time2roll
Southern California
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Joined: 03/21/2005
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I agree with JBarka. When the W/H heats from cold with no water use the pressure can spike and cause a leak. Mine sure did.
Best solution is a small expansion tank such as ShurFlo.
https://www.amazon.com/SHURFLO-182-200-Pre-Pressurized-Accumulator-Tank
2001 F150 SuperCrew
2006 Keystone Springdale 249FWBHLS
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waynefi
S E Michigan
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Joined: 06/22/2011
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Thanks JBarca, I think you nailed it. Starting with a cold hot water tank, I turned on the heater and did not flow any water. It started dripping 10 to 20 minutes later. I flowed some water, and it stopped.
The water was dripping from the bottom of the pump. Both inlet and outlet connections felt dry. Since this is a brand new trailer, I’m not sure whether I should go back to the dealer, or put in some kind of accumulator myself.
At least I have a work-around. When I turn on the heater, wait 10 minutes and flow some water. Then don’t turn off the heater until I really need to.
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JBarca
Radnor, Ohio, USA
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waynefi wrote:Thanks JBarca, I think you nailed it. Starting with a cold hot water tank, I turned on the heater and did not flow any water. It started dripping 10 to 20 minutes later. I flowed some water, and it stopped.
The water was dripping from the bottom of the pump. Both inlet and outlet connections felt dry. Since this is a brand new trailer, I’m not sure whether I should go back to the dealer, or put in some kind of accumulator myself.
At least I have a work-around. When I turn on the heater, wait 10 minutes and flow some water. Then don’t turn off the heater until I really need to.
You are welcome and maybe you can help me too. See below after I comment on your post.
Thanks for reporting back and glad you found the issue.
By chance did you look outside at the water heater safety relief to see if there was any weeping of water by the time the heater shut off?
Did you have a typo I highlighted in red on your response above, on never turning the water heater off? Assuming this is a typo as leaving it on will aggravate your issue if you are not using it.
Now what to do, Yes it appears you have work around, a pain but it is something now under your control for the moment. I would personally take pics of the leak, send them to your dealer and request a warranty claim on the pump or ask them what to do. With the back log at dealers now, you may have to wait a good long time to have them troubleshoot, then get authorization, then change the pump. Taking the pictures and explaining the situation, hopefully they will just order a new pump if they do not have one and then schedule a day to install so you do not loose a lot of camping time waiting on this.
The pump should not leak under full system pressure, which is 150psi by the water heater relief valve. Since you have no pressure gauge in the system, and it only took 10 to 20 minutes of cold water heating to start the drip, I suspect from my tests, the pressure may have only rose to 120 or 130 psi. So the pump could be leaking at a pressure lower then the 150psi relief pressure. That lower pressure is what normally can happen if the air cushion in the water heater gets dissolved and even with that air cushion, it will still rise some. Granted your pump pressure or city water pressure is not that high, but the water heater issue is real. I'm sure there are many campers that go undetected as nothing leaks and all is considered OK not realizing what lurks in the background.
As to do you install an accumulator yourself. That is a good thing to do for long term to address this thermal expansion issue, but I would not use that as the fix for the pump. That leak has to be addressed, as leaks generally never get better, they usually get worse and you may end up with a water damage mess. That may not be covered under warranty. Ideally, all campers with a tank style water heater have a bladder type expansion tank. It's one of those things that have not been upgraded into new campers. I suspect it is a cost saving thing on the manufactures part but it is for sure a need.
I restore water damaged campers. It is a retirement hobby I have gotten into. I am now on my 15th water damaged camper, some minor and others major restorations. Maybe I'm nuts wanting to deal with rotted wood, but I enjoy the work and my friends are very grateful I help them out. I have seen so many kinds of camper water damage leaks it's sort of amazing they last very long at all. You do not want "any" leak to go undetected for any length of time. Your only good luck in a water leak situation is, you find the leak as soon as it starts, mop up the mess quickly, and create efforts in short order to stop any more leaking.
