water hose chafing

[Txfivver]

Has anyone with a Solitude noticed the two blue waterlines going to and out of the water filter chafing on the holes in the Nautilus cabinet? I spent a week in mine in Houston this month for a business school. It was right at freezing every night so I was paying special attention to the plumbing around the water panel. The blue lines are severely rubbing on the too small of a holes where they pass through. I really hate to remove the pass through wall and break the connections to try to install grommets that should have been there from the factory. I'm sorry but I don't have a pic with me right now but if you have a Solitude you know the lines I'm talking about. Any suggestions on a fix? I'm thinking some split rubber grommets that I can squeeze around the hoses and protect them before they split. Any ideas are greatly appreciated.

[boyscout]

Ohhhh Lord, something ELSE to have to worry about, and rebuild the way it should have been built, before it blows up and floods our trailer.

I just went out to look at ours, a 2018 with about six months of use and well under 7,500 miles on it. Sure enough, each of the two soft blue hoses is chafed and indented by approximately between 1/16" and 1/32" where it passes through the unprotected hole in the metal wall of the utilities bay.

Thanks Grand Design for devising endless ways to eat up our time!

[Txfivver]

Ohhhh Lord, something ELSE to have to worry about, and rebuild the way it should have been built, before it blows up and floods our trailer.

I just went out to look at ours, a 2018 with about six months of use and well under 7,500 miles on it. Sure enough, each of the two soft blue hoses is chafed and indented by approximately between 1/16" and 1/32" where it passes through the unprotected hole in the metal wall of the utilities bay.

Thanks Grand Design for devising endless ways to eat up our time!

Wow sorry to hear that Mark but I'm glad I could bring it to everyone's attention. Yes it would definitely flood the entire underbelly if those hoses split. Fellow Solitude owners please check yours and maybe collectively we can find an easy solution. There are a LOT of smart people on here so I'm hopeful for a reliable easy fix. I really really don't want to tear the wall out and climb in that den of snakes and start disconnecting hoses!

[Second Chance]

A good part of the issue is the mount for the water filter. Have you wiggled it around with a finger? The bracket is extremely flimsy and this motion would certainly add to the movement of the water lines through the bulkhead. I plan on fixing that along with protecting the Pex going through the holes.

Rob

[CoChris]

.... I plan on fixing that along with protecting the Pex going through the holes.

Rob

On our 310GK it is not PEX but the soft braided nylon hose that goes through the sheet metal holes and connects tot he water filter.

Chris

[boyscout]

There are a LOT of smart people on here so I'm hopeful for a reliable easy fix. I really really don't want to tear the wall out and climb in that den of snakes and start disconnecting hoses!

I hope some of them show up because my uneducated guess is that the rubber grommet idea - which is the obvious solution that could have so easily and cheaply been installed by GD during manufacture - isn't possible without cutting out the hoses and starting over.

There's very little extra space to accommodate a grommet in the holes through which the soft hoses current pass. Further, on our trailer one of the hoses enters the hole at a sharp angle from the bottom; not even nearly straight-in. So unless one of those smart people shows up I'm thinking I have to cut out the hose (happy to get rid of more of that soft hose anyway), drill the holes larger with a stepped drill bit, install grommets, and rebuild the water connections with PEX.

Thank goodness this came up... I might have completely wasted that hour or so doing something I enjoy.

[JCR GD]

Maybe it could be sleeved with a piece of split garden hose or similar. ??

[Txfivver]

Maybe it could be sleeved with a piece of split garden hose or similar. ??

That's exactly what I was thinking. The clearance is pretty tight and one of the hoses comes up at a pretty good angle but there is room to wiggle them around a little. I was even thinking a piece of bicycle inner tube would be thin enough and provide some protection. I am going to prowl the nut bolt grommet aisle at Home Depot this weekend and see if anything jumps out at me. I think there is even enough room on mine to slip a small file in there and make the hole bigger. These things are definitely a rolling home improvement project lol.

[Rich T]

On our 310GK it is not PEX but the soft braided nylon hose that goes through the sheet metal holes and connects tot he water filter.

Chris

I also went out and checked my 300GK-R, same blue soft hose, same signs of wear/dent. If the holes were bigger we could push a grommet in around the hose, but it is to tight. As stated above it might be best to rebuild with pex. This not a new issue, I had a leak at my hot water tank and replaced the soft hose with pex. I would like to remove all soft hose and replace with pex as others have done. One place that the soft hose will need to be left in place is the section of blue hose in the slide that goes to the ice maker for the res frig.

Rich

[boyscout]

One place that the soft hose will need to be left in place is the section of blue hose in the slide that goes to the ice maker for the res frig.

Or, just a guess, but maybe the stainless-steel-braided hose that is frequently part of residential ice-maker installations could be deployed? Probably have to do some creative work with adapters, and maybe wrap the hose with plastic wire loom to reduce abrasion risk, but I'd sure be thinking about it.