Another Water Leak - Montana Owners Club

Montana_5964 · 10-30-2006, 02:31 AM

Have a water leak and can not find where it is coming from. Help! The carpet on the floor on the right hand side by the wooden grill to the first step up to bedroom. At first my husband thought if was leaking from the Shower when he was hunting last weekend. He removed the wooden grill and all is dry behind there and the basement is dry. All water lines that he could reach were dry. Again, The water seems to be coming in under the right hand corner under the carpet before the first step up in to the bedroom. Last weekend when he got back home the carpet was dry. He flushed out the tanks and plugged into the water source so I could start cleaning the next day. Before I even started cleaning an turning water on inside I found that the carpet was wet again. Don't know if the water is now coming from the main water line or shower. We are taking the trailer out again to Nascar races in one week. We don't want to have to unload the frig and make a special trip to the Dealer so I'm thinking of scheduling an appointment first thing in the morning the same day we go out to the track. But my husband says it will probably take them all day to find the leak. Any recommendations on where to look for the leak? Again basement is dry everything behind the wooden grill is dry. However, there is water stains on the inside of the wooden grill.

JH Sechelt · 10-30-2006, 12:44 PM

Hi Denise,

I do not know what kind of trailer you have, but in our 2006 2980RL, if you go into the storage compartments (under Bed/bath area)Left & right side, you can take the paneling off by removing 1/2 doz screws or so. (The paneling on the rear side of the compartment). This will open up to a maze of piping, the Furnace, the water pump, etc.... More then likely you just have a loose water connection. God knows there is enough under there. Probably you will see the loose fitting or cracked pipe.

Hope this helps.

J&D

stiles watson · 10-30-2006, 02:09 PM

In looking at the 3000RK floor plan, I see that the shower and the lavatory are right together. If I understand your discription of the wet carpet, those to features would be my first suspects. Because you said that the carpet began to get wet before you started running any water, I suspect it is probably a supply side leak rather than a drain side leak. This plastic piping can dry very rapidly, so I might want to test through the access panal with water running. That is the way I found my leaky shower faucet. The seals and gaskets had dried out and corroded, so I replaced the faucet and solved the leak.

Even though hubby did not find a wet line, I might consider checking each accessable connection for tightness being sure not to over tighten these little plastic lines.

Montana_5964 · 10-31-2006, 02:34 AM

Thank you for your help. Last night we took the inside panel off and the wood vent on the bottom stair again. Ran water in shower, sink and toilet and water pump. Everything underneath is completely dry and could not find dripping water anywhere. The wooden vent has a water stain all the way across the inside bottom and the right hand corner of the wood vent and carpet are still wet. We are thinking that the water is coming down the inside of the square metal frame in the right corner. I think we are also having a problem with the water pump. When turned on it makes a lot of noise, louder than normal and when you run water it will surge and shut off and keep surging and shutting off. Everything was dry around the water pump and all fittings.

The good news is we bought our 2006 3000RK in July from RV Traders in East Mesa and everything is still under warranty. When I called the Service Manager yesterday he said he is going to stop by our house Thursday or Friday afternoon to take a look at it. It helps when the Service Manager lives near by. He also said that the water pump might need a filter put on it so he is scheduling us for early Tuesday morning on our way out to the Phoenix race track. Now that's what I call a great Service Manager. He is the main reason we bought our Monty from RV Traders.

Keep your fingers crossed that we find the leak and stay tuned!!

Denise & Jim

H. John Kohl · 10-31-2006, 03:48 AM

Chasing water leaks and their flow is hard as you have described. From your description you are doing everything. My only suggestion is to hook or test only one thing at a time as you described with the shower etc. You may try to trace all the water lines and see if a joint is loose.

The noise from the water pump may be normal. You will have to compare with another trailer.

Good luck,

noneck · 10-31-2006, 05:41 AM

Hi dpalmer, Did I get this right? You said, "and keep surging and shutting off." This should NOT happen as it is a clear indication of a water leak! The pump should pump up the pressure and if no leaks stay off for a very long time.... Good Luck
Chuck

Montana_5964 · 10-31-2006, 08:02 AM

Chuck,

Yes, you got it right the water pump keeps surging and shutting off. And the water pump is a lot louder than the one we had in our old trailer. It sounds like now all we have to do is find the leak. Will look again tonight. If we can't find the leak I'm hoping the Service Manager can get everything fixed before we take it out to the races next week because we will be dry camping and will need the water pump.

