Avoid Costly Repairs with This Simple Fix! (plus Two more Easy RV Projects)
Avoid an RV leak with this $12 part and 30 minutes of your time! We do this, fabricate a door for our toy hauler loft, and improve our breakaway attachment in the truck!
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00:00 Intro
00:35 Bunk / Attic Door
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13:11 RV Water Heater Check Valve Upgrade
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Hey Chad, just rub the bottom of your new sliding door with either some bar soap or a candle. That should help it slide.
Rubbing a votive candle on the bottom would work great.
Thanks! Sometimes I think i should get a life instead of watching random vids form yall, but then my water heater check valve explodes and ten seconds later i pull up your video from memory to check the solution! Happy trails!
I may be a chronic returner of random unused/unopened project parts. :D That's actually how my family who worked there taught me to do it. Buy everything you might use and return what you don't.
I know what I am going for, I just get there and forget them, then I walk around for some time and remember what I forgot when I get home.
I used to do that.. Now I keep a "Lowes Shopping List" note and add to it whenever I think of something... 😊
I think it is ok that the loft door slides with some effort. Then it won't open on a hard turn or bump on the road. As there seems to be no catch to keep it closed. Nice job!
Good point!
"I think I'm gonna go with the boat cleat" he says, then grabs the eye bolt! Love it! My wife makes fun of me for the same kind of things! Love your videos!
Hey Chad, when replacing the plastic check valve with a brass one, I always replace the elbow with a brass one partly because the threaded portion of the existing black plastic one can be long and actually hit the nut of the new check valve before it is seated tight, it will slowly drip and as an RV tech I don't want a call back. So the replacement elbow has shorter threads and seats real well against the cone shaped washer inside before it hits the nut portion of the check valve. -Kevin at BJC RV.
Good one. I do the same kind of shopping at Lowes. One day, maybe I'll open a hardware store stocked with all the stuff I bought and didn't use over the years.
Excellent match on the stain. Looks like you didn't cut the notch until after stain, good idea.
We have had 3 of the T connector PEX fittings to fail on us. While we were in a very small town in Montana. Luckily the awesome people at Ace hardware had the parts and loaned us to tool for replacing those fittings which made a super difficult job only slightly difficult. Difficult because there was little slack to be able to get the tool between the basement ceiling and to the top of the pipes. Hubbin is now in the process of replacing all the plastic connectors to prevent another flooded basement. Just an ounce of prevention worth a pound of cure. And we travel with our own purchased tool and connectors. Thank you Ace Hardware in Deer Lodge, Montana.
So Ace "Is" the place?
Nice job on the stain and door project - a thin strip of felt on either bottom of door or on the track (one or the other and not both) will help with the slide but also not easy to slide open unintentionally. Yep, I buy 3 solutions for every project and return 20% of the unused item and save 80% for “you never know”. I will soon be able to open my own hardware store with the stuff I have not repaired.
Great tips. I was hoping you could do a video on the "why and how you travel" Do you stay at a place for a week or month, what makes you move to the next destination, how do you plan out the next month or year? How do you find places for your BIG RIG and other things like that. We have only done 1-2 months trips at a time but we put on 7,500-8000 miles and that is not sustanable if and when we go full time. I would be nice to see how experienced full timers plan out there time and not just how vactationer do it. GREAT JOB on all your videos.
In the old days before ball bearing glides it was just wood on wood as far as the drawer slides. The manufacturer (if a real good one) would use a paraffin wax and would thoroughly coat the drawer side of the glide and this would allow the drawer to slide super easy without sticking. I'm thinking this might be an option for you.
BRILLIANT JOB MATCHING THAT STAIN!!!!!
Hey Chad, Here is the wild thing, my check valve failed recently, the hot flow was really reduced, so i started googling about replacing the check valve on our suburban heater, youtube has not shown me one of your thumbnails for ages, but today it showed me this video with a photo in the thumbnail of the check valve i just bought on amazon and installed yesterday. That tells you the connection between googleing and what youtube shows you on your home page. Larry
So very nice!! And love your interior. You might try candle wax on the wood edges to help it glide in the tracks.
