[newowneroldmontana]

I'm back in business! (Sort of.)

Here's what happened:

On whatever day it was, I thought about trying to post a picture, but my phone is madder at me than ever these days, and keeps threatening to quit on me altogether if I don't do something it wants me to do--which I can't really figure out how to do. So I decided to let sleeping dogs lie, and just show a picture to a guy at Lowes who would help me.

So on whatever day it was that wasn't pouring down rain, I went to Lowes, determined to get this thing fixed already. But after wandering around for ten minutes or so in the plumbing department, looking at things and waiting for somebody to answer the page and show up to help me, I decided nobody was coming, and I'd better just go to Ace Hardware instead.

But just then a kid in a Lowes vest walked by, looking quite harried, and I stopped him and asked him if he knew anything about PEX pipe. He said sort of, maybe, and he was willing to try to help me because he'd been looking for the plumbing supervisor himself, but the plumbing supervisor was nowhere to be found.

So I showed this nice kid my pipe/shut-off valve picture, and he and I looked around together and guessed together about what I should do, and finally I got to the check-out with a length of 1/2" PEX pipe plus the metal Sharkbite shut-off valve which was stuck on it, which we figured must be going to work, since we couldn't get the shut-off valve off the PEX pipe. I also bought a weird SharkBite brand PEX pipe cutter.

But after I checked out, I realized I'd forgotten to get couplings, of which I'd probably need two--so I headed back to the plumbing department and picked up the little bag of couplings I'd been looking at and had apparently dropped on the floor. I paid for them, too, and left.

Then I got home too late to fix anything that day, and the next day it poured down rain, then I went to fix things but realized I'd bought the wrong kind of couplings, because "SharkBite" is a brand name as well as a type of coupling--then I couldn't go out for a day or two--

*Then today---*

I went back to Lowes and returned the wrong type of couplings I'd bought, and went looking for the right kind. Which they didn't have, except in a 4-pack that was going to cost me $31. (Still no Lowes plumbing department personnel around, but a nice fellow customer helped me figure things out, and helped me sort through the mess of fittings which were all out of place. This nice fellow customer told me things are much better stocked and organized at The Home Depot.)

Ace Hardware was much closer to me than Home Depot at that point though, so I called Ace Hardware from Lowes parking lot. Ace Hardware said they had what I needed.

So I went to Ace Hardware, and they had much more stuff than Lowes did, and were better organized. And unlike Lowes, they had the exact same shut-off valve that was in my rig and had broken. They also had 1/2" PEX push-to-connect-type couplers, and a different pipe cutter that was cheaper but looked like it made more sense than the one I'd gotten at Lowes.

I was hoping not to have to go back to Lowes to return anything though, so I just bought the two push-to-connect-type couplers that the Ace Hardware guy had picked out for me--(he was a nice kid whose dad is a plumber)--and went home in time, I hoped, to get the water back on in my Montana before dark.

But things were not as simple as I'd hoped they would be. I don't know why, but the couplers I got at Ace Hardware will only stay on the original PEX pipe that was in my RV, and not on the length of PEX pipe I got from Lowes. I think it might be because the SharkBite brand pipe cutter I got at Lowes is stupid--you're supposed to put the pipe in it and then turn the pipe cutter, which is ridiculous. It left the pipe cut unevenly, with a jagged edge and a piece of PEX hanging off it. I tried to smooth the pipe edge with a utility knife, but that didn't really work.

The metal Sharkbite shut-off valve I got at Lowes did attach to the clear PEX that was already in my RV, though.

So what I have now is a length of clear PEX pipe which was already in my RV, attached to a SharkBite brand, sharkbite-type shut-off valve which is stopping water from going to my toilet. The other side of the shut-off valve is just hanging, not attached to any pipe. (It's supposed to be attached to the pipe supplying water to the toilet.)

Whoops--edited to say that there is a bit of Lowes-bought PEX pipe attached to the other side of the shut-off valve--but that pipe is not attached to the original RV PEX pipe. So the shut-off valve is only connected on one side.

This means that I have a shut-off valve stopping water from going to my toilet, while still allowing water into the rest of the RV plumbing. I'm good with that--I really just wanted to make sure I had water to the sinks and shower anyway. The rest of the problem--getting the shut-off valve attached to PEX pipe on the other side--will have to wait for another day. (I am taking that stupid pipe cutter back to Lowes, though. Cost me $12!)

Thank you all so much for your help. I appreciate each and every one of you. The answers I've gotten from reading this forum over the years have saved me a fortune in mobile RV tech fees.