Water leaking rotting sub-frame under water heater

[MostWantedPwnz]

Water leaking rotting sub-frame under water heater -

Just bought this thing and been putting nothing but work into it every since purchase.
Sealed the roof as i was worried about leaks and it was a leaky mess in the past from the previous damage iv'e seen

The leakage i'm currently trying to figure out was near the water heater area, its getting the sub-frame wet somehow, i don't see any water inside the trailer going anywhere to the outside, I'm finding the wetness underneith the trailer under the partly covered underbelly near the back bumber, there was some heavy water damage happening for a while as the whole back end moulded out and has been for quite some time.

I currently have a fan underneith the trailer blowing up drying out the spot that's getting we, The hot water heater bung was leaking for about 15 days and didn't think it would cause damage but was running down from inside the water heater and going along the frame and soaking the insolation, ( MY BEST GUESS ) i dried it out for two days but still notice was wet water still in the same spots, I'm thinking the water heater is leaking from under the styrofoam but im not sure, there is water damage from previous from the inside so its hard to tell but i have a cloth inside and the cloth isnt' getting wet from water, im guessing its underneith the styrofoam soaking into the subframe, or its just still wet from the other day, since i did empty the hot water heater when fixing the bung and the water was just gushing out of there, Maybe i didn't give it enough time to dry, everything else in the area dried out in about two days having the fan on for 48 hours even overnight, one spot thats almost direclty under the heater by the gas line isn't dry and still feels wet when touched, i might turn the water off again and see if i can get it dry, its just such a weird spot to be leaking, im still thinking it was from when i emptied the water tank and it leaked inside the inside and i didn't give it enough time to dry fully. I will be posting pictures as you can see what im dealing with, if there is any people that know or would give any suggestions everything helps at this point, im full time RV and its starting to get cold, my furnace also dosn't want to start properly, gotta love rvs.

 

[MostWantedPwnz]

The last picture on the right is where the water is still showing as its still wet after two days.
Those two days i dried it out i did have the water off though, didn't drain the hot water tank as it was still full so if it was leaking it would still leak i'm sure, i've been also told that tanks dont leak unless there is pressure and the hot water tank was off for the two days filled but no pressure as the water was off at the tap

 

[grashley]

Welcome to the Forum. We will try to help.

First, what rig do you have? That will really help us out.

Water heaters are a common leak point on older campers. Over time, the tank may develop pin holes. They may leak, even without pressure. Turn the water off and drain it. Can you get everything dry now? Fill water heater and see if wet spot comes back. If it does, replace the water heater.

We recently had one of those pesky leaks. Ours turned out to be the fresh water tank drain. I strongly suggest removing the entire underbelly fabric in this area, It will give a much better view of the entire area. It will be easier to work on. New plastic underbelly is readily available on Amazon if warranted.

Good Luck!

 

[MostWantedPwnz]

Welcome to the Forum. We will try to help.

First, what rig do you have? That will really help us out.

Water heaters are a common leak point on older campers. Over time, the tank may develop pin holes. They may leak, even without pressure. Turn the water off and drain it. Can you get everything dry now? Fill water heater and see if wet spot comes back. If it does, replace the water heater.

We recently had one of those pesky leaks. Ours turned out to be the fresh water tank drain. I strongly suggest removing the entire underbelly fabric in this area, It will give a much better view of the entire area. It will be easier to work on. New plastic underbelly is readily available on Amazon if warranted.

Good Luck!

I'm currently trying to dry out without emptying the tank first, if it still gets wet i'll drain the tank and try again, I can't figure out where my fresh water drain is, in this trailer there is two grey tanks and one black tank and a fresh water tank but I've never used the fresh water tank myself, always have been directly plugged into fresh water, does it still fill the fresh water tank when plugged in direcly to my water source ?

 

[Kirk]

I can't figure out where my fresh water drain is,

What he is suggesting that you drain is the water heater's tank and not the potable water tank of the RV. You haven't said what make water heater you have but any brand will be similar to this image.

The drain plug for the water heater is shown at the bottom of that picture with the socket head for removal. It is directly above the word heater.

does it still fill the fresh water tank when plugged in direcly to my water source ?

The answer is no, as long as the water pump is in good condition. Yours much not be leaking back into the tank or you would see water coming out of the tank vent/overflow.

 

[MostWantedPwnz]

What he is suggesting that you drain is the water heater's tank and not the potable water tank of the RV. You haven't said what make water heater you have but any brand will be similar to this image.
View attachment 175767
The drain plug for the water heater is shown at the bottom of that picture with the socket head for removal. It is directly above the word heater.

