Kind of stupid really but posting any way so others might learn from my mistake.
I almost always use my fresh water tank to supply the LD when traveling. For some reason, which is more lazyness on my part than anything defenseable, yesterday I hooked up to city water at the camp rather than refill the FW tank.
I go out today and turn off the the water and electric. I get back from a long ride and need to avail myself of the “facilities”. No problem I have a gal of water to flush and wash with. I complete the tasks and proceed outside and turn on the electric and water. Knowing my dog has been cooped up in the car as long as I, we go for a walk. Then we start yappping with other LD owners. I see my neighbor booking to the LD group- she owns a 5wheeler. She sees me and tells me water is pooring out of my RV. SHe did turn off the water main.
I get to the RV. Water is flowing out the side door. Out the driver side storage compartment. Inside the shower is full. And the floor is very wet and running forward and to the drivers side.
We imedearly hook up the sewer line and dump the gray tank. I check the water faucets and find that I had turned on the water when I went to wash. But the water was off. So I did not think to turn the faucet off.
If only I had filled the water tank I would have heard the tell tail Burrrrrrrrt of the pump. Hopefully the carpet in the drivers compartment will dry on the ride home. The campground had a shop vac and I think I got most is the water. The compartment under the FW tank flooded and is slowly draining.
Have a good day and don’t change a routine that works for you.
Keep it fun
John
.
Sorry to hear of your mishap John. I have had floods in my home but thankfully, never in my RV. With the home incident, it was imperative to air out our home. Multiple fans were brought into our home, some generating heat to help evaporate the water and keep the damage to the subfloors to a minimum. If I were you, I would try to do the same and get some large fans in your RV immediately, especially while you have access to electricity in a campground. Just trying to help................
Gary
John,
So sorry for your incident. Like you, I always fill the fresh water tank rather than hook up to the city water. For more than one reason, but that’s besides the point.
I tend to put items in our shower during travel. I always use a packing blanket to avoid scratching the shower enclosure. It’s a routine I am quite used to. That being said I must have left the shower on or bumped the knob because while unpacking the shower while in Big Bear, I found the packing blanket very wet. Not soaked through but enough to teach me a quick lesson-Make sure the water in the shower is turned off.
I hope everything drys out in your LD. Thanks for the post. Sometimes stuff just happens...like killing the chassis battery...or forgetting to lock the cab doors or ...😖
Kent
John, I agree with Gary you might have to use Fans or dehumidifiers to dry things out. It depends what the humidity is where you are out.
We had a flood in the house in Colorado, that dried quickly because low humidity there. But a friends house in Seattle where the humidity is high needed dehumidifiers.
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"I tend to put things in my shower..."
Kent
You may want to investigate this stuff, I've had it in my shower for years. The only down side is the knobby texture, it's hard on bare feet.
DRI-DEK Dri-Dek Panels | West Marine (https://www.westmarine.com/buy/dri-dek--12-x-12-white-dri-dek-panel--P015_456_001_512?pCode=325151&mrkgcl=481&mrkgadid=3252486990&cm_mmc=PS-_-Google-_-GSC%3EBrand-_-325151&product_id=325151&adpos=1o1&creative=231267080879&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=CjwKCAjwuO3cBRAyEiwAzOxKsny4jDOV1y3OMuo2mwuO2syzDNKZFSI2Ay_iVWcrL_RGOzVJCzYxvRoCPu4QAvD_BwE)
I’m so sorry for your troubles because I know you care about your LD as much as anyone. At the least it was fresh water and not the black tank. And if I shared any of my bad luck adventures you’d feel like a genius in comparison.
With heaters, dehumidifiers and fans you’ll be good as new in just a few days.
Hope it dries quickly. Something to listen to while drying out.
Short Comment (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CAKCW-1Gs8)
Longer Comment (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wneUNq_Ndbw)
"I tend to put things in my shower..."
You may want to investigate this stuff, I've had it in my shower for years. The only down side is the knobby texture, it's hard on bare feet.
DRI-DEK Dri-Dek Panels | West Marine (https://www.westmarine.com/buy/dri-dek--12-x-12-white-dri-dek-panel--P015_456_001_512?pCode=325151&mrkgcl=481&mrkgadid=3252486990&cm_mmc=PS-_-Google-_-GSC%3EBrand-_-325151&product_id=325151&adpos=1o1&creative=231267080879&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=CjwKCAjwuO3cBRAyEiwAzOxKsny4jDOV1y3OMuo2mwuO2syzDNKZFSI2Ay_iVWcrL_RGOzVJCzYxvRoCPu4QAvD_BwE)
Good stuff. We use the shower as a storage space when on the road and wanted to protect the shower floor in our 1983 LD.
When we sold it, in preparation for our new 2003 FL, I kept the piece and we have used ever since.
Shower floor grating | Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/lwade/sets/72157602095133496/)
Larry
I get to the RV. Water is flowing out the side door. Out the driver side storage compartment. Inside the shower is full. And the floor is very wet and running forward and to the drivers side.
