Loose Dometic refrigerator water drain tube on Bigfoot 08, 21RB

[GeorgeR]

I have 2008 25B21RB trailer. While cleaning external portion of the refrigerator I noted that white corrugated drain tube was looped upwards with its end not attached anywhere. When I lowered the end of the tube quite bit of water came out, it seems that the whole loop was filled with water. This is one more of my new trailer manufacturer slip-ups, unfortunately with no recourse. I searched this forum for this subject but was not successful.

My previous Bigfoot camper had the drain fitting installed in the external access door but this door has no hole. The end of the tube has similarly looking fitting installed at the end. Dometic’s instruction calls for drilling a hole to the bottom of the trailer for drain tube.

My preference is to drill the hole in the louvered cover and fit the tube through it. Any advice would be welcome.
George.

[pjanits]

My 86' Burro has a copper tube running thru the floor with the drain hose attached to it. It's toward the right hand side of the fridge.
I think the copper tube is siliconed in but I'm not sure. It could have a lip (washer) soldered to it

At any rate is doesn't move and drains very well.

[Steve Outlaw]

My preference is to drill the hole in the louvered cover and fit the tube through it. Any advice would be welcome.

George,

I would do what ever I was most comfortable with. You gotta drill a hole somewhere. The drain in our Oliver goes thru the double hull and out the bottom. It has silicone around the tube. My only reservation about running it out the side (thru the louver) would be the drip, drip down the side of the trailer. To me, the bottom would be a cleaner installation.

Steve

[David and Nancy]

I have had a 1997 and 2001 Bigfoot 21RB and both had the drain tube going to a hole drilled near the bottom of the louvered access door. The fitting fell off the tube and disappeared recently on my 01 and now I have it going through the louvers, secured with a twist tie. I may someday get a new fitting and re-attach it to the hole, but it is a very low priority compared to other projects. I have not had any staining issues with the water going down the side of the trailer. No way would I drill a hole in the hull and try to run a tube inside the wall to accommodate this minor little issue. It is nice that Oliver did this during initial construction, but it would be a real pain after the fact. George, you can easily drill a hole in the plastic door if you want to use the fitting you have.

[GeorgeR]

Thank you all for help.

At first I just left the tube inserted into the vent opening in the access door but my perfectionist’s attitude drove me to drill the hole in the access door and use Dometic’s fitting to terminate the drain tube.

While searching for the ways to install the drain pipe I found water underneath the fridge. I believe it came through the access door during the latest wash. In order to stop this leak I glued in 2 water dams built from 1/2” X 3/8” aluminum angle. On the outer dam I glued bottom door sweep gasket to increase its height. The first dam will prevent water getting in through the bottom of the access door and the second dam will contain the water preventing entry to the coach. Time will tell if I diagnosed the problem and the fix correctly. Another possible leak could be through the roof vent but this time I did not wash the roof.

George.