Water Leak

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mudshark

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Nov 15, 2014
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Hi All
While working on my leaking washer/dryer my wife found a leaking pipe when she was cleaning the area. I have enclosed a picture of the leak. I have never worked on this kind of plastic hose and it is in a really tight area behind where the washer goes. I have tried silicone sealer twice now and have just applied a third layer. I have shut off the water and drained the lines. I can't leave the water off for 24 hours as the package recommends and I have a hair dryer pointed at it. Any ideas on how to proceed??
Thanks!
 

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I would not count on silicone sealing that!  :-\  My suggestion is too cut the pipe, pull the gray fitting out (unscrew), buy a new fitting and a union, plus a length of the pipe.  Alternately, get a Shark fitting for proper pipe thread to ?" tubing, a Shark ? " tubing union and a piece of ?" tubing and replace the leaking components.
 
I don't know what the pipe is made of. I haven't encountered it before. And I agree, silicone sealer is not working. I do believe some surgery is needed. It is just in such an awful place to work in. Not sure how I am going to do the repair.
 
mudshark said:
I don't know what the pipe is made of. I haven't encountered it before. And I agree, silicone sealer is not working. I do believe some surgery is needed. It is just in such an awful place to work in. Not sure how I am going to do the repair.
Click to expand...

It may just be the lighting...
The fitting looks like Non-Metallic Pvc  and the pipe appears to be standard PVC.
And it's going to be a pain. I'm guessing this is behind the washer.
I would have a case of beer ready for the after party.
 
Don?t now how much room you have there, but search for ? wrap around pipe repair clamp?
I?ve used them on 1/2? and 3/4? water pipe in tight areas where you couldn?t remove pipe without a major dismantling. About 3? long and one bolt. Also, one time in a terribly tight place on a friends MH, I was able to take a screw type hose clamp, a piece of bicycle tire tube patch, and 3M weather strip sealer and patch a leak on that gray plastic they use to use. Can?t think what they called that gray stuff off hand. Pex replaced it. Repair was still holding when he sold it 6-8 years later.
 
The white pipe is CPVC, and the black drain lines are ABS.  I'm with Gordon.  A coupling, a short piece of pipe and a union.

That area is a pain in the rear to work in.  I had to replace the drain tee at the bottom of the stand pipe for the washer discharge drain and it sucked big time. Not much room for someone 6'2" and 280 lbs.
 
The problem being is it appears to be leaking at the joint where the white pipe joins the tee.
Are these glued in?
 
Sure looks like standard PVC to me, though Pex or polybutyl tubing is much more common in RVs.  If the leak is at that fitting, the fix is as Grashley described: cut it out  and splice in a short piece of pipe and threaded adapter using a PVC slip coupling (union).  Use PVC cement for the joins.

Trying to stop a leak at a fitting with silicone sealer is an exercise in futility. If you want to try sealing instead of replacement, get a plumbing-type epoxy such as Oatey Epoxy, but some brands of those don't bond well to plastic pipes (read the label).  Especially once silicone has been applied (silicone leaves an oily residue).
 
Yes, you can use Sharkbite or other push-on connectors.  I usually buy the Blue Hawk brand at Lowes. Just make sure it is suitable for PVC pipe and follow the directions for use with PVC.  You can also get compression fittings that are easy to use (no gluing), e.g. one like this:

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Homewerks-Worldwide-1-2-in-PVC-Sch-40-Coupling/50160527
https://www.pvcfittingsonline.com/by-application/pvc-compression-fittings.html

You don't want a "Tee" though.  You still need an inline  coupler (aka union) and a slip-to-thread adapter.
 
Hi Gary
What I bought was a union, 1/2 to 1/2 for CPVC, (I miked everything and brought my verniers to Lowe's). I have to cut back past the mess I made with the silicon sealer. I bought 2 feet of 1/2" CPVC as that seems to be what the water lines are made of. The Tee in there now has a smaller tube
out the top that feeds the cold water valve for the washer. My rational is to cut back the existing leaking pipe, attach the union with a small piece of CPVC to make up the difference. replace the existing Tee with the shark Tee and join the other end to the Tee. For the feed line to the washer I
will use the rest of the PCVC tube to a push on shark fitting that is threaded to take the feed line valve.
I hope this makes sense.
 
Thanks grashley
I am tackling this today. I will let everyone how I make out.
 
mudshark said:
Thanks grashley
I am tackling this today. I will let everyone how I make out.
Click to expand...

Good luck....If possible I would like to see a picture after repair is done...I've never seen the fitting before.
 
Hi Gizmo
I will gladly take a picture if I can get it to stop leaking. The cut out and replacement work went well but I still have a a leak in the same spot! It is just a bad as before I started. It is in the union that joins the line. I had to cut a piece to make up the difference between what I took out and what I replaced. There is no way I can get them apart and the space is too tight to do much.
I need some kind of water stopping tape.
Pic to follow.
 
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