Candle wax on the bottom of the door will help it slide. An old school method of lubrication wooden kitchen drawers. It works!
Another great video, thanks for the invite, always appreciated. Until next time, enjoy the fall colors and safe travels while doing so.
We had a 90 degree screw on fitting at the Nautilus start leaking, but only when we turned on the hot water heater - apparently the pressure of the water when heated would cause the connection to leak. I think it was the gasket inside the fitting causing the leak. I cut the piece off and purchased a sharbike branded brass 90 degree threaded fitting and connected it using my pex tool and crimp clamp. This leak was setting off my Govee leak detector. It took a while to solve this one - it was the connection coming from the hot water heater back to the Nautilus (think it feeds the outdoor faucet). The new fitting had a black rubber seal inside and the old one that leaked had a white seal that looked rather thin. Camping this week and so far so good.
Love the idea with the talcum powder. I had a leak by the Nautilus valves (I've got a 2017 GD 384GK). My leak detector went off and I got to it quickly. I cleaned everything up, it wasn't very wet at all, and never have been able to duplicate it again. I'm going to have to try spraying the area with talcum powder. Worst leak I ever had was the toilet flush valve sticking open. My wife and I both get up in the night an use the bathroom (we're in our 60's). Got up in the morning to find water everywhere, and it filled the underbelly like your leaky water heater had done. I fixed it that day, and finished around 9:30 pm with the outside temps at a balmy 25 degrees. I knew it was going to be cold/freezing that night and freezing for several days after so I had to get it fixed before the cold snap to avoid a frozen cube of insulation. Love your channel!!!
Oh man! What a bad time for a leak!
It’s talc-free powder. Talc can have carcinogens in it, so many powders these days avoid it as an ingredient.
Great video! Thank you
Great match! Love your videos.
Great videos Thanks for sharing I have to warn you about your last video Working in power plants as a chemistry expert, the biggest part of my job was to slow the corrosion of power plant equipment One type of corrosion is called galvanic corrosion and it’s caused by contact of dis-similar metals in the presence of water Please search “galvanic corrosion “ The process is accelerated with heat as a catalyst If you can find a check valve that is made of the same metal as your tank you will be ok If your metals are different, you will find the corrosion will start very fast and cause another leak The brass will become the sacrificial metal Good luck my friend and thanks again for the great video Peter Williams
Great ideas. You’re so handy.
You can get nets designed to fit the area that would keep things from bouncing forward and keep everything down below safe.
Chad this was very informative as always and so easy to follow. Looking forward to ya'lls next video
A strip of thin, adhesive backed HDPE in the track will help the wood door slide better.
Chad, you always do an excellent ob on your projects, it is a pleasure watching you do them. TP
Another interesting and informative video. You are an excellent instructor, Chad. Always appreciate your expertise.
I have lots of stuff so boredom’s projects are ready to do. I like the clarity on your storys
Great suggestions, I loved the leak detection with GoldBond spray idea.
Great video, changing the water heater check valve was the first mod I did.
Always love the “Chad how I did it videos”. Great stuff as always and very helpful
Thank you for this information! I haven’t had any problems so far but this is incredible.
Great video. Thanks for sharing this with us!!
Speaking of check valves, put one on the inlet side of the pump. I’ve gone through like 4 pumps because before adding this. Since adding it, I have not had an issue.
I love "creative project" mode of going to Lowes!
Like the sliding door mod. Your right about the Lowes thing it happens to me all the time. I enjoyed the video.
Nice mod on the door..cool. All N 😊
Hey Chad, love the storage door!! Might do the same on our 397. As far as water issues go, it’s a lot of work but do yourself a favor and replace all of that rubber flex hose with actual pex tubing. That hose leaks all the time. The rv industry really shouldn’t be using that garbage.
Thanks Chad - I was "wondering" what came of the 'mystery leak' - thanks for the update. Of course, it will resurface at the most inopportune time. - lol - Cheers! Your presentations are always so clear and detailed.
Thanks for the idea of drilling in to the tool box. I have a goose ball, but my brake cable always gets tugged on on a sharp back in maneuver . I never thought of the toolbox.
