Plumbing Overhaul

[bigjeffstone]

Sent: 11/24/2008 1:56 PM

I've been doing a lot of work on the old tanks and the plumbing. It's gone fairly well so far, but not quite complete.

I replaced the majority of the copper piping that connects the water tanks to each other, the air compressor and the external valve with 1/4" hose. Had the most trouble fitting the 5/8" flared connection from the fresh water hook up to the cold water tank. Seeing as no one has been able to help (Home Depot, multiple RV parts suppliers, other local hardware and plumbing stores), it took me forever to figure this one out.

Ended up getting a "female-to-female civil union" of two female 5/8" flare connectors with a two inch copper pipe connecting them. This converted the the 5/8" male to a 3/4" female, which I connected a 3/4" male to 1/2" male connector (I'm not good with the technical terms), which allowed me to connect a 16" silver hoses in between. Still yet to see if it all works, as I need to hook it up to a freshwater hose. (I can't take any of the credit...the guy at the plumbing store took 15 minutes, pulling all sorts of connectors from under the counter to make this work).

For the external, my valves were leaking so I took them apart, got the exact same valves only to realize that it was jerry rigged. The parts that are connected to the Winnebago which the new valves screw into were all busted. Plus it doesn't seem to want to seal correctly, so I've got some issues. I'm hoping the RV store I got the valves from will be able to find the other "half", but I'll still have to figure out how to get the whole thing fixed.

Right now, my plan is to saw off the piping and replace just the last foot plus the valves and the pipes that come off of the valves to attach the drainage tube.

Has anyone ever seen the black tanks pipes covered in insulation? Mine has always been wrapped in green tape, which I never attempted to remove until yesterday. Underneath is yellow insulation as well as an electrical cord which seems to go nowhere, except out the other side where it is welded off. I assume that, since one of the POs was in Colorado, this electricity was used to heat the tanks in winter to keep it from freezing. Any thoughts?

Like I said, I'll post photos when we get to the new site. In the meantime, any help/thoughts would be helpful!
Thanks

[Oz]

You're likely right about the wire being there to keep the contents of the black water tank from freezing.  The other possibility would be for a tank level indicator.

On my first rig, I did exactly as you did, sawed off  the ends and added what I wanted.  As long as you make a threaded connection and seal things properly, you shouldn't have any issues.  Mine worked fine and didn't leak.

[bigjeffstone]

That's good to hear. I'm excited to finally post some pics of my rig, the problems I've had, and the things that I've done along the way to fix him up.