Tip for Water Intrusion

[Dennis H]

As we get older, we tend to 'forget' things which leads us to slap ourselves in the forehead and ask how could we be so dumb. Well, maybe not all, but I know I'm in that group. 😁

Anyway, sometimes we forget the grey tank is closed when we thought it was open. Things happen. Sometimes leaks occur when we least expect them to. A while ago we were traveling south in the wee hours of the morning and my DW got up to go to the restroom. She 'forgot' to turn off the water pump. Unfortunately, I had left a couple pieces of floor tiles up against the faucet in the wet bar. As I merrily traveled down the highway, one of those tiles moved and turned on the faucet in said wet bar. About an hour later DW got up to get me a cup of coffee and stepped onto very soggy carpeting. I had about 100 gallons of fortunately fresh water all over the interior. Several hours later with a full hamper of wet towels and we were on our way again. Stopped at Wally World and picked up a carpet cleaner to suck up whatever water was left, along with several fans to air dry everything. Lesson learned.

So what's the purpose of this post? Here's is what I learned from that experience. Water can leak at any time. Water will seek it's own course when leaking. It's our job to stem the flow when that occurs. Here is a gadget that IMO, should be in every coach. It simply sits on the floor,(I placed mine right outside the shower) out of the way and screams like a banshee when it gets the slightest hint of water. Cost is 11 bucks at your local Home Depot. Amazon also has them if you don't want to drive.....Dennis

 

[Bill C]

Great advice, thanks for sharing about the leak alerts, gonna get me some, not sure how many I need though 🙂

 

[Ivylog]

Bought 3  recently. Naturally it was after having a major flood in our home at night.

We turn the water pump off when traveling, turning on only when needed.

X2 on the short term memory going south.

Edited April 3, 2021 by Ivylog

[Rikadoo]

Morning everyone, this is a topic I have thought about several times. I often wonder with all the other "idiot" warning lights on the dash why didn't the manufacture think to put at the minimum a light to warn of the water pump on while driving and its not like we can't squeeze room for one more toggle switch to be able to "controll" the actions of the water pump. The amount of things to remember when driving is enough to rattle your mush, let alone getting back on the Hiway and trying to remember... did I turn the water off... is it my age creeping up on me, perhaps, however if a poll was taken I bet theres more than one person who has pulled back over from getting on the road to check the pumps "status" 

 

[Dennis H]

Rik, make a suggestion to Winnebago. They will not only put a light on the dash but most likely an audible beep that no one will remember what it does...😄...Dennis

[rustykramermetalfab]

I learned to shut my pump off when not in use after the hose on the pressure side of the water pump burst. 

We had just parked and when I got out of the coach water was pouring out of a bay door so my timing was pretty lucky. 

 

[96 EVO]

So, why wasn't your gaget screaming like a banshee, and left you with 100gal to sop up?

[Dennis H]

45 minutes ago, 96 EVO said:

So, why wasn't your gaget screaming like a banshee, and left you with 100gal to sop up?

Cuz I got it AFTER the flood. I didn't even know they existed until after that. Funny how things like that smarten one up. Which is exactly WHY  I posted this here. Hoping to prevent someone else from suffering the same fate as me. $11 bucks woulda saved me a lot of grief had I known then.....Dennis

[Frank McElroy]

On 4/2/2021 at 5:49 PM, Dennis H said:

As we get older, we tend to 'forget' things which leads us to slap ourselves in the forehead and ask how could we be so dumb. Well, maybe not all, but I know I'm in that group. 😁

Anyway, sometimes we forget the grey tank is closed when we thought it was open. Things happen. Sometimes leaks occur when we least expect them to. A while ago we were traveling south in the wee hours of the morning and my DW got up to go to the restroom. She 'forgot' to turn off the water pump. Unfortunately, I had left a couple pieces of floor tiles up against the faucet in the wet bar. As I merrily traveled down the highway, one of those tiles moved and turned on the faucet in said wet bar. About an hour later DW got up to get me a cup of coffee and stepped onto very soggy carpeting. I had about 100 gallons of fortunately fresh water all over the interior. Several hours later with a full hamper of wet towels and we were on our way again. Stopped at Wally World and picked up a carpet cleaner to suck up whatever water was left, along with several fans to air dry everything. Lesson learned.

So what's the purpose of this post? Here's is what I learned from that experience. Water can leak at any time. Water will seek it's own course when leaking. It's our job to stem the flow when that occurs. Here is a gadget that IMO, should be in every coach. It simply sits on the floor,(I placed mine right outside the shower) out of the way and screams like a banshee when it gets the slightest hint of water. Cost is 11 bucks at your local Home Depot. Amazon also has them if you don't want to drive.....Dennis

 

I have a number of these exact same leak alert units.  They work even better if they are placed on a small paper towel.  The towel will suck up the water and sound the alarm at the slightest water leak.

[96 EVO]

1 hour ago, Dennis H said:

Cuz I got it AFTER the flood. I didn't even know they existed until after that. Funny how things like that smarten one up. Which is exactly WHY  I posted this here. Hoping to prevent someone else from suffering the same fate as me. $11 bucks woulda saved me a lot of grief had I known then.....Dennis

LOL!

I have one of those in my home basement. Reminds me, I should check the battery.

[Hypoxia]

8 hours ago, 96 EVO said:

LOL!

I have one of those in my home basement. Reminds me, I should check the battery.

One of those should be placed below the spa hose which always leaks at some point on every camper that has a kitchen sink in a slideout.

For the stick house I would like to have one that plugs in to 120V and has Wi-Fi.  Perhaps the house alarm has an option, I'll have to check.  I do turn the stick house water off when travelling but it only takes a few minutes to flood a building.  Now that I think of it, I would like to have a Wi-Fi temperature alarm in the stick house refrigerator which we do leave running when we travel.

[96 EVO]

Yeah, that would be a good place.

Dreading the day mine goes! Access would be challenging for Gumby!