Shower Faucet - Food for Thought

[BigJohnD]

This may apply to many of the Jayco lines, but thought I'd throw it out there in the TT section. Several of our rigs have had this similar shower faucet set up. I never understood why they mounted this with the hose coming out of the top, opposed to out of the bottom. Sure, it works, but.....

So here's the problem I've had on the last 2 like this. In the first picture, you'll see an arrow pointing to an open spot. Water can and will get in here. Unfortunately, the water can go in, and if they've sealed all the way around the faucet, it can't come out. So, where does the water go. As we found out, in the wall behind the shower eventually. On our last fifth wheel, I was digging around in the basement while wife was in the shower, when I saw water coming out of the basement ceiling where the drain line came through. I had installed an access panel behind the shower, so in I went to inspect. Sure enough, water coming in just as I mentioned earlier, and making it's way down. So, I removed the whole faucet assembly, flipped it over, changed the Hot and Cold knobs to reflect the reversed position, made a nice gasket out of sealer around the assembly and reinstalled. Never had another drop of water come through. Thankfully, Jayco was nice enough to install and access panel already, so this will be one of the first things I switch, unless somebody can explain a good reason why it's installed with the hose coming out of the top.

[norty1]

Mine comes out the bottom.

[RVhiker]

Our hose comes out the bottom; I don't think having the hose come out the top makes sense.

[Seann45]

I think some joker at the factory installed it upside down. I would talk to your dealer about re-installing it properly.

[Tunce the traveler]

Mine comes out the top also but at this time there is no leaking.

[SecretCoveDave]

BigJohnD - thank you. Sitting in the Mojave desert pondering our soft bathroom floor, read your post and ran to the shower faucet. Upside down.

Always wondered why hot/cold taps were reversed.

To late for warranty but my rip and tear unskilled carpentry/plumbing may be more focused now.
Dave

[BigJohnD]

I'll be flipping the faucet over, just as we have on all the other ones. Was just hoping to save somebody else some troubles due to our experience with this set up. The only thing we will ever bring a unit back to the dealer for is really major things, such as a cracked front cap and rotted slide floor in our last fifth wheel. Other than that, I do all my own work in that shop in the sig picture. My thought process is not the average. I could elaborate, but that'd be another thread. Floor plan was one of the least considerations, components and ease of working on the rig was on the top. With this rig, delamination is one of the only things we can't handle on our own now. The industries boo boos have trained us well over the years.

[CDavid]

Mine comes out the top, hot and cold valves are in normal positions.

[ddrueckh]

How does one go about removing the faucet to flip it over? Thanks.

[BigJohnD]

ddrueckh, access behind the shower (hopefully you can), or tub, unscrew the hot / cold water lines, remove the 2 plastic nuts like in the right hand picture in the original post, and it's out. Slide faucet out, flip over, resecure. Only thing you'll have to do is reverse the H and C knobs if that bothers you. Pretty obvious, but I'd recommend draining water lines with the low points before hand to minimize what spills. If you don't have an access panel, you can always carefully cut one. That's what we did in our previous rigs without the panel. Some say it's ugly, but I'd rather have one of those plastic Oatey panels from Lowes there, and be able to access stuff, than not see what's going on in the wall. Better safe than sorry.

CDavid, not much you can do about that configuration. However, I'd at least check behind the tub wall if possible, spray that area and see if you get water. If so, seal as much as possible.

[norty1]

Even though ours is not reversed, we have a nice access panel in the kitchen area in a cabinet that backs up to the shower.

[BigJohnD]

For what it's worth, here's one of our previous ones, and where we added the access panel. Measure 5 times, cut once. Used one of those small oscillating multi-tools since you can cut with precision and not hit anything behind the paneling.

[dennis b]

Just my opinion but if it came out the bottom I would think it may cause xtra bending of hose when using or even kink the hose!

[BigJohnD]

Actually, just the reverse. On ours, the hose is long. It's in more of a bind of you leave it as is. The picture I just posted was before I flipped it over. The picture in the first post, is again before I have flipped it over. I had to come offshore a few days after I brought it home, so it's on the round tuit list. Both of those pictures were posted with the shower head hanging in it's rack, or highest position. Works much better and less strain coming out of the bottom.

[wwsmith111]

Going to hit mine with some bath silicone. Thanks for the post to bring this to our attention.

[Paintinfool3]

well as to that I know mine comes out the top but also you need to check your outside shower if you have one.... mine seeps out around the shower hose and where does that go .... on mine into the wall under the bathroom sink so make sure it is not leaking into unwanted places also

[BigJohnD]

Thank you for pointing that out Paintinfool3. I hadn't had one of those leak into unwanted places yet, but I will definitely be checking this one.