This was a very informatrive video. Nice job. I agree with the Lowes observation. I often find myself solving problems AT Lowes.
Was just going to mention that I used brass quick connect fittings and the ones located after my water filters started pitting, after I noticed that I happen to do some plumbing repairs with PEX and opted out of using brass fittings and stuck with plastic. Never had an issue with the plastic and I also switched out all my quick connectors on the hose for plastic ones which are not pitting and actually lasting much longer then the brass.
Gulf wax canning wax available at most grocery stores will be a good choice on that sliding door track or a cheap taper candle.
Great tip Chad. I will be inspecting my Suburban water heater plastic fittings. When I remove my heater Anode for inspection and it looks like yours did, I use a Scotchbrite pad to clean it up and it's almost like new!!
Nice ideas. I like picking up at least two of any items for projects. Then I have a spare that I cannot find when I need it. I am trying to get better at returning the extra pieces. Thank you for sharing and have a great day.
Unrelated to this video's topic, I want to thank you for your chronological playlists with the earliest videos at the top. The Locations playlist helped me find a few "coins under the cushions" - episodes I missed but found when I needed a fix. 😂
You're very welcome! Thanks for watching! 😊
We have the same Lowe's technique! :)
Have to admit going to steal two of these for our 399th. The hot water tank valve and the safty cable bolt in the tool box. 😁
Glad u changed the anchor point for your cable. I would be one of the people that mentioned it. One of the first mods I did on our trailer was to change both top and bottom ones on the water heater. On the bottom I actually put a new check valve in so the water goes in but doesn’t flow out just in case I had a leak below the water heater.
reference your question on the plastic 90 degree piece break. I haven't had that, but I did have a placed connector to our right side outside shower break. apparently I didn't get all of the water out of it when i winterized my trailer, so I'll call that one my fault. Otherwise, no breaks in my three year old Sandpiper 379FLOK. Thanks and keep the videos coming.
PARAFIN WAX HELPS SMOOTHE THE SLIDE. BOB MESA AZ
We love brass fittings - use them whenever possible. Nice loft door fix. You need to encourage Grand Desgin to install that door on all new models - install at the factory. Thank you.
I have to admit my dumb Ness cause I didn't notice that there was a door in place while you were discussing it. So in my eyes, you did a neck of a job. Thanks for sharing 👍
Had the elbow break on the spray port on my first 2020 Imagine. Replaced with brass elbow.
you asked about the plastic right angle adapters breaking... we've had 2 break on us about 1 month apart - replaced them with brass, though the plastic ones were 23 years old at the time ;-) I expect the brass ones to last even longer lol
I see someone beat me to the wax suggestion to lube the door. Personally I use parrafin but that's because I have a bunch of it. Keep the good stuff coming guys.
Nice mods. The access door / panel is a great idea. As you were laying out the scenario, I was thinking , net first and removable panel. Great idea. Try candle wax in the track. Bar soap will also work, but I prefer wax. I've not had nor heard of any problems with the plastic pen fittings breaking. God bless ya'll and stay safe on your travels.
We had the same with the plastic water heater check valve. Woke up one morning and went outside (on Thanksgiving Day while in a campground) to find the underbelly had completed filled and water was leaking out the edges. Found the source and replaced with brass one (that fortunately a local RV dealer that was open had!! I have the same issue not only with Lowe's but Harbor Freight, etc, etc. Nice job with the "attic door"
You made me check my 2020 E15TB water heater fittings. They’re brass. So either Suburban or Flagstaff did the right thing.
Nice upgrade. We did have one elbow crack. I would have replaced the elbow with a brass one while it was apart.
Possibility is not zero. I watched a towing video where a trailer rolled over the truck, pulling the hitch out of the bed of the truck. Glad you did this.
Paste wax in the track will do great to help it slide. Just a thought.
Awesome job on the door to the attic. For lubrication you might try some candle wax. I am a Fire chief for NAS Fallon. We use candle wax for our ladders and it works great. Just get any candle that fits the slide and your set. Love the channel. Be safe brother.