Denise

Wifeofdano · 10-31-2006, 08:16 AM

hey dpalmer, We have the 3000RK and the leak I had in that spot was the outside shower that we dont have, But the line were ran for it. They just caped off the lines and they were just loose, its under the tv, you need to take off the panel in that cabinet I think there was maybe six screws. Hope this helps??? DANO

Montana_5964 · 10-31-2006, 08:24 AM

Lisa,

Thanks we will check there. If we can not find the leak before the Service Manager stops by I'm going to print all the comments to this and have him read it for hopefully a fast fix.

Denise

noneck · 10-31-2006, 01:31 PM

Hi Denise, So who do you do you want to win? Mark Martin...hahaha, my son is a Jimmy Johnson fan, but we get along even at the races here in North East. Monty works great in in-field as we are usually the highest point and puttin the TV on roof with carpet, chairs, cardboard box to shade TV, umbrella, radio's, and now Chuck Jr. is renting Fan View....geez technology. If you have similar rig as mine 3255 RL, Wifeofdano is correct its under TV section. I pulled screws, installed hinges, handle and door latch so I can just open this area for inspections, winterizing and a bit more storage...my tools go there. This would wet the area infront of TV tho, not up by the shower on my rig, hmmm.....you can find it, just be persistant. Have fun at Races, I have yet to get my DW to come its just been a father-son bonding thing so far.
Chuck

Montana_5964 · 11-01-2006, 02:17 AM

Chuck,
I'm a Jimmy Johnson fan but I would like to see Martin win the cup just because this will be his last full time year. Harvick won the Bush & Cup race in Phoenix last April, so I'm betting he will win here again. Your lucky to get in-field. Last November all the reserved RV spots were full and we had to park in non reserve about a mile away. Finally, got a reserved spot this year but we are still about a 1/2 mile from the track. April races we are closer with spaces by the grocery store. I was going to try a fan view this race. Do you think it's worth the money?

Please explain exactly what panel you removed and put hinges on. Is it inside under the TV behind the DVD player or to the right of the TV? FYI - We have the fireplace under the DVD player.

Denise

noneck · 11-01-2006, 03:00 AM

Hi Denise, Lucky to have in-field, yes, kinda nice, a bit crazy...but really cool when the races are running. We frequent Pocono which to this point has been non-reserved...this year we also went to Watkins Glen (road coarse) and that is where my son rented the Fan View. It was worth it there for couple of reasons. First, as its a road coarse gave him a continuous feed like a portable TV, with additional info beyond that..while we walked from spot to spot. Secondly, it was a weekend with Friday (Rolex GT Series), Saturday with Busch Series, and Sunday with Nascar Nextel Cup. Not a bad deal for $75.00 for whole weekend.
Sound like yours is located differently than mine but here's picture of mine....
Chuck
[IMGhttp://i11.tinypic.com/2vwryhz.jpg[/IMG]

rrheik · 11-01-2006, 04:47 AM

We had a leak from the shower faucet connections and water came under the wooden vent by the bedroom steps. We have a 3000RK '07. T took the panel off the wall in the coat closet, and tightened the connections. so far no more leaks. Good luck. Sounds like you have a good service manager.

Russ and Sandy · 11-01-2006, 04:12 PM

I'm not familiar with your unit but a leak we had on our 2955RL may further confirm that your leak may be in the lines for an outside shower - even if you don't have that shower. (As DANO said above)

We had a very small leak that would show up in the basement under the stool. It would only seem to leak after pressure would build up such as from heating water or after sitting through the winter with antifreeze in it. I finally found it this summer (almost 3 1/2 years later!).

I also had a leak at the base of the outside shower hose where it screws into the faucet. I ended up removing the whole outside shower assembly and found a crack in the part of the faucet that the hose screws into. Some gorilla glue and a small hose clamp seems to have it repaired. (By the way, that little part will unscrew without removing the faucet assembly - now I know that!)

But, you say, what did that have to do with the leak showing up in the basement?? Well, I discovered that there are connections INSIDE and BEHIND the outside shower. Those are the ones that are capped off if there is no outside shower as others have mentioned. The hot water connection made there was not tight - the source of my leak - so the water slowly ran down the pipe and dripped into the basement. (You DO have to remove the assembly on a 2955RL to get at those connectors - unless you have arms like an octopus and can reach upwards through the hole for the basement light!)

As far as the noisy pump, I'll bet some rerouting and insulating the water pipes to keep them from vibrating against something will make it tolerable.

Ours does run intermittently too, unless we open a faucet far enough to keep the pressure from building up and therefore stopping the pump.

Russ

Gpa_Dick · 11-04-2006, 08:02 AM

I have the 3400RL and at times I notice the water pump louder than at other times. I realized it was after it sat not being used for a few weeks and lost it prime. I would run water from all faucets, one at a time, and it the louder vibration noise went away.

Yours, on the other hand, is probably because of the leak somewhere in your coach.

Anxious to hear how it went.

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