Water leak from shower area

[Simon123]

Hello,
This is my first post and I’m hoping that someone can help me.
I have a 2014 Hymer Exsis t MH and discovered water leaking under the van when the shower was running. I can see it leaking from looking in the toilet cassette hatch and it seems to be coming from the general direction of the shower mixer tap (photo attached). Does anyone know how I go about getting to the plastic piping that attaches to the mixer tap. I can’t see how to take the tap off (no obvious screw) and don’t really want to try and take the whole shower assembly apart. I’d welcome any ideas. Thanks Simon.

 

[Podney]

Sorry can’t help,but welcome the forum.
Someone who knows will be along soonish.

 

[Jev88]

Welcome.
Watching too in case I need to get to my vaguely similar tap!

 

[Gaston aires]

First thing is make sure the shower head is screwed tightly in to the hose. Otherwise you will have to access the shower valve from the vanity unit.
Phil

 

[TheBig1]

those taps often leak when the seal between the body and the spout wears a bit. Changing or servicing the tap is a bit of a nightmare though due to the way the van was assembled with no thought to maintenance of the plumbing later. Some have a door in the panel behind if it's in a wardrobe etc but generally it means dismantling parts that are glued on and risking further damage

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[gpz]

I would try putting a bucket of water down the shower tray as if it still leaks when you put a bucket of water down it could be the shower waste not the tap

 

[Simon123]

Thanks for all your comments. I did run the shower head into a bucket and leak continued so it’s definitely coming from the piping going to the mixer valve.

 

[Lenny HB]

This is what the bottom of the Reich tap looks like,

The large black plastic nut is what holds the tap in often not much more than finger tight, if you are lucky you may be able to loosen it via the hole where the loo flush panel is but I doubt if there will be enough slack on the pipes to get it out, there is also the wiring to the microswitch to consider.


Hymer use sprung hose clips to hold the pipes on, similar to these

If you haven't got the proper tool, mole grips work well, pliers always slip off.

 

[Simon123]

Thanks Lenny,
I’ve opened up the small loo flush panel and there on the plastic pipe is one of the hose clips that is loose and must have slipped down from the valve above. I’ll do as you suggest and try to my arm up to the plastic nut. Otherwise I fear I’ll have to start dismantling the back of the shower enclosure to get to the valve. Appreciate all the comments so far. What an active and knowledgable community.

 

[Stealaway]

My shower leak was my mixer leaking from behind the shower wall. It can be a pig to get to and involved removing the shower wall it was fixed into but it should be readily available

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[Coolcats]

Have a Look at the blue pipe in the photo, it was a leaky connector on the Blue pipe which you will notice is very slightly lower than the other pipe, by pushing it upwards it clicked in to place and the small leak stopped.

Just one other point you may be able to access the pipe by removing the flush button panel place a mirror in and see if you can manipulate the pipe.

 

[Simon123]

Thanks all. No luck with getting my arm up to the nut so now having to deconstruct the shower walls- not an easy job I must say. Left wall off ok now to figure out the rear one.

 

[Lenny HB]

Have fun.

 

[The Lobster]

I had a similar issue with my Bustber. Had to remove the shower walls to get to the back of the mixer. Turned out I had not left the tap fully open and centered over winter, and a small amount of residual water had frozen, expanded, and cracked the mixer. New mixer was about £80. Now I remember to open and center all the mixers when emptying the water system

 

[Claire Ambler]

You can take the pipes off the tap head, fiddly but possible.
between the tails (red and blue) on the tap housingvthere is a plastic pin which locks the tails to the housing.
remove the pin and the tails will pull off allowing access to the jubilee clips.
I had a similar problem, my leak was caused by a cracked housing where the micros witch wires come out.
It is repairable but you have to take the whole tsp out of the shower and work away from there????

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[MisterB]

Thanks all. No luck with getting my arm up to the nut so now having to deconstruct the shower walls- not an easy job I must say. Left wall off ok now to figure out the rear one.

are you able to take photos of dismantling step by step to help others? it seems as though its not the first time it has happened - if the van was other than a hymer no doubt there would be lots more moans and groans and negative comments ...