Hello John. I'm hopeful that you and your LD are in a better and drier place tonight. Do you have any new information for us? Look forward to hearing from you.
We are in central VT. We head home today. The rv is mostly dry. I fear the carpet under the table may need a deep cleaning. Weather has been mostly sunny but very humid, 85% or higher. The drive home will take me through a couple days of rain. So drying out has been slow.
All in all I was very lucky to have a sharp eyed neighbor who shut off the water and quickly notified me. The was not damaged as bad as I thought it might have been. The camp at Able Mountain Campground in VT provided me a shopvac and that did wonders.
I stopped hooking up to water years ago.
I don't trust my plumbing for this reason.
When we leave we make sure the pump is off.
Thanks so much for sharing, John - and I sure hope your rig dries out and is no worse for the accident.
This is a great reminder for us to be very careful when hooked up to city water. It would be easy to make a mistake because we almost never have hookups. So I really appreciate you explaining how things can go wrong and that we could flood our Twin King. Years ago we had a pipe break under our sink in our condo and it flooded the whole place and was a huge mess to deal with and expensive. We would never want anything like that to happen to our LD. Thanks so much for sharing your story.
Jim & Deb
Santa Cruz, CA
2016 24' TK
"This is a great reminder for us to be very careful when hooked up to city water."
Or better still, don't hook up.
That said, city water is not the only way to flood a rig. Many years ago I took my 1985 Lazy Daze to Camping World in Bridgeport, NJ to have it winterized and a new water pump installed. Of course they drained the plumbing first, installed the pump... and then didn't bother to refill the tank in order to test the new pump.
But I didn't realize that until the next spring, when I took the rig over to a neighbor's to fill the freshwater tank. Once it was filled, we went for a drive. When we got back, I was horrified to see a sheet of water pouring out of the lower body on one side. It turned out that Camping World had omitted a crucial gasket when installing the new pump, and it had been merrily emptying the water tank onto the floor all the time we were gone. Because it was a Whisper King pump, I hadn't noticed it running.
I vacuumed up as much water as I could. Fortunately, the weather was relatively dry, and by leaving all the windows open I was able to dry out the rig over the next week or so. It suffered no permanent harm as far as I could tell, and I used it for many years after that. I hope the same proves true in your case, John.
I guess the moral is: don't hook up to city water, and always turn off the pump when leaving the rig. But I'll confess that I usually forget to do the latter.
I never gave this issue much thought but I will now. Thanks for the heads up.
Is it safe to hook up to city water with a water pressure regulator?
Langton
Is it safe to hook up to city water with a water pressure regulator?
If a leak occurs, it will just flood your RV at a bit slower pace.
Remember to turn off your water pump when away from the rig. A few years ago I was inside and Gayle was outside. Suddenly, I heard the pump going full blast but nothing was on. She saw water coming out of the door for the outside shower, something we had never used. One of the connections simply decided to break. Glad we were there when it happened. That said, I always turn off the pump when we leave.
Jim
Langton,
I think the real question for me is “Why bother?” Certainly pressure regulators are always advisable when connecting to either of the LD water inlets. You can even purchase regulators that have adjustable flow controls which is nice.
The issue for me is “trust”. Is the city water supply “tainted”? Is it something that needs to be filtered? There have be some lengthy discussions on the dangers associated with possible water contamination. In such cases, a dedicated filtration system is advisable. And if you are going to break out the filtration system then why not just fill your tank and the put everything away?
There is also the question of reliability of a pressure regulator. Can it fail? The LD water pump is bypassed when you hook up to the city water connection circumnavigating your first line of defence from water intrusion. Your fresh water tank is not pressurized and you can turn the pump off when you leave the rig. The city water supply is pressurized and would need to be disconnected from the source to avoid possible water intrusion.
Filling the fresh water tank takes only minutes. Remediation of water damage? Not fun at all. Ask anyone who has experienced it. So once again the question begs to be asked, “Why bother”?
Just sayin,
Kent
Experiencing unexpected water movement must be frightening. Having seen this on two occasions (neighbors' rigs), we decided early on not to hook up to the campground water system. Since a full tank of water will last us just under a week's time, it seems worthwhile to fill the tank using our water softener and filter system before leaving home, and to repeat the procedure when staying in a campground that provides water at the campsite. By trickling the water into the tank over the course of an hour, we feel that the installed filters do their job to the max. No tending is needed, really. Just put the hose in the side of the rig, set a timer, and go do something else for a while. Just don't leave this task until the morning you are to leave. Much too easy to get in a hurry and make a mistake.
Nothing is entirely 100% foolproof, but not being connected to city water, and having the rig's pump turned off, especially when gone from the rig, should cut down on the number of water-related mishaps.
Virtual hugs,
Judie <-- Sierra Vista, Arizona
Adventures of Dorrie Anne | Photographing the West (http://dorrieanne.wordpress.com)
Today: English Bus
***************************
Langton,
While Judy directly answered your questions and others gave good info, bottom line is: Any pressure (city connection or water pump turned on) means if there is any problem water will flood your RV.
