Oh oh, water leak

[pawpaw]

As I mentioned in another thread, I recently purchased a new to us 2015 AR-One 18QB. We took it out for the first time last weekend and everything was fine - so I thought. I got up in the wee hours to take care of natures call and stepped into a puddle of water. I removed the interior access panel to look at the water heater and it appears to be coming from either the water heater itself or the plumbing. I just can't tell. All the plumbing lines that I can reach are dry. The floor is wet under the pump and water heater, and it pools right outside the bathroom door and behind the wall where the water heater is located.
Has anyone had a similar issue or is there a known problem?
Thank for the help.

[eldermike]

It's hard to find the source when you have a puddle unless you get lucky and see the leak. If you dry it all up and then watch as the water is turned on you can find it.

[Grumpy]

Check all the fittings they are known to loosen, but don't overtighten them

[ttavasc]

I had a similar issue on our 195RB which is essentially the same as the AR18QB. The leak was coming from the threads on both fittings for the hot and cold water lines on the tank. When I removed the fittings from the tank I found no teflon thread tape and very little thread paste. Haven't had any further issue since adding thread tape and a generous amount of thread paste.

One other place that I had seen start to leak is on the top of the water pump. There is a cap that unscrews to access a metal screen and it seems to loosen a bit over time either from using the pump or just bouncing down the road. I check that a couple of times a season now.

[Tunce the traveler]

[QUOTE=ttavasc;472264] FThe leak was coming from the threads on both fittings for the hot and cold water lines on the tank. When I removed the fittings from the tank I found no teflon thread tape and very little thread paste. Haven't had any further issue since adding thread tape and a generous amount of thread paste.


X2

[pawpaw]

Thanks guys. We just got home from our soggy (rain and water leak -what fun!) trip. I plan to dig into the problem tomorrow and I'll report my findings.

[pawpaw]

Well, here's what I've found.
I pressurized the system and heated the water, and couldn't see any water leaking or accumulating anywhere. I let the water cool down and repeated the procedure - still no sign of a leak. YEAH!!! Everything was drying out. I went outside and carefully checked the seal between the heater and the sidewall of my trailer - there were voids! I guess with all the heavy rain we had this past weekend, some of the water found the void and invited itself inside my trailer. No rain today so I'm going to reseal the heater and hope for the best.
Once again, I want to thank everyone for the ideas.
Fingers crossed!

[ttavasc]

That sounds promising! One other thing I had an issue with was rain coming in through the exterior heater vent due to the unit being just slightly higher on that side where I had parked it temporarily. The water ran through the furnace and then down around the electrical box which is right under the furnace outlet and finally to the floor. I had to pull the electrical box out and blow some air around behind it for a few hours to make sure it was good and dry. Fortunately I caught it early so no real damage was done. Now I make sure that I have it slightly higher on the other side to avoid that from happening again.

[pawpaw]

Update: I took the trailer out again last weekend. Light rain all day Saturday and.............................................NO WATER INSIDE! I think the problen is fixed. Thanks again for all the help!

[TaftCoach]

Congratulations!