In dewinterizing the 5th, I noticed a slow leak( 1 drip every 30-40 sec) in one of the cinch clamps coming off a tee close to the hot water heater bypass...I managed to get the cinch clamp off and installed a new one with my crimper...a very difficult place to get to and not much room to work with the crimper...a real battle to get in there and be able to grab the cinch clamp, I have the battle scars to show it....lo and behold after pressurizing the system again....still leaks, and its almost impossible to place the cinch clamp within the 1/8" of the end of tube on the tee...something tells me the tees used by manufacturer is not the same as those found in Home Depots or Lowes...also the tubing throughout the trailer is colored blue for cold and red for hot and that tubing appears to be smaller in size than 1/2" residential pex. Is there such a thing as a compression type fitting, either Shark Bite or Sea Tech that would bite onto the tee? Any suggestions?
I've successfully used Sharkbite fittings on a new kitchen faucet install. You need to make sure you can get your hands in to push or pull the fitting on. It was really tough to do under the sink. You'll get a leak if you don't get it seated all the way.
Are you sure the leak is from the cinch clamp? I too have a very small leak at one of the water heater fittings. I think it is the plastic fitting. The leak stops when the water heater is up to temp. Just one more thing I have to check out when the TT is pulled out of storage.
Your sharkbite fitting was onto the pex pipe though, correct? I was wondering if there was something I could get to bite onto the tee.
I am pretty sure the drip comes from where the cinch clamp is...I can see the drip build up from there. Mine is on the cold water side so I wont be as lucky as you and have it stop.
Not 100% sure what you call a worm clamp...is it a regular most common clamp that you tighten with a screwdriver? If thats what you mean, I did try that, but think it may have been tight for space and not convinced the "worm" clamp is biting evenly. I was thinking of removing the cinch clamp and trying just the worm clamp on its own to see if it can get a better bite. Seems to me, the worm clamp...if it is what I think you mean, should work, they are used all the time on garden hoses with very similar pressure and hold up fine for years.
Just what I was talking about, a regular hose clamp, though I don't know how well it would do alone. Those clamps like to bite in like they do a rubber hose, not sure how they would last on PEX plastic. It would tighten fine, I'd worry about it staying tight.
Well today I removed the cinch clamp and repositioned the regular hose clamp by itself...leaked even worse.
Talked to an RV tech today...he was saying that if he comes across a leak from around a cinch clamp, he will replace it once...if it still leaks after that then vast majority of the time there is a crack in the tee..pretty much said only option is to replace the tee, unless I want a pile of frustration.
WFD, you can Sharkbite Tees. They are not cheap though. If getting clamp within 1/8" of the end of the PEX is difficult you can get PEX clamps that have a shoulder on them. You put them on the PEX tube with with the shoulder butted against the end of the tube. This puts the clamp in the correct location. I suggest if you replace the Tee use brass and not plastic.
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