Water Disaster!

[Ryanb-72]

I thought I would share our experience just in case someone might want to adjust how they camp. I of course learned a good lesson or two.

My wife and I were camping in a State Park over the holiday weekend. We arrived late in the day on Friday and went through the usual routine of setting up. We started the grill right away since it was already getting late in the day then relaxed as we BBQ'd our dinner. As we were sitting there we noticed the backflow preventer at the site would randomly relieve pressure. I thought it was odd though i didn't notice anything else out of the norm and continued on.

Next morning I was cooking breakfast outside and my wife had started cleaning a few dishes at the outdoor shower. Suddenly she just started yelling for me to turn off the water.

I knew it was bad... I ran to the outside spigot, turned of the water, and then ran to the door of the camper. I couldn't believe it, water was everywhere, much worse than I had expected. The floor was covered, the countertop was covered, and the shelves below the sink were covered.

We threw every bath towel, Kitchen towel, and two rolls of paper towels at it and just started mopping it up as fast as we could. we werent yet sure what had occured but we did have to put a pan under the galley sink hoses to catch a fairly continous drip.

Once we contained and mopped up the majority of the water, I was able (using an ice scraper and flat blade screwdriver) to remove the floor trim and finish getting all the water possible and my wife used the cool side of her hair dryer to push any hidden water out of the cracks. We then left the A/C on high and Maxx Air fan on to help dry any remaining moisture.

I felt pretty confident something was wrong with the faucet. I took it apart and found there is a plastic retainer that holds in the hot and cold hoses. That part broke and allowed the hoses to become dislodged spraying water everywhere.
After a two hour round trip to a lowes we purchased a couple of caps to cap off the sink piping and were then able to use the rest of the camper the remainder of the weekend.

I have not made it a practice to turn off the water when we go for a hike etc.. I can only imagine how bad it could have been. We certainly feel very fortunate to have both been standing so close by when it happened. I do know in the future I certainly will be turning off the faucet if we are not around. I am not sure if the backflow preventer relieving pressure should have clued me in or not but I thought it was something to note.

Fortunately, besides the cost of a new faucet, and a little time to reinstall the trim, we should be back to camping without any ill effects.

Ryan

 

[CADreamin]

So sorry you had that happen to you! How frightening and frustrating. We've learned to always turn off the outside spigot whenever we leave the trailer for any length of time as we had friends who had that very thing happen to them -- only they weren't as lucky as you were.

 

[ColoradoSwany]

Do you normally use a pressure regulator when hooked up to “city water”? This is scary, as I try to remember to shut off the water when we leave, but remember at most 50% of the time. And then, I forget to turn it back on when we return and have to go out in the dark to do it!

 

[Ryanb-72]

Do you normally use a pressure regulator when hooked up to “city water”? This is scary, as I try to remember to shut off the water when we leave, but remember at most 50% of the time. And then, I forget to turn it back on when we return and have to go out in the dark to do it!

ColoradoSwany,
Yes we do use a pressure reducer at the camper hookup.

 

[WillyB]

I feel your pain. I replaced our faucet this weekend because of a failed hose on the extended spray head section. We had a lot of water but were very fortunate that we were at home and that my wife keeps a lot of tools and a small sanitizing bucket under the sink catching most of it. Still about 2 gallons on the floor.

Our new faucet does not have the extended hose option.

All fine and back to normal........for now

Good Luck!

 

[Ian G]

Sorry to hear about your mishap.
I have always been afraid of something similar, I also find many of the taps at the campgrounds difficult and not fast to turn on & off.
My solution is this set-up that incorporates an outside tap on the trailer and a 1.4 turn shut-off valve. The 90 deg connection between the hose & the trailer takes a lot of stress off the trailer hose connection. Really quick & easy to turn water on & off

 

[HABBERDABBER]

The finer the family, the more spectacular the plumbing disaster

"The finer the family, the more spectacular the plumbing disaster."
So goes a line from Bailey White, in one of her novels.
You must be a fine family.
I've tried to take that line to heart. I've had a few, too. And mine made for snorting good tales, so far. That's not always the case, eh?

If you got most of the water, I don't think you've done any serious or long term harm. It will dry out.

You learned a lesson, and thanks for passing it along.