Soft Hose Fitting Leaks

[Biery-Bullock]

Thanks Rob for the great PDF explaining the problem. In an attempt to avoid performing major surgery I... 1) replaced the plastic fittings with brass ones on the bathroom and kitchen hot and cold lines and 2) used heat-shrinkable tubing to increase the diameter to ~0.5". So far it's holding with no leaks. Fingers crossed...

[ThePowells]

Thanks Rob for the great PDF explaining the problem. In an attempt to avoid performing major surgery I... 1) replaced the plastic fittings with brass ones on the bathroom and kitchen hot and cold lines and 2) used heat-shrinkable tubing to increase the diameter to ~0.5". So far it's holding with no leaks. Fingers crossed...

I opted to go for major surgery. https://www.mygrandrv.com/forum/show...hat-soft-hoses I have two minor leaks to address now. One is the new connection on the kitchen hoses and the other is a connection for the black tank flush line.

[Biery-Bullock]

Ouch! Major surgery indeed, Jerry. If we keep having problems I may need to do the same some day. Good luck with the remainder of your project.

[chrisopy]

GDRV uses two types of water pipe/hose (Pex and a softer hose) but only one type of fittings (Pex - usually plastic). Several of us have encountered leaks from the soft hose to Pex fitting combination. There is a reason for this. The soft hose has too large an ID to stay sealed to a Pex fitting. With vibration and temperature cycling these connections will work loose.

This came up at the Elkhart Rally Kantleak Tech Session, but I was recently asked by another forum member about how to best solve this. At first, I though maybe a Sharkbite fitting would work, but as has been mentioned previously on this forum, Sharkbite fittings are not designed to work with soft hose.

The soft hose has a 1/2" ID and barbed hose fittings are available in 1/2" OD. Once you realize that you are working with hose, not pipe, the solution becomes straight forward . . . but rather a PITA to have to do. If the proper fittings had been used in the first place, we wouldn't be doing this.

Proper fittings are available at Home Depot or similar. Pictures and comments on what should go with what are in the attached.

Rob

Hi Rob,

Wasn't sure to start a new thread or reply to this one. Anyways, my leak is on my hot line under kitchen sink where the arrow is between the bottom of the black fitting and top of the soft hose. My hose looks a little different than your pic, but still is soft. Do you think the brass barbed fitting and hose clamp will be the best route in my situation too, or any other suggestions. I can't replace the whole line since it goes under the kitchen island on our MK2670. If I ever do want to adapt this hose to pex lines, what fittings do you recommend? Thanks in advance and great write up.

[Cate&Rob]

@chrisopy

You are picking up an a very old thread . . . but that is OK .
Look very carefully at the area where the water is leaking. Is it coming from the hose on the left or the black collar on the right?

If it is from the hose, this is where you will need to make an "adapter" from Pex pipe to the correct barbed fitting for hose as described earlier.

If the drip is coming from the black collar on the right, this is a different (easier to fix) problem. The reason that I wonder about this is that there is teflon tape on the the threads of that fitting . . . which is not the way to solve a leak with this type of connection. Inside that black plastic part is a "cone washer" that seals against the end of the brass part with the thread tape on it. These cone washers are difficult to source by themselves, but you can buy a similar fitting at any plumbing store and just use the new cone washer on your existing fitting. In the attached picture the internal fitting is brass and the collar is white, but the black rubber cone washer will also fit your existing fitting.

Rob

[chrisopy]

@chrisopy

You are picking up an a very old thread . . . but that is OK .
Look very carefully at the area where the water is leaking. Is it coming from the hose on the left or the black collar on the right?

If it is from the hose, this is where you will need to make an "adapter" from Pex pipe to the correct barbed fitting for hose as described earlier.

If the drip is coming from the black collar on the right, this is a different (easier to fix) problem. The reason that I wonder about this is that there is teflon tape on the the threads of that fitting . . . which is not the way to solve a leak with this type of connection. Inside that black plastic part is a "cone washer" that seals against the end of the brass part with the thread tape on it. These cone washers are difficult to source by themselves, but you can buy a similar fitting at any plumbing store and just use the new cone washer on your existing fitting. In the attached picture the internal fitting is brass and the collar is white, but the black rubber cone washer will also fit your existing fitting.

Rob

It's such a small leak and infrequent, but I believe it's coming from just under the black collar itself. It leaked before I added the teflon tape also. I just added the tape to see if it would do anything. In the picture you have attached in your reply could I just use that type of fitting since it comes with a new cone washer and barbed fitting anyways? Basically get rid of the crimp ring and use this fitting with a hose clamp to replace what is one there now. I see it has a barbed fitting and should work on the soft hose like the original directions in the post.


On a side note, do you see my reply whether I reply with quote or I would use @Cate&Rob like you did to me? Is there a difference?
Thanks!

[Biery-Bullock]

Chiming in here... I used the same brass fitting and increased the diameter with heat-shrinkable tubing for a tighter fit in the soft hose. My attempt at using an ordinary (screw-tightened) hose clamp failed, however, so I invested in a Pex crimping tool that came with a supply of Pex fittings (available on eBay for ~$25). Good luck.

[Cate&Rob]

@chrisopy,

The brass fitting in the picture is a Pex fitting. The “barbs” that you see are sized for Pex tubing and are too small for the soft hose . . . which is the problem in the first place. If the leak is coming from under the black plastic fitting, replace just the rubber cone washer and you will likely solve the problem.

As to how to communicate through this forum . . . I used to be a lot more involved than I am now. I used to receive email notification of questions, but this seems to have gone away. Send me a PM (private message) if I don’t see your questions.

Rob

[chrisopy]

Chiming in here... I used the same brass fitting and increased the diameter with heat-shrinkable tubing for a tighter fit in the soft hose. My attempt at using an ordinary (screw-tightened) hose clamp failed, however, so I invested in a Pex crimping tool that came with a supply of Pex fittings (available on eBay for ~$25). Good luck.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[ThePowells]

@chrisopy , Something that you can try is using a Pex connector, hook a Pex line to the soft line and then with some help try feeding it through and see if you can replace it that way. If it isn't making any hard turns, then you just might slay the dragon that way.