Thank you! Love the “fix-it” videos, you always do great work. Just wondering if you carry all the tools needed for the door project with you on the road?
No you are not alone, I always get 2 or 3 ways to accomplish any task. 😊 I also am in the process of replacing all of the plastic fittings.
Hey Chad and Tara. I had a mystery leak just last week. Same area on my solitude. It happened on a cold night and I didnt have the propane furnace on, so the basement got a lot colder than the living space. I also turn our water heater off at night. The leak, about the same amount of water as your leak, came from a fitting on the back of the nautilus. It is the fitting right in the middle of the nautilus manifold, on the other end of the check valve you just replaced. there was a good amount of weight on that hose and with the cold causing contraction and then the hot water heating it up, it stopped the leak. I tightened the connection, which was not easy because of its location, and zip tied the weight off that connection. Might be worth checking out.
I have had the pressure switch leak on the water pump. It seamed the screws were not tight from the factory. Love your informative vids. 👍
395 owner here and yes we’ve had more than one issue with the plastic pex fittings especially when it’s cold out. I would have definitely replaced the one on that check valve since you were already working on it.
No I go to Lowes like that too. It also seems like the RV owners actually need more type of tools to tackle everything.
To answer your question, did we ever have any of the 90 degrees plastic couplers break ? No, not on my side. We have had breakage of kitchen faucet and shower drain both made of plastic. In the case of the kitchen faucet, I found the RV replacement parts way too expensive and chose a regular chrome faucet from Home Depot which did the job perfectly. And to your other question, are we like you, who can buy many different articles at the hardware store to fix up an issue, and return the unused items ? Oh yes for sure. Having the possibility of having all sorts of items in hand to fix up an issue is the best, especially when the problem is not on something you can easily bring inside the hardware store. In the end I am quite positive that the hardware store is benefitting as we often return to buy more stuff. Great video, thanks !
Hi Chad, We had a plastic angle break on the intake to the winterizer inlet. It was a real pain to figure out. There were no water leaks on city water or the water pump, but when we were boondocking and using the water pump, it was getting air. Once I finally found it and I was trying to replace it, I broke the ON/OFF valve for the winterizer intake. Of course were in travel mode, and going to be boondocking most of the time for a couple of weeks. I checked several camping stores and no one had one in stock and we weren't going to be in one place long enough to have something shipped. So, I had to bypass the whole winterizer system so we could have water. Then when I finally did get a new bypass valve, open and closed were backward, so I had to reroute the hoses. Did I ever mention how much I love spending time basement of the RV?!
Leaving the door stiff is good, because the door won't open during travel! Imperfect is good! Yes, I make an "inspiration" trip, followed by 2-3 "well, THAT didn't work" trips, then returning the goodies I didn't use.
I’ve found multiple cracked plastic elbows in my travel trailer’s plumbing. They can be very fine cracks and hard to find. Each time I’ve had to search for one, I’ve been on a trip, away from home where all my kit is, and it’s a hassle each time. After the 3rd cracked elbow, I finally wisened up. I ordered a variety of brass pex elbows, a pex crimper and crimps and replaced all the elbows throughout the system. I don’t worry about them now.
The same check valve on our '20 310GKR in Aug 2021. Unfortunately, it cracked around the threads on the HWH side. Coming up with an "easy-out" to get the broken piece out of the heater didn't work. Ended up carefully sawing the plastic piece in a few spots to eventually "cut" it out. Suspected cause was overtightening at factory. Yes, we replaced the bottom (inlet) fitting for "good luck" too! On the door project - Great work. BTW: Grand Design sent us the stain colors when I had to match some woodwork. Worked fine. Thanks for another helpful video.
I have not experienced a failure of a plastic PEX fitting. However this summer helped a family friend we were camping with fix her older travel trailer. Turned out one of the 3/8 brass pex shutoff valves for the water heater bypass had a pin hole just above the clamp. This experience made me think that maybe the plastic fittings in our rig might not be so bad.
For the slide door. Use paste wax.
