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Water in the coach - but from where/what?
#1

Today while loading things into the coach, my wife noticed that the carpet in the bedroom was wet. Doh!

We've had the coach parked in the street while we try to get our house ready to sell. It's a narrow street so we have to park off the edge a bit and so we're on a slope with the passenger side low. We've only been inside to occasionally bring things into the coach. No toilet or sink use at all.

We've had torrential rains several days of the past week. Yesterday early afternoon'ish was very heavy. Yesterday evening we were showing the coach to a friend. Both her and my wife went all the way through the bedroom to the rear bath - neither noticed a wet carpet. One problem though is that I still haven't pulled off the stupid plastic covering that the dealer put on the carpet, so I can't be certain that the plastic didn't perhaps keep them from noticing it being wet.

So the conundrum is that I am not certain where the water is from. And we are scheduled to replace the carpet with LVT next week, so I've gotta get it figured out before then.

After I picked up the coach in Phoenix and took it to Tom's, we took a long lift ride to the top of the coach and found that both vent caps were broken off. I figured that had to be the problem today so I went up top to replace them. I was thinking that there was nothing actually sealing between the vent pipe and the rooftop, but when I pulled off the broken vent cap it seemed pretty well sealed around there.

The water is localized to the corner of the bedroom closest to the half bath (front, passenger side corner of the bedroom). This is right behind the sink in the half bath.

I figure there are 4 possible sources of water here:
1. Water ingressing around the vent pipe from the roof
2. Water leaking from the water supply to the sink
3. Water leaking from the drain for the sink. We have not used the sink, but water coming into the vent would go this path.
4. Water leaking from the hydronic heating. The Aquahot has not been on and all thermostats are set off so I can't see how this would have been pressurized to spill as much water as was in there.

I probably sucked out about a half gallon'ish of water with the carpet cleaner. And that was without being able to reach all of the wet section because the bed is stil over part of it (can't put the slides out with the narrow road and tilt of the coach).

Paul
Coach #540
2000 Double Slide, Bath and a half, Average sized fan for its age
Fulltiming for a while around CO
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#2

Have u been running the air conditioner(s).?

1993 Newell (316) 45' 8V92,towing an Imperial open trailer or RnR custom built enclosed trailer. FMCA#232958 '67 Airstream Overlander 27' '67GTO,'76TransAm,'52Chevy panel, 2000 Corvette "Lingenfelter"modified, '23 Grand Cherokee.
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#3

pauls humor is subtle. i had forgotten to charge my scissors lift so it took us about 10 minutes a few inches at a time to get up to the top of his coach....hey, it was still easier than using a ladder. and good for a few laughs. that is the "long lift ride"

tom

2002 45'8" Newell Coach 608  Series 60 DDEC4/Allison World 6 Speed HD4000MH

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#4

Usually it's more blatant. It was my fault though because I forgot to remind Tom to charge the lift.

I did have the air on today but this was found pretty early after turning the AC on.

So we went to a parking lot where we could put the slide out and get a better looksie.

Pulled the carpet back and, well take a look for yourself...

The area with no carpet is approximately where the subfloor was wet.

The mold tells me this is not the first time.

One thing I forgot to mention. When on the coach at Tom's, we both had a bit of a laugh because along with the broken vent cover, someone had put tape across the top of the vent pipe. Silly person doesn't know that the vent pipe just goes down to their tank basically, right? Well now I am starting to wonder - could their be a break in the vent pipe within the wall? And rain down the vent pipe == rain in the coach? The tape had not held up well over time and was more like a trellis than a solid band of tape at this point.

I also know it cannot be a freshwater supply leak - I had closed the valves in the water bay days ago and turned off the pumps in order to remove the sediment filter. Never opened them up or turned the pump back on.

Troubleshooting ideas? I am thinking perhaps removing my brand new vent cover and stuffing a garden hose down the vent pipe to see if that leaks onto the floor.....


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Paul
Coach #540
2000 Double Slide, Bath and a half, Average sized fan for its age
Fulltiming for a while around CO
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#5

Add window frame to your list

Richard and Rhonda Entrekin
99 Newell, 512
Subaru Outback Toad
Inverness, FL (when we're home Cool )
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#6

I  should have mentioned - I ruled the window out (in my mind) because I could not feel any moisture anywhere above the floor. None around the window, none anywhere on the wall.

But that raised the point - I have no idea what exists betweeen the inner and outer shells of the wall.

How could I truly rule out the window frame? Run a hose at it? At least with the carpet removed I have less hysteresis on positive water confirmation.

BTW - why is there linoleum under the carpet?

Paul
Coach #540
2000 Double Slide, Bath and a half, Average sized fan for its age
Fulltiming for a while around CO
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#7

Paul, where did you buy the new vent covers? Both of mine are gone. Without vent covers where does the water go?

I have not had the carpet get wet, but I can feel when walking over that part of the bedroom floor that the floor board is most likely rotten. It is on my list to investigate and fix, but has not been top priority because the carpet is not wet. I guess I would like to believe, the rotten floor is from a past leak, but you have my attention now. Please keep us posted to what you find.

Thanks Mike

Mike & Jeannie Ginn
2000 Newell #555 - sold July 2020
2019 Leisure Travel Van FX model
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#8

Quote:BTW - why is there linoleum under the carpet?

Newell has used linoleum as a moisture barrier between the plywood subflooring and carpet/tile/wood for many, many years. My 1992 has it, Tom's 1990 had it and as I recall, the Classics had it.

Michael Day
1992 Newell 43.5' #281
NewellOwner.com
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#9

Yup, my 1982 has linoleum too.


Clarke and Elaine Hockwald
1982 Newell Classic, 36', 6V92 TA
2001 VW Beetle Turbo
Cannondale Tandem
Cannondale Bad Boy
Haibike SDURO MTB
http://whatsnewell.blogspot.com
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#10

(08-13-2017, 08:22 PM)Land Yacht Wrote:  Paul, where did you buy the new vent covers? Both of mine are gone. Without vent covers where does the water go?

I just got the Camco one from Amazon. They also sell them at Camping World and elsewhere, I think about any RV parts store. The broken ones were Ventline brand.

Without covers, it depends -- if the vent pipe is fully sealed around it to the roof, then water should only be able to go down the vent. And that just runs into your waste tank. Or at least it should.

If it's not fully sealed around the vent pipe then the water will go down into the coach where ever the pipe goes. In my case there are 2 - one to the washer/dryer drain line in the rear bath and one to the half bath sink. I'm not yet sure how the kitchen sink vents. Possibly an air admittance valve?

Paul
Coach #540
2000 Double Slide, Bath and a half, Average sized fan for its age
Fulltiming for a while around CO
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