Leaking Shower Drain - Advice Sought

[gbaldwin]

Hope all are well. Have a problem that I am trying to diagnose and repair. Looking for best plan of attack hopefully from some with similar experience.

I have FR Surveyor. Shower stall is what I would call pretty standard. It is a corner unit in the rear passenger side corner of the TT. Shower only with the curved sliding door.

On my most recent trip, I noticed when the wife was showering, I had a small trickle of water leaking through the corrugated underbelly. Leak was directly under the shower and leaking around stabilizer jack onto the ground. Shortly after turning the shower water OFF, the leak/trickle stopped. I did not observe any water in the RR floor of the TT so assumption is leak not above floor.

To determine source of leak (supply side or drain) I slowly poured a gallon of water directly into the shower drain. The leak appeared again. So I am feeling like the leak is in the drain piping between the shower floor drain and my grey water tank. I do not get leaking when using any other fixture; BR sink or kitchen sink.

So I am wanting to try and get into further locating and repairing myself and want to determine best or most likely plan of attack/access with the minimal amount of destruction.

I am assuming that the leak is between the underbelly corrugated material and the floor of the TT. There is a removable (screwed in) panel below the shower door inside the unit. I am thinking since no sign of water in the RR floor, this is not my likely access point. The other option I see for access is to cut a section of the underbelly material to access the piping and hopefully locate the leak from beneath. I am thinking cut a large section the size of shower pan, hopefully locating and repairing leak; then duct taping that section back into place???

FYI, I am convinced that something has come loose or broken in this piping; not a frozen pipe back in the winter. Have used several times since last winter. I have never accessed the underbelly so dont really know what to expect.

If anyone has had this experience, thoughts, recommendations, they would be greatly appreciated. THANKS

[Flybob]

Before I cut the underbelly, I would check in the inspection port under the shower again. We have seen units where the drain traps are not tightened and leak. If it is leaking at at plumbing joint, it could be running down the outside of the pipe and through the bottom. I would check all the connections. Hold a paper towel around the lowest portion of the drain you can reach then have someone dump water into the shower floor. If your grey tank is directly under the shower drain, you may not see anything even with the belly cut. You can also try an inspection scope. something like this https://www.amazon.com/DEPSTECH-Wate...8886052&sr=8-3

[gbaldwin]

"Inspection Port".... that is the removable panel below the shower dooor opening I assume.

[Bama Rambler]

You are correct. The panel below the shower door is the inspection port.

We had a Surveyor once and the trap under the shower leaked. I deduced that it was from shower floor flex and vibration of the plumbing during travel. I bought a rubber trap to absorb the flexing of the floor and any vibration and replaced the entire trap. I also shimmed up the floor of the shower to help keep it from flexing so much. We never had another leak in the years we owned it after that.

[rwhit]

X2 that's how I repaired ours.

[Lodie]

I had a very similar leak. After accessing from port hole could see water pouring around the drain connection. Easy fix. But I ended up cutting out a section under unit just to get to it more easily. I bought drain and connection from a plumbing supply place and so far so good. They say that is a very common problem with all the flexing that happens. Hope you are successful in repair.

[rwhit]

Remember political signs make great patches to the underbelly

[satdog01]

We Would not cut underbelly before inspection through port hole on front of shower base.
Several Georgetown 19-20 have had issue where a coupling between the drain and the feed to the grey tank cracks. If this the case you will see a trickle of water at the coupling when the shower is in use. The fix is to cut the join out through the port hole and install a rubber section of pipe with clamps. Part can be obtained at Lowe’s for less than $8.

[dahagen]

Originally Posted by Bama Rambler

You are correct. The panel below the shower door is the inspection port.

We had a Surveyor once and the trap under the shower leaked. I deduced that it was from shower floor flex and vibration of the plumbing during travel. I bought a rubber trap to absorb the flexing of the floor and any vibration and replaced the entire trap. I also shimmed up the floor of the shower to help keep it from flexing so much. We never had another leak in the years we owned it after that.

Could you describe the 'rubber trap' you mentioned, and a source. I have the same problem. New metal traps only last for a while.

[Jcyesiam]

X2 on the trap leak the nut that connectés the drain to the P trap cracked.

[gbaldwin]

Thanks to all for your advice. Seems common problem and a common fix!.

So this trap is between the floor/decking and the shower floor?

GB

[Jcyesiam]

Access it through the panel at the base of the shower. Most RV shops have all the necessary parts for the fix.

[Bama Rambler]

Originally Posted by dahagen

Could you describe the 'rubber trap' you mentioned, and a source. I have the same problem. New metal traps only last for a while.

Here's one version. I think the one I bought was a Fernco, but there all basically the same.

Flexible Rubber P-Trap

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by dahagen

Could you describe the 'rubber trap' you mentioned, and a source. I have the same problem. New metal traps only last for a while.

This one.

[traveltrailerrookie]

I would also check the gasket on the drain where it goes down the shower hole. They don’t last for ever as well.

[lmeilleur]

I posted a long story about the exact same issue. Yes, open the access panel as recommended and you will most likely see the water leaking from where the p-trap gets connected to the base of the shower. If the shower base was not properly supported you may have cracked the ABS plastic or something in that vein. We had the dealer reinforce the base and install a metal drain to the new ABS pipes. Forest River is well aware of this issue. I hope you are still under some warranty. Good luck

[chaps2018]

My leak was originating from the drain flange area. The factory drilled the hole for the flange off-center and used plumbers putty to make the seal.

As the shower is used and folk step on the drain flange it shifts in the hole to find the lowest spot. eventually the plumbers putty oozes out enough and it begins to leak.

I have repaired it twice (using butyl tape), adjusted the pipes below and have not found a permanent solution yet. I am going to try a rubber gasket on the topside next time the seal fails.

[Reverse_snowbird]

Originally Posted by Flybob

Before I cut the underbelly, I would check in the inspection port under the shower again. We have seen units where the drain traps are not tightened and leak.

Ditto on the inspection port. Our drain pipe had become disconnected and although you had to be a very nimble person to get into that access point, all we had to do was tighten the connection. Found a loose black water drain that needed to be tightened too.

[DouglasReid]

IF it turns out that you must access under the camper look to see if that Coreplast underbelly can merely be unscrewed on the sides and front and then dropped down to the ground without cutting it.

If you must cut it, make the cut a "U" shape not a square. Leave the uncut side in the front of the cutout.

Then when you tape it back up, the air pressure flowing under the trailer, while under tow, will tend to hold it up and in place, rather than working its way into the cut and pulling that cutout back down.

[gbaldwin]

JUST DAMN!!

So the inspection port was a hole about the size of a softball...The cover over the port about size of a football. Cut out the inspection port a bit larger to get an arm in.

A frame had been added at factory to support the shower floor. making it impossible to reach one of the collars.

In addition, the hole in the floor to the underbelly is about 4.5" in diameter which makes it impossible to reach from beneath.

there is no way I will replace that trap without removing the shower pan and even then, .... I dont know.

I did see about where the leak was comming from .... where drain pipe screws into the shower pan.

My temporary solution .... a 4" plasstic funnel positioned under the trap with a clear flex tube extending below, through the hole in floor and through underbelly with a 3/4 inch hole. Shower on the ground.