Took 2 years to finally find an intermittent leak on our 2019 Grand Design Solitide. It would show up a day after filling the fresh water tank. It was a very small crack in one of the 90° elbows on the backside of the nautilus panel. Using one of those offset heater hose pliers to unscrew the hose fittings made the job of replacement much easier.
I full-time in a 40 foot pusher motorhome and I wholeheartedly agree with you about our roads… I seem to remember some kind of infrastructure bill that the feds passed along time ago, I guess it actually didn’t go to infrastructure. On another note, I’m so glad my 2000 Monaco dynasty is built like a tank. Yes I’ve had fix small problems like every RV but nothing like what I see people going through on KZhead. Thanks for the video Chad
Yep, just like magic. The bill got passed and the roads should be perfect. 🤣🤣
I always keep the extra parts, Chad. They love me at Lowe’s 😂
As I get a leak on a plastic fitting I replace it with brass. I carry an assortment with us just in case.
We have a tankless water heater in our 278BH, and I don't know if it has a check valve or not. I should probably check!
I've had all the shut off valves on my hot water tank fail (pex with crimped connections). Let me tell you, it's very difficult to find these small inline shut-off valves while out on the road, and you also need stainless crimping bands, and the special metal band crimping tool! None of the RV supply stores have this stuff, which is weird, as they just want you to bring it in for a costly repair! Lucky for me, Lowe's had all 3 things, but it took a lot of effort to track that stuff down. I ended up replacing all 3 shut-off/winterizing inline valves at my water heater tank, just so I didn't have to do it again.
Hey Chad, I have had to replace the check valve for the black tank flush, as well as an elbow and a T on the Nautilus panel. Seems like every year, I am having to replace a plumbing connection of some sort.
With regard to picking up options and returning or not returning, I do the same thing all the time. Saves transportation & time. And you just never know when you may or may not need those extras. Chances are if you return them, you'll need 'em at some point. 🤔🥴
Chad, we have had the same door mod for about four years in our GD 320g. There are a few issues your might run into later with your mod. If any item in the storage area shift while driving and fall beside your panel the panel may become almost impossible to open. To solve this i added an additional fixed panel to block any items from falling and jamming the door. Also over the long run the door although very tight right now does loosen up over time. We ended up needing to add a eye and hook latch to keep the door from sliding open the three or four inches on every move. Did you happen to use a lock washer or locktite to keep the bolt from unscrewing in your toolbox?
Might I suggest a strip of nylon or teflon on the bottom edge of the sliding door.
Organized shelving behind that door would be awesome. I think that's what we'll do. Thanks for the idea, we will be stealing!
That's a great idea, if you can also add doors to the garage side. 👍🏼
I do the same thing with Lowe’s or HD or Ace. Lol
Chad, I would love to see a video on greasing the Reese hitch and the type of "needle" that you use. I have the same hitch and am unsure what "needle" is needed. Thanks, for considering this.
I use this one: amzn.to/48X2kPY and this grease gun: gear.changinglanesrv.com/product/airtec-lube-shuttle-pistol-grip-grease-gun-kit/
I got the needle from an oreily auto parts grease gun section and just threaded a grease fitting to it which I put on my grease gun! This drove me nuts for a while trying to find what to use.
Use paste wax in the slides
So what happens if the hitch and tool box fly out? 😂. I also buy any part I might need from Lowes for a project and return what i don't use, sometimes keeping the extras. Saves time and I know I'll be back soon for another project anyway!
what if you rubbed the top and bottom edge with some wax, would that help with a little ease of sliding
I am in lowes a lot grabbing a few different options. I have a small tractor work business too where I replace gates and fencing from time to time. I usually don't hesitate to grab a few different things and hang on to the ones I don't use that time. You never know right?
Depending on the project, I may know exactly what parts I want OR I'll walk up and down several aisles and grab a variety of parts for a job, often including some unorthodox solutions.
Just a touch of paste wax would be perfect for that door. Keep some friction but slide smooth
You could buy a boat for the cleat! 😂
That's so weird your Lowes has orange carts. Good job!
It's actually kind of faded red.... LOL
The connectors are typically made of "engineered plastic" (EP) which is much stronger that say PVC. That is why those connectors typically do not break.