I was so proud of the trailer because we had gone through so much cold weather and ice and as far as I could tell, nothing had broken but the water inlet valve that had been replaced at the Ron Hoover Oasis while we stayed there. I was convinced that the water leak that was found yesterday was from the ice maker water line that is very susceptible to leaking after a freeze. I was so certain that I went out yesterday and bought another line to replace the leaky one today. The only problem was...when someone got into the underbelly, the leak was coming from the back of the water heater on the front door side of the trailer. The ice maker line was found to be intact but had some nasty-looking green "stuff" in it, so it will still get replaced.
You can see the white plastic line that we thought was the culprit. It was not but will get replaced anyway.
Here are Dan H and Dan M working on removing the water heater. There was no way to access the back of the WH from this side of the trailer. You can see my slide tray rolled out part way and there is a battery tray and storage area between the underbelly storage and the heater.
The area to Dan's right is the storage area. We removed the storage box for access but there was simply not enough room to do much. Note also the professional tools used, a plastic cutting board and a spatula, trying to get the water heater out. All that Styrofoam insulation on the sides and top was the problem.
Making progress. As you can see, there were wires on both sides of the heater and a propane line that came in on the other side.
Almost got it out!
It was believed that the leak was at the plastic check valve at the top of the water heater. This is a common place for leaks and as you will see in another photo, there was a rust stain in the Styrofoam so it may have been leaking for awhile.
Dan is working on cleaning out the threads where the check valve screws into the back.
More digging into the threads. Some sort of adhesive is also used to seal, and after about three years of being in place with lots of hot water flowing through it, it took a lot of work to clean it out. Dan ended up going to several stores trying to find a tap to clean out the threads.
While Dan was gone, trying to find the tap, Jim started running the new water line. You can see the new blue line that will soon be up and running.
Running the new line under the slide out. We lucked out in that the water line that ran under the floor was pretty easy to get to. Not to mention how lucky I was to have friends that are experienced in this work and would do it for me. All I had to do was fetch tools, turn water on and off and record everything with my camera.
It didn't take too long until the line was in place. We couldn't check it for leaks right now because of the open line from the back of the water heater. We will be much better off with this new line. It is a reinforced poly line and best of all, it doesn't have any green stuff growing in it.
Here is Dan and Dan re installing the water heater. It should also be noted that the anode rod was also replaced while the water heater was worked on. It was a major screw-up on my part to have not replaced the rod, and my friends again helped me out. I can't tell you how much it means to me to have my friends work on this problem for several hours.
We had a potluck dinner tonight with some more great food. When have you ever gotten any bad food at a potluck? The rally is going very well, especially for me...
So long.
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