 

[Claire Ambler]

These taps are common to a lot of motorhomes.
the weakness is in the housing that covers the electrical wire.
you can take them apart but it is fiddly and time consuming ( it took me 10 minutes to get the cap off to get at the screw underneath to release the tap handle)

 

[Simon123]

Thanks again for your interest and comments/ suggestions. I’d still like to do this job but seems to be getter harder not easier and post lockdown might be a trip to service center. Anyway... as you can see from photo,
1. I’ve taken off small toilet flush below tap to try and get arm up but no chance. I can see a loose clip however that might be reason for leak.
2. Taken off side panel which was relatively easy once all fixtures removed
3. Have taken off screws on left for rear panel hoping this would flex a bit and let me reach to tap but no luck
4. Have taken out most of screws for vanity unit and sink as this seems to be the key to moving the rear panel. However it seems stuck and I worry about trying to force it too much.
5. Now having a cup of tea and reflecting!
I’m interested in some of comments saying that tap cap will come off but don’t see any evidence of this (maybe a different type)
Also any thoughts on why vanity unit/ sink seems stuck in?
Thanks again

 

[Lenny HB]

I'm surprised the moulding holding the tap doesn't just unscrew and unclip, it does on our current Hymer & did on the Exsis we had before.
The wall panels are held with a thick double sided tape, just a couple of strips of it.

 

[Lenny HB]

You need to pay your subs as you have used up your 5 free posts.

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[Claire Ambler]

That centre section of the vanity unit needs to come out.
on top of the tap if you have blue red semicircles, the screw is under there, if you don’t sorry cannot help.
it is always more awkward taking stuff out of a motorhome because they are built from the inside out. The last thing on is the outer wall (I think????)

 

[Bill and Tracey]

Be careful when removing the pipes from the tap. There is a little plastic clip/peg that secures the two together. It goes ping if you're not careful. Welcome to the club.

 

[Simon123]

Job done! A huge thanks for all your comments. In the end I had to take off the side and top of shower and remove vanity unit enough to get hand near to valve. Then found problem which was a loose screw leak connection from mixer valve tubing to the shower head tubing. If the tubing was longer from the mixer valve to this connection it would have been much easier as could have access via toilet flush port hole and avoided the part dismantle.

 

[Claire Ambler]

While it’s out why not lengthen the pipes? heat from the water will expand the jubilee clips and eventually loosen them. It won’t happen overnight but 7 p’s come to mind

 

[Simon123]

Thanks Claire, yes a very good idea as it will no doubt happen again at some point. I guess the repetitive movement of pulling the shower hose out will always eventually weaken something and in most cases will be the screw joint with the other tubing.

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[denisejoe]

We had a leak underneath in our burstner motor home only saw it when when Denise was showering during the day and I was outside it was coming from the u bend which wasn’t connected properly fixed by johns cross but £3000 as had to replace floor right across the back. They did a great job

 

[Malcolm60]

I had a similar problem on my Hymer Ayers Rock, water dripping into the toilet cassette area after using the shower head. (There is always some issue with water after the winter (-10 C in an open barn)).

After reading this thread (thanks everyone!) and some trial and error here is my step by step solution to help others:
1. Remove the panel to the right of the basin unit (two small screws and a bit of prising with a flat screwdriver). Do not try to remove the basin unit, it does not come out.
2. The tap is held in by a large metal nut underneath. Impossible to get a spanner to it in this tight space. Turn the body of the tap in order to loosen the nut a bit, then reach underneath and undo it with your fingers. Then you can pull the tap out - it won’t come very far because the pipes are short.
3. Turned out I had the same problem as Coolcats - the blue pipe had disconnected and had to be pushed back in. As noted by others there is a pin (mine is metal) which locks the tails to the housing - see second photo.
4. Before reassembling put some WD40 on the thread to make step 2 a bit easier next time. Make sure the shower hose pulls right out and goes fully back in. Also check how the electrical wires are positioned. You don’t want them to rub on the shower hose as it passes in and out - otherwise you will have an electrical fault next time :-(
I clipped them at the back of the space to keep them out of the way.
Also look out for the slot in the base ring of the tap, which has to engage with a tooth on the tap body (see photo).

All seems to be fine now. Hard to see why it happened but it will be quicker to fix next time I hope