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Old 02-03-2014, 12:28 PM   #1
NN5I
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Default Water leak

Aaargh -- wet carpet at the commode. Lean down, sniff -- whew, it's fresh water.

Remove cowling (one stainless-steel screw) -- it's the shaft seal on the top of the water valve. Hmmm -- looks like really easy to replace.

Ordered new valve, $28 -- and a new flush-valve seal too, $29, since I've got to work on it anyway. Flush-valve (ball valve) seal looks easy too.

Right now the cowling is off and there's a bowl to catch drip under the dripping valve. The drip is very slow. With the bowl there the carpet will dry soon enough.

I'll let y'all know how it turns out.
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Old 02-03-2014, 05:26 PM   #2
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Good luck. I hate plumbing. Even RV plumbing.
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Old 02-03-2014, 09:51 PM   #3
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I hate plumbing too -- especially RV plumbing. I've decided that, while it's apart, I'll replace not only the ball valve seal, but also the ball valve itself. Another $35 down (literally) the drain.

But that's everything that wears, and I really don't want to have to take it apart twice.
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Old 02-04-2014, 08:00 AM   #4
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Question: DO you use a pressure regulator? Most RV's are stickerd for 45=50 PSI max when on city water and the pump is in that same range.

WHY, you ask, is this so when the PEX tubing can easily take 2 or 3 times that pressure?

Well... That leaking valve... that's the weak point in pressure containment.
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Old 02-04-2014, 09:00 AM   #5
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Not currently using a regulator, mostly because pressure is rather low where I am. In fact, I sometimes turn the pump on even when connected to city water, so the pressure will be at least that of the pump. Makes for a better shower, and uses some water from the tank so it doesn't stay stagnant for months at a time.

In summer I ought to use a regulator, though. RV parks in Florida are sparsely populated in summer, and the pressure is high. In winter (we call it "the season"), parks are full to bursting with "snowbirds", and both water pressure and electrical voltage are low.

Thanks for the good advice! I've got a regulator, one with a nice little pressure gauge on it, and I ought to see whether I can find it. It's hiding someplace at the moment.
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Old 02-08-2014, 05:33 AM   #6
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Well, the water leak is fixed. The valve was super-easy to replace. No one with fewer than ten thumbs, but more than one, should pay to have that done.

I have the ball valve and seal in hand (to make the bowl retain water between uses), and it looks like that'll be easy too. But the instructions call for the use of silicone grease on the ball shaft o-rings, and no silicone grease is supplied. Have you ever tried to buy silicone grease locally? It's a form of unobtainium. So, after half a day spent driving around, I ordered some on eBay and it'll be here in a couple days, I hope.
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Old 02-08-2014, 12:47 PM   #7
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Try an auto parts store. It's used on spark plug boots and brake caliper slides
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Old 02-08-2014, 02:01 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by W9CMG View Post
Try an auto parts store. It's used on spark plug boots and brake caliper slides
I thought so too, so I examined minutely the packaging of the stuff marketed as spark-plug-boot lubricant and brake-caliber lubricant. The packaging doesn't have, anywhere on it, the word "silicone" for any of several brands. So I passed it up. Perhaps I oughtn't.
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Old 02-08-2014, 06:32 PM   #9
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Using wikipedia to expand our vocabulary...

Silicone grease is a waterproof grease made by combining a silicone oil with a thickener. Most commonly, the silicone oil is polydimethylsiloxane and the thickener is amorphous fumed silica. Using this formulation, silicone grease is a translucent white viscous paste, with exact properties dependent on the type and proportion of the components.

The word "silicone" is nowhere in sight... And here I thought it was merely slimy stuff in a tube.

The last time I purchased silicone grease it came in an aerosol can. Perhaps you were on the wrong isle?
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Old 02-08-2014, 07:45 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Radio View Post
Using wikipedia to expand our vocabulary...

Silicone grease is a waterproof grease made by combining a silicone oil with a thickener. Most commonly, the silicone oil is polydimethylsiloxane and the thickener is amorphous fumed silica. Using this formulation, silicone grease is a translucent white viscous paste, with exact properties dependent on the type and proportion of the components.

The word "silicone" is nowhere in sight... And here I thought it was merely slimy stuff in a tube.

The last time I purchased silicone grease it came in an aerosol can. Perhaps you were on the wrong isle?
Nowhere in sight? I counted it four times in what you quoted.

In any case, I also searched the labels for words containing "silane", "siloxane", and similar fragments indicating silicones. In general, silicones are any modifications of organic molecules in which some or all of the carbon atoms are replaced by atoms of carbon's close kin silicon, which in many ways exhibits chemical behavior similar to that of carbon because of its similar electron shell structure. Don't ask for explanations -- I'm a little over my head here.
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Old 02-11-2014, 11:26 AM   #11
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Well, the grease -- Dow 111 silicone grease -- arrived today, and the job is done. My pottie bowl holds water, and I have no leaks.

The job wasn't difficult, but neither was it any fun. I wore disposable plastic gloves and generally avoided covering myself completely with ordure (the coverage was incomplete), but you can bet I visited the dumpster immediately afterward to get rid of replaced parts, and then washed all my tools, and then enjoyed a leisurely shower and a complete change of clothing.

I think I'll boil all the tools for a while, too.

Still, if it ever leaks again I'll fix it myself again, unless in the meantime I win the Powerball.
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Old 02-11-2014, 06:13 PM   #12
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Dow 111?

I keep a tube of that on my workbench at work. It's used to lubricate the hinges on oven doors. Go figure.
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