Water, water everywhere
The plumbing in Tess was, as far as I could tell, was mostly original. There were a few updates to plastic pipe of some sort but most was the original copper, and the water heater was the original tank style and it no longer worked. This section deals with potable water systems only, you can see what we did with drainage in the bath remodel section.
There didn’t seem to be any problems with the copper pipe, but I never even put it under pressure. Since the tub, toilet, gray tank and water heater were coming out…since I was there…I might as well replace the entire system. It’s easier to do it while you have the room.
I’ve used pex tubing in many other projects and it is ideal in this scenario- it is flexible, easy to work with and somewhat resistant to freezing and less likely to burst (but it still can) when it gets cold. It’s relatively cheap to buy but be sure to use real pex fittings and don’t try to connect other types of hoses or pipe to the fittings- I’ve seen videos of RV manufacturers trying to connect hoses to pex with poor long term results. You can buy pex and pex fittings at any hardware store, but I would highly recommend a ratcheting coupling clamp like this one– it’s much easier to use in tight places. You know, like an Airstream!
The previous owner had a water pressure regulator installed for the city water port and that’s a great idea so I left that in place. The fresh water tank is located at the front of the camper, inside under the sofa and table. It is an aluminum tank and in good shape so it was rinsed out and sterilized. The water pump was not original to 1965 but it was noisy and needed to be replaced. It had been located under the toilet area as well so it also had to be moved and it ended up in a small empty area underneath the couch.
Getting pictures are a little tough so I’ll try to describe it as best as possible. The front of the trailer has the fresh water tank. Pex pipe runs under the gaucho on the street side of the camper, then behind the refrigerator. As it comes out from behind the fridge it goes under the couch to the 12V water pump. The pex then goes around the wheel well and into the mechanical area under the bathroom cupboard and closet area where the water heater is located. The city water supply comes in that area as well. But both water supplies (tank and city) go up into the cupboard where all the monitoring systems are located and each water source has an independent shutoff valve and each source can feed each output individually. So there is a valve for city water, tank water and then other valves that go to the water heater and the kitchen and bath valves. So if there is a problem or leak anywhere it can be isolated and shut off without interrupting the other parts of the system. I hope the photo helps!
After the water passes through the shut off valve area it goes down to the instant hot water heater and to the bath & kitchen faucets. The pex passes behind the toilet, under the tub area and then up in the pantry. We upgraded the fixtures to a single valve shower and also a single valve kitchen faucet. The old fixtures were leaky and not very attractive so we went with standard fixtures from Home Depot
It all works really well, no regrets on the updates. We like the instant hot water, but there are a few drawbacks that we fixed- but that’s a short page on its own.
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