Leaky plumbing

[Tom]

Not very technical, but .....

While getting the coach ready for our upcoming trip I was sanitizing the fresh water system. As I ran the galley faucet I heard what sounded like water dropping onto the floor. Sure enough, one of the drain pipes under the galley sink was cracked and leaking quite badly. Closer inspection revealed that the two connecting pipes/elbow were misaligned due to the fact that a cutout in the wall of a cabinet had been made too small or in the wrong place. A trip to the local hardware store produced the ABS fitting. A couple of cuts with a saber saw and it all went back together the way it should have when the coach was built. The attached photos are self explanatory (apologies for one being a little out of focus).

One more thing to discuss during our upcoming factory service appointment.

[Jim Dick]

Tom,

That type of problem seems to be occuring rather frequently. Mine was the drain to the sink being pinched when the slide was in. Finally cracked the pipe. When will they make RV engineers live in their creations for 6 months to a year at least!!!

[Tom]

I agree Jim. Although, in this case, the guy who put it together clearly knew something wasn't right, but he forced it together.

[Jim Dick]

Tom,

I'm sure those that put the drain together knew it wouldn't last for long.

Last year I worked on a 5th wheel where I had water coming out all over the belly pan. Inspection found a leak at the black water tank where the pipe connected to the tank. Upon removal of the connection we found an arrow pointing to the crack with initials. Obviously someone inspected the tank, found the leak, and marked it. Nobody followed up to fix the problem Happens more than it should.

[Tom]

Happens more than it should.

And not only in RVs. When a not-inexpensive boat from a well known manufacturer close to TGO had its salon taken apart a year ago to gain access to the engines and aftercoolers, I found a couple of the salon cabinets had been "levelled" with a couple of popsicle sticks.

[Ron]

Did you ever think that maybe they were very expensive specially calibrated Popsicle sticks

[Tom]

I think they were used ones Ron 

[Ron]

I think they were used ones Ron 

Oh you seen the remains of the fudge bar on them.   They probably wern't calibrated then.

[Jim Dick]

I think they were used ones Ron 

Tom,

Of course they had to be used. If not the cabinets would not be level once the ice cream melted.

It's amazing what one finds when they start digging into things.

[Karl]

Now if they were part of a Dept. of Defense project, they would have been issued a 30+ alphanumeric part number with the description "Shim, alignment, horizontal, critical, fiber, cellulose, recycled, disposable" and cost several hundred $$$ each. Of course they would be lot numbered and had to have gone thru several levels of testing/certification and shipped in heat, light, moisture, and radiation proof containers of not less than 10,000 pieces!  

[Ron]

Karl,

You forgot to mentione that they would have been made by the loest bidder at a cost of at least ten times more than was bid due to cost over runs.

[Tom]

LOL Karl, isn't that a fact. Used to be a time when I could quote dozens of Mil specs chapter and verse.

[Karl]

Tom,

Ah yes, MIL specs; the answer to an authors' lack of public acceptance of his so-called talent as a writer. In other words. why not use a thousand words when one would suffice?

[Tom]

Karl

You're dead right about the mass of unneeded words. We used to spend hours trying to figure out what the writer(s) intended. We'd also talk at length to the enforcing agency and find that they were as confused as we were. It sure kept a lot of folks employed. I spent many years trying to convince folks that all they were doing was testing problems into products rather than screening them out and that it was much better to design and manufacture things correctly in the first place. The cost of all this stuff was way out of proportion, resulting in the $600 hammer and the $1,000 (?) toilet seat.