Over the winter the outside shower on our Arctic Fox TT froze and broke. It had a broken door hinge and was busted in a few spots so I purchased an entire replacement insert set. I am terrible with plumbing so here's my problem -
There is one leak remaining, where the hot water coupling attaches to the hot water faucet handle behind the unit. I hope I can explain this clearly. The PVC pipe has a band holding an elbow on. The elbow has the screw-on coupling attached. This is the busted part. It's locked on with a spiral locking washer thing. I'm not sure of the proper name for it, but it works very well. I'm unable to remove the coupling because the washer device has it locked on firmly. It's basically a round disk with aluminum fins that will not allow the connector to come off. I also don't know of a way to remove or put on a new band.
Is there a trick or tool to removing the metal locking washer, or the lock band, or do I have to replace the whole PVC pipe, etc? I would like to use the old pipe because the length is perfect to match up with the hot water handle.
While I'm in there I would like to install a shut-off valve for the outside shower. I'm sort of peeved that there isn't one, since I cannot have any water pressure at all while there's a leak anywhere in the system. That's another issue I suppose.
Also, any tricks to insulating this area to avoid the problem again? I don't winterize because we camp in the winter. So I run a space heater when it gets really cold, which is not very often. Unfortunately this outside part is really exposed to the cold. Does evacuating the lines with an air compressor work?
Greg
Greg & Laurel & 2 young boys in Western WA
'99 Arctic Fox 27Y
'97 F-250 7.3L PSD
XR400 & KTM 200
The Plumbing is called PEX, it's sold at Home Depot or Lowe's, the tool is #85.00 the last I heard. They might rent it. Don't know for sure.
You might be able to find where the lines branch off to the outside shower and cut two valves in there. Might be a accessible, I don't know your rig. You could also try putting a piece of heat trace on it. Another way and not pretty is get a 2" or better Styrofoam block, and attach it over the shower box during the winter. Duct tape, or be inventive and make up a better looking device. Bill
On Edit: You could also fill the lines feed the shower with the pink stuff and take the hose and handles off. The hardware should get enough heat thru the wall from inside to keep it from freezing (with the anti freeze just in the shower lines.
OK great, I found those PEX tools thanks for the name. Oh boy, $150 in tools to fix it now. I'm thinking of trying to find a way to remove that $0.10 locking washer from inside instead so I can just replace the fitting.
I do have access to the back of the fixtures from inside the trailer. It's not easy to do though, I'll probably have to remove the whole thing again from the outside, do the work and then re-seal it. It's not that hard to do really.
I suppose I could find a way to mount a styrofoam box outside, and maybe inside, around the pipes. Not a big deal if it's ugly, it's my yard after all!
I installed 2 inline Flair-it shutoff valves in the lines to the outside shower. Also you may be able to cut away a short section of the existing pex and replace that part of the existing connection with Flair-it fittings. They go in easily with no special tools required. Here is one source but are available at many RV parts places: Flair-it
Home Depot and Lowes both have fittings that will work on pex without tools. They are a little spendy, but if you only need a couple of fittings worth it. There is also a small tool in the $50.00 range that is not as easy to use, but sure is cheaper.
I'm in the middle of replacing a defective swivable, 1/2" female to barbed elbow. I don't like plumbing and just couldn't get that clamp off the hose. Cutting it with heavy duty side cutters, or a small hack saw didn't seem to work. Finally I drilled it out. It had a circular exposed spring component to the clamp and I merely slowly increased the size of the drill, drilling out that spring without touching the hose. Eventually the spring became to weak to hold and I was able to then slide out the elbow barb, and then slide of the clamp. I then went to the hardware store and bought about nine screw adjustable metal clamps. One to use, others for on the road. (The elbow appeared to leak for no reason, but then I found it wasn't sealed properly when installed and I guess just a matter of time.) Even though I had dumped the tank eight months ago or so, there was still full pressure in the cold water lines. I had removed the fuse from the water pump (I found no cut-off switch) to prevent further leaking. But opening the faucets to relieve the pressure seemed to take two minutes or so for the pressure to disipate. Makes me wonder if there is a rubber bladder tank to maintain the pressure.
I did have a dilema though. The hardware store sold 3/8" and 1/2". Kind of wierd though. Too big and too small. It almost seems like the barb is 7/16. I went to a nearby RV dealer and they too only had 3/8" and 1/2". So I bought the 1/2" with some extra hose. (That was another thing, they made the hose connections too tight to each other so no play room!) I'll be assembling this thing when I get home this evening.
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