Plastic plumbing problems perfected, pronto!

It started out like a "B Grade" horror movie: Water was spotted on the floor near the shower. "Hey," says I, "Looks like we need to get a better tub mat. There's water on the floor here." Of course the reply had to be, "Not me, Big Boy. I completely towel off before I get out of the shower."

A little later that morning the disconcerting report came: "Hey! There's water squishing up from between the flooring pieces in front of the refrigerator!" A quick check revealed that we had more than a problem, Houston, we had a major plumbing leak. A closer examination revealed that the plastic fitting leading out of the water pump had cracked through, and water was making its way under the "Pergo" type flooring and squishing up wherever pressure was applied.

Our fulltime unit was a circa 1980's fifth wheel equipped with that nasty old gray plastic plumbing tubing that caused so much trouble some years back. Happily, a fix isn't all that difficult, and since there's so much of it out there, fittings aren't too hard to find. Maybe you can learn from our repair.

First, cut the water off--turn off the pump, or if you're connected, the 'city water' supply. While the tubing can be cut with a real sharp knife, or with a fine toothed hack saw, the best tool for the job is a PVC tubing cutter. You can pick one up at the big box hardware store for about ten bucks. Just be careful and don't get too close to the fitting like I did--some have metal sleeves inside the tubing and it'll chew the dickens out of your new tubing cutter blades in a hurry. Cut off the fitting (or open up the offending portion of tubing) squarely. If you use alternative tools, make sure you "clean up" any burrs with sandpaper.

A quick trip to Quartzsite's finest hardware store--Herb's--set me up with a new water pump elbow. Tubing replacement fittings built for the job are plastic, and a have a coupler wherever the fitting meets up with tubing. Remove the coupler, slide it down over the tubing, and shove the fitting down into the tubing with a twisting motion until it "seats" down all the way to the neck of the fitting. Now screw the coupler onto the threaded portion of the fitting and hand tighten. After you hit the "hand tightened" point, give it a little more torque--up to one-third more turn and the fitting's in place.

Turn your water pressure back on and check the job. It's a snap!