lines again, just to check if that is the source of your leak. In the process, the trap will be filled, as well.

I will have it hooked up again to city water on Thursday and I'll inspect where I believe the leak was. It was definitely wet on the hot water tubing going up to the vanity. I don't know much about plumbing, but I would assume the fewer joints that are in a line the better it would be. For some reason there are 3 clamped joints between the floor and the connection at the faucet. That's odd, no? I'll snap a photo. If there is a leak, we're still under warranty. The thought of driving 80 miles round trip, twice, makes me just want to figure it out, learn a few things from it and fix it on my own. When things go wrong in the middle of nowhere, the dealer can't do much for me. That's why I appreciate all the help.

[Old-Biscuit]

JJBIRISH wrote:

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Where you getting all this heat?
It takes 8 btus to raise 1 gallon 1*F

The OP's WH was off, water was secured but system was just left pressurized.
Then he opened a faucet and it spurted.

Trying to make something out of nothing.......

he said ambient temp change of 40 degrees… there are some unknowns here but a closed loop full water piping system that is at 50 PSI can raise the PSI to explosive rates with a few degrees of heat rise…
with no air space to be compressed for the existing water to expand its only option is to increase pressure…

but assuming the system is already pressurized and there is some air space to be compressed by the pressure there is no reason to believe with the mentioned ambient temp change it couldn’t have caused some damage…

from a plumbing repair website without air space…
“Water confined in a storage tank or piping system will, when subjected to a temperature rise of 10 degrees (increasing from 75 to 85 degrees) increases pressure from 50-250psi.”

From what heat source????? It wasn't from the air temp.
Sorry but there just isn't enough btus available and transferable from outside air temps.

[popeyemth]

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[popeyemth]

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[JJBIRISH]

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Where you getting all this heat?
It takes 8 btus to raise 1 gallon 1*F

The OP's WH was off, water was secured but system was just left pressurized.
Then he opened a faucet and it spurted.

Trying to make something out of nothing.......

he said ambient temp change of 40 degrees… there are some unknowns here but a closed loop full water piping system that is at 50 PSI can raise the PSI to explosive rates with a few degrees of heat rise…
with no air space to be compressed for the existing water to expand its only option is to increase pressure…

but assuming the system is already pressurized and there is some air space to be compressed by the pressure there is no reason to believe with the mentioned ambient temp change it couldn’t have caused some damage…

from a plumbing repair website without air space…
“Water confined in a storage tank or piping system will, when subjected to a temperature rise of 10 degrees (increasing from 75 to 85 degrees) increases pressure from 50-250psi.”

[Old-Biscuit]

Where you getting all this heat?
It takes 8 btus to raise 1 gallon 1*F

The OP's WH was off, water was secured but system was just left pressurized.
Then he opened a faucet and it spurted.

Trying to make something out of nothing.......

[JJBIRISH]

Since water can not be compressed easily, in a closed system heated water can quickly increase pressure to dangerously high amounts… Water expands at a rate of approximately 0.00023 pct. for each degree of temperature rise…
If a closed full piping system is at 50 PSI, just a small increase in temperatures and its related small increase in water volume could result in increased system pressures that are very high…

At least one valve should be left open so pressure can not cause a problem…
of course you have a valve that will open at 150 or more PSI in the hot water tank , that’s not good enough…