Bad plumbing starts breakdown Trifecta

Griswald One · 10-13-2015, 03:14 AM

I have to tell the whole story, but in the end I am looking for the advice of any plumbers (amatuer or professional) out there as too what went wrong.

We hit the breakdown Trifecta last night with three significant issues occuring in 45 minutes. First we discovered a significant leak in our kitchen sink, that was followed by the bottom hinge snapping off of the fridge door and finally the hot water tank went on the fritz. The fridge door has been temproarily fixed with super glue and duct tape, but it means 3 days into a 10 day trip, we can't store any items on the door. The water heater would have been a huge setback if not for this forum, having read the advice of many of you in the past I knew a reset switch existed. It took me some hunting but I found it, no thanks to Girard but lots to the friends on JOF.

The sink is a much bigger issue. We have waited all summer for a new counter top to be installed in our rig because the original was significantly warped and as a result out of level. Last Thursday we picked it up finally and the service manager took me out and proudly showed me my newly installed and level counter top. This particular counter contains the sink. It is a one peice fiberglass unit with the sink incorporated. Unfortunately I did not think to lift the sink covers and inspect the plumbing.

We packed up and started heading South on Friday. After arrival at our site and cooking the first meal we opened up the sink to do the dishes and discovered the butcher job they had done on our sinks plumbing install. Around each drain is a soft grey putty they have used as a sealant. The putty is glopped on with the same care shown when applying Lap sealant to a roof. It looks atrocious and is raised up enough that water and food does not completely drain from the sink. On day three we discovered that the putty has not sealed anything on the small sink and when we filled the sink water was pouring through from the drain and into our cupboards.

Underneath the sink there is a grey coupling. The coupling has an o-ring seal that appears to be completely useless as it is pressing up against the rough fiberglass surface under the counter. There were two layers to the seal, first the rubber ring and secondly a cardboard liner. The liner was destroyed by the water leaking through.

At this point we are down to one sink as I was not able to come up with a field repair and we are very nervous that the second sink will fail as well. That possibility makes us very nervous because the cuboard design on the ME has that drain in a closed off section of cupboard that we cannot access to get a pan under.

So to the plumbers out there... What the **** did my dealer do??? how should this install have been properly completed and what should I be looking for after the next round of repairs?

TexasRT · 10-13-2015, 04:39 AM

Gris
The soft grey putty should be Plumber's Putty and is typically used for the application your are talking about. The putty seals the drain flange inside the sink, and there should be a good size rubber seal underneath, this could be the o-ring you're referring to. The rubber seal should be tightened against the bottom of the sink with a large nut. The paper gasket you mentioned is usually only used if a garbage disposal is being used. If it were me, I would disassemble the side that is leaking and re-do it the correct way and that should hopefully fix the issue. On the side that is not leaking, just check to make sure the big nut underneath is snug and then trim off the excess putty that has been pushed out.

Hope this helps.

Grumpy · 10-13-2015, 06:14 AM

I can't help with the sink, but I would get on the horn to JAYCO and NORCOLD since NORCOLD went through that same scenario with the bottom door hinge in 06/08. It was supposed to be completely resolved.

troutslayer · 10-13-2015, 11:36 AM

If memory serves me correctly (I just replaced my double bowl sink with a single bowl sink), the rubber piece should be next to the fiberglas then the paper ring then the metal threaded piece. The paper ring is to allow the rubber piece to be snugged up without distorting the rubber. It needs to be tightened snugly then come back a little while later and snug it again. Then trim off the putty as much as possible. The installer probably snugged the drain fitting up but didn't come back again and re-tighten and clean up his "mess".
Unfortunately, these fiberglas sinks are not made like stainess sinks. They are somewhat uneven at the drain opening. Even if you snug the drain and clean off all the putty, there will probably still be a gap where a small amount of water will hang up. However, it should not leak.

3'senough · 10-13-2015, 11:46 AM

Agree with all the above. The gray material is plumbers putty and it works like clay. You roll out a 1/4 in think, long worm like piece,wrap it around the base of the drain and press in. The rubber seal should have a flanged side that faces up to the base of the sink then the metal large nut gets tightened from below with some channel locks. Turn that nut to snug and the drain flush with sink base, do not overtighten and back off a 1/4 turn then rub away the plumbers putty that squeezed out from the drain flange.

After that make sure all your drain fittings are tight and in place with the correct washers.

Jhowemca · 10-13-2015, 01:09 PM

The plumbers putty will continue to squeeze out around the drain until it is seated completely.
When I first got my TT the drains were a little loose and the putty was a little messy where it was squeezing out.
I just hand tightened the large nut under the sink every once in a while until all the extra putty was squeezed out.
You can clean up the excess putty with a plastic knife or a tooth pic so it doesn't look so messy.

Ps. I think the cardboard ring is meant to go between the large nut and the rubber gasket. It creates a smooth surface under the rubber gasket that won't grab the nut and prevent it from being tightened enough (it should work ok without it though).

Griswald One · 10-13-2015, 02:06 PM

Thanks All... Once again your input was stellar!!! They had put WAY to much putty in and it was applied unevenly. Hard to see in the photo but the drain was sitting very pround from the sink.

I took it apart, and removed almost half the putty they had used and then cleaned out all the putty that had worked its way into the threads. Seems to be in good shape now. Because of the design of the ME I can't easily access the main drain without disassembling cupboards so I will be leaving that for the dealer to do while they are replacing the water damaged boards.

Grumpy - Interesting to hear about the prior hinge problem. I am amazed with the weight of these doors even unloaded that they would go with a plastic hinge. My much smaller beer fridge at home has steel hinges!

Grumpy · 10-13-2015, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Griswald One

Grumpy - Interesting to hear about the prior hinge problem. I am amazed with the weight of these doors even unloaded that they would go with a plastic hinge. My much smaller beer fridge at home has steel hinges!

It was suppose to be reinforced. Many of us with SENECAS (06/08) had our doors replaced.

You may also like: