Leaks, Leaks, and More Leaks
In the wise words of Douglas Adams, "don't panic and carry a towel."
We're sharing some leaks we've dealt with over the past few month and how to avoid them + a video on how to install a new dometic valve on your toilet.
Leaks are an unavoidable stress inducing problem you'll grow accustom to while living in an RV. They can be pretty scary at first when you don't know how to deal with them. I'll admit, my heart still sinks every time I find one.
Since water damage can be detrimental to your home on wheels, leaks should not be ignored. They are typically easy fixes, so try not to panic, take a deep breath, and read on.
Roof Leaks
These are very common and the first one we dealt with. It will often happen around vents and skylights. You can see discoloration or dripping early on - we found ours the first time it rained.
Buy some self-leveling sealant designed for RVs. They come in an assortment of types and colors. We use Dicor Lap Sealant and it works great. Keep in mind we've been living in a temperate rainforest for 5 months, and it's held up wonderfully.
The pipes under our bathroom sink.
Leaky Pipes
We've been very lucky our pipes haven't leaked much, especially since they froze back in December. Recently, I did hear some dripping in the bathroom and first thought nothing of it. After following the noise, I found our sink was dripping into the cabinet below.
First, I panicked. Then I put some tupperware under it until I could investigate further. It turns out, we had just moved our rig to a new site, and the pipes needed a bit of tightening. This also happened outside at our city water hookup. It helps to be in the habit of checking your pipe connections after moving your rig. They can get loosened on the road.
Just give it the old righty-tighty and be on your way. Note, if when you righty-tighty more water comes out, quickly turn it the other way. Right and left can be indistinguishable when you're in a cabinet upside down, barely able to see what you're turning.
Condensation
Condensation in an RV can be awful - never underestimate it! When we realized our front windows had been slightly open the first month, we laughed it off and closed them. Big mistake! A few days later, I went to open our windshield curtain to find about 2 inches of water accumulating at its base. All from condensation!
Avoid this by cracking some windows, get a dehumidifier, and put a small heater on the dash facing the windshield. Raising the temperature makes a huge difference. I've linked to the items we use. For more info on these products and our other top essentials, check out RV Gear: Absolute Essentials for Full-Timing.
Toilet Leaks
Yep, I've saved the best for last. If water is leaking down into your tank ( it won't stay in the toilet bowl), you may need a new gasket OR you may just need to give it a good scrubbing. This was an issue when we first moved in, but I think it was just due to the rig having been stored for a while.
We also just had a small slow leak coming from under the foot pedal. It turned out to be our valve, and I'm guessing it broke back when our pipes froze. It's a pretty common issue, and thankfully not terribly expensive to fix. For our Sealand Toilet, we purchased this Dometic Valve Replacement Kit on Amazon for $30. If you need to replace your toilet valve, check out our how-to video below!
That's all we've had so far in our short five months of RVing. What leaks have you had to deal with?