Something you can help me with is feedback on two things.
1. What brand/model water pump do you have?
2. What brand and model water heater do you have?
I'm trying to track down some more data on the new design Dometic/Atwood water heaters. I installed one of the new ones this spring to retro fit into an older Atwood location on a camper restore I was doing. There was some very immediate high pressure issues when water was heated, worse then yours. I have my own thoughts on why this happened, but I need more data from other users to help confirm my thoughts.
Let us know how you make out.
John
John & Cindy
2005 Ford F350 Super Duty, 4x4; 6.8L V10 with 4.10
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waynefi
S E Michigan
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Answers to a few of John’s questions:
The pump is a Lippert Flow Max 689051.
The water heater is a Suburban SW6DE. I did not notice any weeping around the pressure relief valve. The thermostat seems to be around 129, which is a little hotter than I would like.
I really did mean leave the water heater on. As long as the water stays hot, it doesn’t leak. It is only when is is heating and expanding that it leaks. That is why this was such a pain to track down.
The water heater is so close to the floor that I can’t slip any kind of bowl under it, but I built a little frame to hold a plastic sheet to confine the water. When it leaks, it is about 1/2 cup, then it stops.
My last trailer had significant water damage to the floor, and I’m not sure I ever knew where the leak was, so I’m paying a lot of attention to this one. I can see what a big job your hobby could be.
Wayne
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waynefi
S E Michigan
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![[image]](https://i.imgur.com/BSq1ANRl.jpg)
Posting a picture of my pump, mostly to test photo posting.
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JBarca
Radnor, Ohio, USA
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Joined: 12/16/2004
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waynefi wrote:Answers to a few of John’s questions:
The pump is a Lippert Flow Max 689051.
The water heater is a Suburban SW6DE. I did not notice any weeping around the pressure relief valve. The thermostat seems to be around 129, which is a little hotter than I would like.
I really did mean leave the water heater on. As long as the water stays hot, it doesn’t leak. It is only when is is heating and expanding that it leaks. That is why this was such a pain to track down.
The water heater is so close to the floor that I can’t slip any kind of bowl under it, but I built a little frame to hold a plastic sheet to confine the water. When it leaks, it is about 1/2 cup, then it stops.
My last trailer had significant water damage to the floor, and I’m not sure I ever knew where the leak was, so I’m paying a lot of attention to this one. I can see what a big job your hobby could be.
Wayne
Thanks for the info. Much appreciated.
On leaving the water heater on, h'mm OK I see your point. Just beware that when you start to camp, the water will be cold as the water source and the first time the heater, heats, it will build the higher pressure. If you burp the faucet along the way, it will relive the high pressure. It's a work around, not the greatest, but it may buy you some time until the pump gets fixed.
On the hot water temp setpoint, I'm more fluent on the Atwood heater, but I looked up the Suburban and it seems to also have a fixed temp setpoint, in this case 130F +/- 5 F. They have it that hot to help make the tank of hot water last longer. They know you will blend it with cold water at the faucet, so you will less hot water to get the cooler volume out the faucet. Atwood does it the same, just they picked 140F.
Atwood does offer and adjustable T stat you can buy, it does not come with it, but it used to be available. I'm not sure if Suburban has one, they might.
The camper restore projects, yes they take a lot of time. Most get a whole new roof, and I chase the water damage repair all the way to the end of it. Most times all the siding is off and every door, window, furnace etc. in the siding is removed and reset with new commercial grade butyl tape and RV Proflex caulk. Some need an all new wall, floor or ceiling rebuilds in some fashion. It typically takes on average 750 work hours to complete a camper. That includes a frame paint, suspension and brake rebuild, axle alignment check and correct and all appliances & the AC unit are serviced and tested. The camper is better then new when your done, and sealed up a lot better then it ever was.
Good luck with your pump.
John
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