Model 180 Shower Leaking - R-pod Owners Forum

A couple days ago I decided to de-winterize my 180 and check out all the systems to make sure everything is in working order when the wife and I head out next week with the camper. I inserted the anode rod back into the hot water heater then hooked up into the city water connection filling up the heater and made sure water was flowing and flushing out all the faucets. I went from there to checking out the propane function of the water heater and the refrigerator. As I was standing outside visually inspecting the water heater and refrigerator I noticed water dripping down at a location before the Black/Grey water dump valves, strange I thought. Sliding under the trailer I see the water is dripping out of the split plastic wire conduit, yikes not good! Luckily there is no spliced or connected wires where the water was dripping out of the conduit and I finally traced the source to the shower. After removing the inspection panel sure enough, I see a large pool of water on the floor. The only thing I can surmise is that the water was leaking from the shower floor drain flange which only has some type of calk putty. I tried to get a pair of channel lock pliers on the drain fitting to tighten it up but there is just no way in that small of a space. I ended up cleaning up the old putty off the flange and re-caulking it with silicon caulk. After that I checked it and could feel only the slightest weep of water so using one finger dab of silicon calk at a time I smeared it around the outside of the fittings under the shower floor which I know is less then ideal but hey so far it stopped the leak! I also reinforced the shower floor with some additional blocks of wood to help stop flexing of the floor.

My question is what tool you can use to tighten up this shower floor flange because there is about zero room to work under the floor through the access inspection opening? It also seems that the only way to properly repair the plumbing for the shower drain is to have the shower completely removed or am I wrong about that?

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furpod Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group - pHp Joined: 25 Jul 2011 Location: Central KY Online Status: Offline Posts: 6128	Topic: Model 180 Shower Leaking Posted: 29 Mar 2018 at 7:19pm
	A) All those plumbing connections should be done hand tight only. B) The "putty stuff" you found, is plumbers putty. it is the proper thing to use there. Silicone WILL be a problem in the future. C) Many of owners have found the need to reinforce the floor. Good move.

DavMar Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 04 Aug 2017 Location: Lexington, NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 592	Posted: 29 Mar 2018 at 6:48pm
	A couple days ago I decided to de-winterize my 180 and check out all the systems to make sure everything is in working order when the wife and I head out next week with the camper. I inserted the anode rod back into the hot water heater then hooked up into the city water connection filling up the heater and made sure water was flowing and flushing out all the faucets. I went from there to checking out the propane function of the water heater and the refrigerator. As I was standing outside visually inspecting the water heater and refrigerator I noticed water dripping down at a location before the Black/Grey water dump valves, strange I thought. Sliding under the trailer I see the water is dripping out of the split plastic wire conduit, yikes not good! Luckily there is no spliced or connected wires where the water was dripping out of the conduit and I finally traced the source to the shower. After removing the inspection panel sure enough, I see a large pool of water on the floor. The only thing I can surmise is that the water was leaking from the shower floor drain flange which only has some type of calk putty. I tried to get a pair of channel lock pliers on the drain fitting to tighten it up but there is just no way in that small of a space. I ended up cleaning up the old putty off the flange and re-caulking it with silicon caulk. After that I checked it and could feel only the slightest weep of water so using one finger dab of silicon calk at a time I smeared it around the outside of the fittings under the shower floor which I know is less then ideal but hey so far it stopped the leak! I also reinforced the shower floor with some additional blocks of wood to help stop flexing of the floor. My question is what tool you can use to tighten up this shower floor flange because there is about zero room to work under the floor through the access inspection opening? It also seems that the only way to properly repair the plumbing for the shower drain is to have the shower completely removed or am I wrong about that?
	Dave & Marlene J with Zoey the wonder dog. 2017 Rpod 180 2016 Toyota Tacoma SR5 4x4 Lexington, NC