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Topic Closedslow drip from insulation around low point drains

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Direct Link To This Post Topic: slow drip from insulation around low point drains
    Posted: 21 Sep 2020 at 3:39pm
Folks, I was blowing out the lines with a shop vac ( i had hot and cold Fawcett taps on inside in the kitchen sink), collecting water from the fresh water tank drain and noticed a small drip coming from the insulation (foam) around the low point drains. There's no way to see whats happening because it's all enclosed. Another question too, why is there two low point drains (hot and cold?).
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Sep 2020 at 3:42pm
Forgot to mention, i had the caps off the low point drains as well
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Sep 2020 at 4:34pm
Mine drain when caps open. Lines are read and blue, hot and cold low point.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Sep 2020 at 5:44pm
Originally posted by Poddy

Folks, I was blowing out the lines with a shop vac ( i had hot and cold Fawcett taps on inside in the kitchen sink), collecting water from the fresh water tank drain and noticed a small drip coming from the insulation (foam) around the low point drains. There's no way to see whats happening because it's all enclosed. Another question too, why is there two low point drains (hot and cold?).

Look from the inside and see if there is a leak at one of the tee fittings that feeds to the low point drains. Its unusual for a pex clamp fitting to leak but not unheard of. 

There have to be low point drains for both hot and cold since they are separate systems. 

How are you connecting the shop vac to your water system? 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Sep 2020 at 6:34pm
How am i connecting the shop vac to the water system? Not really connecting it, just putting the hose at the fresh water tank drain (underneath), the fresh water manual fill opening (on the side), and at the hot water heater drain (anode). Im hoping i didn't put too much pressure on any of the fittings/ lines.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Sep 2020 at 7:55pm
No way a shop vac can create more than a couple of psi of pressure. That wouldn’t damage the plumbing. I was thinking the opposite, it might not produce enough pressure to blow out the lines.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Sep 2020 at 6:08am
Off grid, well that's a relief. But i will say the shop vac did collect way more water than i thought it would. Had to empty it while in the process (i also dropped the nose of the pod as far down as it would go, i found that helped too with getting "hidden" water.)
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Sep 2020 at 8:05am
OK, I understand now that you are using vacuum from the shop vac to pull out water rather than the pressure side to blow out water. That might cause a problem I guess creating a weak vacuum in the fresh water tank because that isn't meant to handle pressure changes like that. I would suggest not applying pressure or vacuum to that in future. 

Just use the pressure side of the vac or better an air compressor set to 30 psi or so to blow out the pressure lines of the trailer, leaving a faucet open. That way you're not asking any of the plumbing or fixtures to do something they're not designed to do. A little water left in the bottom of the tanks isn't going to damage anything when it freezes. 

Have you determined the cause of your water drip yet? 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Sep 2020 at 9:54am
Originally posted by offgrid

A little water left in the bottom of the tanks isn't going to damage anything when it freezes. 

True, but I did not blow out my fresh water tank, and over the winter I developed a hairline crack on the flex line coming from the tank.  So, I will be blowing out the FWT this winter!


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Sep 2020 at 10:27am
Be careful how much pressure you put on the tank, it is not meant to handle anything more than about a foot of water column which is about 0.5 psi. Adhesives don't stick well to low density polyethylene (LDPE) which is what the fwt is made of, so its easy to blow the fittings out. 

If you're concerned about the pump feed line freezing it might be better to just disconnect it than to try to apply pressure to the tank. I'm not sure how pressure would do better than just adjusting the tilt of the trailer and draining the tank anyway. 
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