Curses, a hidden leak

[stiles watson]

Someone mentioned to me that I should, from time-to-time, open the panel exposing the area underneath the shower and check for leaks. I had no evidence of a leak, such as wet carpet, etc. But I opened it anyway for curiosity if for nothing else.

WET SPOT!! Very slow drip. I thought it might be poor gasketing of the faucet itself and that water from taking showers was coming through. Not so. The water came back after being soaked up indicating it was coming from a pressurized source.

Over night the puddle on top of the linoleum under the shower reappeared (no a huge amount). So it didn't go away as I had hoped. Here are my questions:
1. Does this sound like a faulty faucet that needs replacing?
2. Has this been a common problem for others?
3. Does it sound like a problem that I should feel comfortable tackling.

[NJ Hillbilly]

Try bleeding the water pressure down and tightening the supply lines to the faucet. I suggest bleeding the pressure first because it might be easier to tighten. I am sure the connections are really accessable.

John

[mazeeff]

I had the same problem, and I found that the water connections to the faucet were both loose. I simply snugged them up, and problem was fixed. I checked the other faucets in my trailer, and they were all loose!

[Montana_1892]

hi,
all of these fittings to the sinks are normally only meant to be hand tight, over tightening will warp the gasket. if hand tightening does not stop the leak, i normally replace the little gasket, they sell for about a dollar for 4 or 6 depend on the packaging.
a hint; when you put on a new gasket, put a little teflon paste (availalbe in all hardware stores) on the threads in the screw on fitting. this will Not stop a leak, but it will keep them from working loose, due to vibration of the 5er going down the highway

[sreigle]

Grey Ghost, I've used teflon tape but was not aware of teflon paste. Just wanted to doublecheck that you mean paste and it wasn't a typo. Thanks for the tips.

[CountryGuy]

Stiles, consider our response to

"Same old problems, plus some new ones". another thread just posted, re fixing faucet from the BOTTOM.

Also, will add, that we had a slow leak for MONTHS till we got the faucet replaced. We took a plastic milk jug (gallon sized) cut the top off, velcroed to the floor under the leaking faucet. We always had a little moisture there, but it NEVER covered more than the bottom of that milk jug, and really barely covered. Kept floor from being wet all the time tho.

[BigBlue]

We experianced problems in that area as well. Found that our faucet fixture had a leak in it. The fixture is plastic and had cracked along the back of the fixture. Of course the crack was hidden by the shiny chromed outer surface.

After I replaced the faucet I still had a leak. A fellow MOC owner informed me that the faucets are meant to be mounted on a vertical wall. When mounted on a horizontal surface water can work it's way down the threads of the part (pipe inlet) that protrudes through the shower wall. The fix is to get rubber washer that fit over the pipe inlet and snug it down. It stopped the leak in our case

Hope you get the leak problem solved

[CountryGuy]

BigBlue

we heard the same story, and believed it, till we looked REALLY hard at that faucet. If you put on the wall, the water would hit the wall, not come straight down into the tub.

That is IF we all have the same faucet!

[stiles watson]

Hey folks, thanks for the input. I am going to take it all apart and look at it and put it back together using appropriate sealing protocols for good plumbing unless I find something broken.

I like the idea of a sawed-off milk carton as a drip catch. It will monitor any leak and additionally serve as a guage to determine amount of water leaking over a given period of time. Of course, keeping the rig dry is of paramount importance.

I am going to love standing on my head and messing with the plumbing just as much as I did in the stick house.