Leaky Drinking Water Tank

[Atlanta Panther]

When trying to straighten out my drinking water gravity feed I was finally able to fill my tank. I then discovered a very very tiny leak at the bottom where the PEX exits the tank to begin its journey to the water pump. I put a rag underneath it to absorb the water. See the attached picture. I was going to wrench the black fitting tighter but then thought it might be just one piece and I might break it and have a big mess. Any suggestions on how best to handle this?

BTW, the gravity feed on this RV is terrible. There is probably only 1/2"-1" of fall between the outside inlet and the tank inlet which results in a sag along the hose that is almost impossible to get rid of after I worked on it for half the day. I finally gave up. The only way I was able to fill the tank was to take the suggestion found in one of the threads on the board and insert a old washing machine hose I had on hand and fill it that way. This presented a pain because then the only way to get the Clorox solution in there to disinfect was to fill the hose first. Since I couldn't get all the solution in there I was left only putting in the Clorox bleach full strength into the hose. Of course some of this leaks out as you fill the tank and is messy as hell.

Any better ideas on this?

[pgandw]

This is where the FR assembly methods make things harder than they should be. From the picture, the black elbow MAY be cross-threaded into the soft plastic tank exit. Whether cross-threaded or not, the leak appears to be onto the threads of the black elbow.

You cannot tighten the elbow without removing the PEX hose. The hose clamp on the PEX is not reusable. So you are faced with removing the hose clamp without damaging or shortening the PEX (I don't think there's enough extra to cut the PEX), then removing the PEX from the elbow without damaging the PEX or elbow.

It might be easier to just cut the PEX, splice in a short extra section, and replace the elbow, too.

On reassembly, use a screw-tighten hose clamp and 2 layers of Teflon tape on the elbow threads. Make sure you do not cross-thread the elbow into the plastic. Do not use excessive force in screwing the elbow in, or put a lot of side pressure on the elbow during removal or installation.

just my thoughts and experiences
Fred W
2019 Flagstaff T21TBHW A-frame
2008 Hyundai Entourage minivan
camping Colorado and adjacent states one weekend at a time

[Atlanta Panther]

I think I'll take your suggestion and cut the PEX and splice in a piece. I happen to have some spare PEX fittings around. They don't give you much room there so the trick will be to unscrew the black fitting from the tank without messing up the threads or otherwise screwing with the tank, In particular, I'm trying not to have to take off the filler hose or air vent hose and pull the whole tank out to get to the fitting to install it easier. I think this is a project that will wait until camping season is over. The leak is so tiny that the plywood still looks new but I don't want to leave it there long term. I'll let you know how it goes.