Problems can be you left something turned on and forgot about it (a faucet even one not quite fully turned off) or a break or leak in any pipe or fixture or appliance like the pump itself.
Using the pump meana there is noise as the pump repressurizea the line that is leaking - that sound can alert you of a problem leak.
Turning off the pump (or city water) when not at the rig prevents continual flooding when you are not there to discover it while the problem is smaller.
All that said things do happen,
As others said - leaks happen at home also when we are away or sleeping. Just less often as RV pipes get wiggles around a lot more as we go down the road.
We had a leak one at our house - from the laundry room it sounded like water running in a pipe but nothing was on anywhere (checked the entire house). I then checked under the house (crawl space) and yup a small drip from a pipe. The plumber (before I did my own work) was amazed I heard anything at all. Copper pipes and the laundry room was over the crawl space though a good 10' from the leak. But imagine a pipe even with a slow drip eroding the dirt under the house over time (years) - what a problem that would cause.
Jane
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Thanks Jane and everyone for explaining it all. I have always hooked up to city water when camping but I turn off the faucet during the rare times I leave the rig. I do the same at my house after seeing my friends mobile completely flooded from a broken washing machine hose while they were on vacation.
Going forward I'm using the pump so I can hear what's going on.
Thanks again,
Langton
Pardon the newbie question but does anyone have a picture to share regarding hooking up water? Or maybe a simple explanation would paint a picture for me. It sounds like the water system uses two different hook ups - one pressurized and one gravity fed?
Pardon the newbie question but does anyone have a picture to share regarding hooking up water? Or maybe a simple explanation would paint a picture for me. It sounds like the water system uses two different hook ups - one pressurized and one gravity fed?
The water connection at the side of the LD connects to the water spigot at the camp site and is pressurized if turned on and left on. The alternative is to draw water (not gravity fed) from the on board water tank using the water pump which is turned on via the switch on the control panel above the stove. If the internal pump is turned off, there is no pressure and thus less opportunity for "flooding". The flooding problem happens because folks leave the external water source (spigot) on and thus under pressure. Pipes burst; faucets leak; seams leak; etc. Further, water flowing from the external spigot is under a lot more pressure than what the internal water pump generates. Someone correct me if I am wrong about this.
Chris
I think you nailed it, Chris!
A plumber couldn't have described it better Chris.....................
Gary
Is it safe to hook up to city water with a water pressure regulator?
Langton
I had a pressure gauge on. If you happen to leave a faucet on a bit the grey tank will fill, the shower bottom will then fill and then the RV will flood. I know.
Thanks for the warning. I have been Rving for many years and always hooked up to city water. I turn the spigot off and unscrew the hose a bit to release the pressure if I leave the rig. Never understood the mechanics of it until now, I just do it on the Dazy and my house after a friend’s home flooded . I also have water alarms under the cupboards.
Even though I have never had a leak, after reading what can happen, I am just going to use the pump because you can hear it.
Thank you
Langton
I had a pressure gauge on. If you happen to leave a faucet on a bit the grey tank will fill, the shower bottom will then fill and then the RV will flood. I know.
Hmmm...I am surprised they do not have a safety valve above the grey tank that will prevent flooding. If given the choice I guess most would rather deal with a grey water mess on the ground versus in the vehicle.
Hmmm...I am surprised they do not have a safety valve above the grey tank that will prevent flooding. If given the choice I guess most would rather deal with a grey water mess on the ground versus in the vehicle.
The forces attempting to 'idiot-proof' the world are always playing catch-up. Yesterday the State of California mandated new garage door openers must have a battery backup to open even with a power failure after some point in 2019. I didn't read it so I don't know if there is a retrofit mandate as well. This follows the news that 5 of this year's fire fatalities involved the inability to open the garage door.
The forces attempting to 'idiot-proof' the world are always playing catch-up. Yesterday the State of California mandated new garage door openers must have a battery backup to open even with a power failure after some point in 2019. I didn't read it so I don't know if there is a retrofit mandate as well. This follows the news that 5 of this year's fire fatalities involved the inability to open the garage door.
My garage door opener does not have a battery back up but it does have cord to pull in the event there is no power. Pull the cord and it releases the lifting mechanism from the track which allows one to open the door manually. Don't all modern electric garage doors use something like this? I've used it multiple times during power outages.
Chris
Chris,
it was reported that those who died did not have the strength to raise a disconnected garage door.
joel
Chris,
it was reported that those who died did not have the strength to raise a disconnected garage door.
joel
What a shame. I suspected that might be the case.
Chris
It's common for the power companies to cut power in fire areas so I can see how this could be a problem for those who are unable to release the mechanical safety latch. But, I'm wondering does a garage door opener with battery backup even exist? I've never heard of one.
Hi Greg, a friend of mine with a 3 car garage has two of them. In my opinion an un necessary option. In an emergency, get out some other way. If you just need to get to work, then at least you can close it after you, without going through the house. I've heard from that friend that some newer garages (detached) actually don't have other doors besides the electrified ones. RonB