The answer is no, as long as the water pump is in good condition. Yours much not be leaking back into the tank or you would see water coming out of the tank vent/overflow.

So the hot water tank near the bottom on the outside thats shown in the picture under the bung was leaking, so the bung was leaking and going into the frame of the trailer was my guess, i could maybe not even be leaking from the inside at all but since i fixed the bung leak no more water out of the bung so i thought i fixed the problem and i could have, but under the bung was silicon that was worn out and there was a gap and it leaked from the bung into the gap of the silicon and down, i recaulked the spot that i thought leaked near the bottom of the water heater, it was leaking on the bung for about 15 days should of did it earlier and i woudn't of had so much damage

 

[MostWantedPwnz]

Welcome to the Forum. We will try to help.

First, what rig do you have? That will really help us out.

Water heaters are a common leak point on older campers. Over time, the tank may develop pin holes. They may leak, even without pressure. Turn the water off and drain it. Can you get everything dry now? Fill water heater and see if wet spot comes back. If it does, replace the water heater.

We recently had one of those pesky leaks. Ours turned out to be the fresh water tank drain. I strongly suggest removing the entire underbelly fabric in this area, It will give a much better view of the entire area. It will be easier to work on. New plastic underbelly is readily available on Amazon if warranted.

Good Luck!

There is hardly any covered underbelly, i removed the area that was blocking the underbelly area that shows the isolation and the wood frame, as the tanks are shown from the bottom half ( wonder why its always so cold on the floor ) I will take better pictures from underneith i need to replace the insolation and tape it back up and maybe replace parts of the floor / frame - I don't want to remove much else of the underbelly but i might remove a little bit more to gain access to view and figure out where the leak is coming from, i stick my hand up there and try and feel for the wet spots and its just the one piece of wood that goes just under the water heater, so im thinking its either under the water heater leaking from the bottom and down the frame (somehow) or its from when i emptied the water heater and it leaked into the frame because of the silicon that was ripped/torn but that has since been replaced and the bung has been put on tight with no leaking, maybe i'll give it more time to dry, its been drying ever since the post this morning but its not that warm out sadly, but the fan is on full blast trying to dry the one area that seems to be wet still.. I closed the valve of the hot water tank + turned off the hot water tank for the time being.

 

[rvlifer]

Check all of the fittings and connections and look for splits in the pipes. Pex tubing rarely has problems but they like to use plastic fittings that can easily crack and leak.

It is usually something near where you see the water but dont rule out other things. Water can travel pretty far from the source of the leak to where it ends up and i have seen first hand how it can move uphill.

Leaks in an rv are the pits. Hopefully you track it down soon

 

[Kirk]

Damage to wood typically takes more than just a few days. If you have serious damage it must have been leaking for months.

 

[MostWantedPwnz]

Damage to wood typically takes more than just a few days. If you have serious damage it must have been leaking for months.

Yeah it has been leaking for quite a while but i just bought the trailer 20 days ago or so, but i've been spending so much time every single day, still waiting for it to dry currently still have the fan on full blast under the belly hopefully not leaking anymore and drying the wood so its not wet at least.

 

[MostWantedPwnz]

I thought i'd post an update :

Doesn't seem like the water heater is leaking anymore/ bung was leaking and leaking into the frame and down and up the whole baseboard of the frame and subframe and rotting out the corner, I ripped out the peice of wood that seemed to be wet it just popped out since it was so wet.. just going to replace that small peice of wood and cover the rest up for the winter for the time being to keep the heat. I know its a temp fix but its getting cold and can't figure out how to replace the whole inside and outside of the corner wall.

but thank god it doesn't seem to be wet anymore must off been leaking for a while
but im having condesation issue with the sunroof/ vents so need to figure out since water is leaking into the walls and getting the sunroof/vents to be leaky mess, might need to buy those extra snow/sun/rain covers currently i have domes over them and its helping quite a bit.

 

[JudyJB]

I just had my water heater replaced because it had a crack in it that was leaking for several months, albeit very slowly. It depended on whether my rig was slightly higher on the drivers side or the passengers side as to where the water came from. And to make it even worse, the water heater was on a plywood platform supported by 2x4 legs, and underneath that was the furnace motor. So of course, the slow leak caused that to rust and I had to replace both items.

I did find that mine only leaked when the water pump was on or I was hooked to city water, so I used my tanks and turned the water pump on only when I needed it.

I will tell you that a new water heater is very expensive and installation even more expensive, so if you can figure out the cause yourself and fix it, do so.