Water leak - am I missing something?

[KMarkN]

Hi. I wonder if any experienced motorhomers can see what I’m missing. We’re on our second trip in our Elddis CV60 pvc and loving it so far. But this morning we noticed water seepage from under the bathroom floor/shower tray under the door and into the main area. Not huge quantities. It seems to follow the bathroom sink being drained, but hard to pinpoint. It rained all last night so roof vents were all closed. The shower tray seems to be flat to the floor so I can’t believe there are pipes beneath?

Is it some sort of plumbing problem for dealer to sort or could I have something simple going on here? Could a block to grey water drainage cause some sort of back up/overflow? I’ve drained it and it seemed slow but struggling to believe it’s that.

A second question if I may? I notice the water pump comes in in the night, very short bursts of a couple of seconds, maybe hourly. Is this a malfunction, or is it keeping the pressure up?

Thanks in advance for any insights!

 

[Devon Sue]

Water pump is probably just equalising the pressure. We had a similar leak in our previous Burstner, turned out it was the waste pipework that had not been properly clicked into place, dealer sorted it out.

 

[Madcaravanner]

Water pump is keeping pressure BUT it shouldn't be much more than rarely not regularly

Have you been under the van or do you have a double floor try and trace the pipework sounds like you MAY have a leaking pipe

 

[KMarkN]

Hi thanks for your speedy responses. Re pump at night thanks I thought it might be that. I take your point about worrying if it comes in too often tho I’ll keep an ear out now.

As far as I can see the two sinks and shower drain each drains separately into the undertaking waste water tank. Not sure re double floor I don’t think pvcs have those?

One idea, which could be daft, is that the bathroom tap, which is also the shower head ( it pulls out for showering) is dribbling back along the nose and ending up on the floor.. Not sure if this is feasible but I’m testing that now.
Thanks again
Mark

 

[Landy Andy]

I’d be very concerned about the fact your water pump keeps kicking in. That indicates to me a possible leak.

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[WillH]

We had our pump kicking in regularly years ago, traced to a frost damaged union under the shower mixer. Fixed with araldite eventually.

 

[TheBig1]

the waste pipes are just push fit, so easily dislodged. I know it sounds gross, but is harmless, stick a finger in the water on the floor. Sniff it for soap or other contaminants. If it smells clean, touch it to your tongue. The quickest and most accurate way to diagnose the culprit

 

[TheBig1]

a water pump kicking in indicates a loss of pressure, maybe just a tiny weeping joint

 

[KMarkN]

Thanks again all. Lots to look at, probably when I get home in Saturday. Tasting the water is actually a very good idea

 

[Off da Grid]

Make sure there’s nothing resting on the hot water boiler dump valve.
This happened to us, the pump came on intermittently, it turned out to be the jump leads had jumped on top of the switch.

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[Mrsambulancekidd]

No advice from me, just noticed the beautiful Border Collie.

 

[monzer]

Different motorhome but after draining my sink it also seeped out in to the living area. My sink drain goes down in to the floor and can be accessed (just) from the toilet cassette locker. There was a split in a plastic joining sleeve and the water was coming out there and running along the floor.

You need to trace your waste pipe from the sink and see what you can find.

 

[Landy Andy]

When home and floor is dry, pour buckets of water into the shower tray, or basin whist your water pump is off and pressure removed from system. Then see if you get the water showing.

 

[Odd-no-more]

I’d be very concerned about the fact your water pump keeps kicking in. That indicates to me a possible leak.

I had this it I thought it was just the pump but it was a small leak on a pipe it carried on for weeks and then got worse until the leak became obvious.

 

[KMarkN]

Haha that’s a great picture of your two. They are great dogs and ours hates cars but is learning to love the moho!

No advice from me, just noticed the beautiful Border Collie.
View attachment 421946

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[KMarkN]

Many thanks Monzer and LandyAndy I’ll follow both suggestions up.

 

[Landy Andy]

You could add food die to it, but be careful incase the wood starts to suck it up.

 

[Stealaway]

Check the back of the shower mixer tap if you can see it. Mine sprung a leak for no apparent reason.

 

[bigwood]

Not sure about the leak but our water pump kicks in as the water heater cools down.
After a bad leak during the night on our last van I turn the pump of before going to bed. Soggy carpets in the morning is not nice.

 

[Insider]

Different van but had a leak coming into my shower tray last year. Very perplexed as to source. Eventually traced to pipe above the toilet cassette dripping down the outside of the cassette and onto the internal wall of the shower tray. If the flow from the leak was a few more mm off it would have gone under the tray and it would have eventually caused some serious issues. I was lucky that I kept noticing the shower tray was always slightly damp. Check your cassette area - my pipe was being "disturbed" each time the cassette was being removed.

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[Old Barrian]

I also have this issue of the water pump tripping in at night but never during the day. Is this just that it is more noticeable at night or could it be that as the van cools down overnight, it causes a slight pressure drop in the water system, thus triggering the pump?

 

[Landy Andy]

Often it is due to the water cooling so pressure drops and pump may kick in, but this is only going to happen if it is cold and the pump would kick in very very rarely may once in the night. If the pump is kicking in every couple of hours you potentially have an issue. That would be my view.

 

[TheBig1]

I also have this issue of the water pump tripping in at night but never during the day. Is this just that it is more noticeable at night or could it be that as the van cools down overnight, it causes a slight pressure drop in the water system, thus triggering the pump?

physics says that cold water is denser than hot water. Water expands as it warms up, so conversely shrinks as it cools, so reducing pressure in the pipework marginally. One or maybe two pulses of the pump in the night are ok, but more than a 2 second pulse or more of them indidcates a leak

 

[IRHP]

Almost certainly a water leak causing drop in pressure and the pump kicks in. If it was a leak on the drainage side of anything it would not cause the pump to kick in. I have an intermittent leak that only occurs when the pipe and fitting get hot. It's the hot feed to the shower tap. I'm waiting on a new fitting coming. I reckon it happens as the fitting and pipe become hot and soften.

 

[KMarkN]

Ok here is my best theory re cause of water on floor. Having explored there are actually few ways that water can get beneath the shower tray. I think that the heavy rain we had, had run down the outside of the van and into the cassette compartment, and then under bathroom floor. Each time we used the bathroom, and sink, we walked on the tray and massaged water out into van.
I need to test the door seal when it’s dry but it’s very possible I didn’t fully click shut the non-lockable catch on the door.
I thought of this because I had noticed a tiny dribble of water beneath the flush button (pic attached) earlier, so I took the panel off and there are only electrics behind so it must have been water ingress that splashed up behind this panel?
The last bit of evidence is that since it’s stopped raining and dried up, I can’t make the leak happen again!
So, hopefully but not definitely, problem solved. Thanks all for your really helpful advice and insights. I’ll keep an eye on the pump issue now

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[Odd-no-more]

I try to remember to switch the pump off at night, and when we are out for the day, after I had the leak. If there was a leak and we had gone out for the day, the leak would keep going until the tank ran out. I don't always manage to remember but I do try

 

[the1andonly]

My problem of pump kicking in when it felt like it was not due to a water leak, but an air leak from a crack in the filter housing lid on the pump. New lid no problem.