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The slide leak that wasn't
Had an apparent "slide leak" back in CA last month....or so we thought...wet (not just "damp) carpet at the rear corner of the dinette slide where it is next to the pocket door and wall which separates the bathroom sink and bedroom area from the living area. About a 3 ft X 2 ft section of carpet. No real rain, but lots of early morning moisture and "dew" in that S. CA climate.
Had repeats of the same condition, off and on, for the next two months. Came and went..no apparent pattern. Wet carpet appeared without air conditioning use, so eliminated that possibility. Towed up to Oregon, no leak, then it began again.
Suspected some sort of high pressure water leak...pin hole sort of thing, maybe, so started an "organized" trouble shooting process.
Disconnected the city water supply...Used the onboard water pump only with our fresh water tank for a day...no leak. Next day, used city water, with a 50 psi reducer just prior to entering the rig...no leak. Next day, took off the reducer, got 55-58 psi into the rig...no leak Used the sewer flush system for 3/4 hour on full city water pressure...that plumbing is in that same general area under the sink....no leak. @#$%^!!
THEN...the next evening, Nancy used the propane water heater to augment the electric water heater.... and, by happenstance, left it on after her bath. She usually turns it off, but not always. An hour or so later, I found a soaking wet cloth under the sink where we had found water the week before. Looking REALLY closely, I spotted a small leak at the hot water connector underneath the bedroom sink, running down that pipe to the linoleum floor and the seam between the linoleum and the outside wall, the area where we had found the water before.
Seems that it was a high pressure leak, but just in the hot water system, and it only only got enough pressure to leak when the propane water heater was used and then left on. This caused significantly more than "city" water pressure to build up in the hot water tank and lines. Could have been as high as 70 psi, where the hot water pressure relief valve on the tank is supposed to relieve excess pressure. As the final link in the chain, the connector under the sink was not quite fully hand tight...by really working at it, I got another 1/2 - 3/4 turn on it by hand, then added a just a little more with pliers. Finally, no leak!!
I'll keep an eye on it, but I'm pretty sure that was the root cause of the whole thing. BTW, seeping water is almost impossible to see on the surface of those semi-clear plastic pipes, and the plastic is so slick that it is difficult to even feel moisture on it.
Hope this helps someone else in trouble shooting a "leaking slide" or a "wet carpet".
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