Mysterious water leak

[Debbie in Florida]

Hi. My Casita SD is less than 3 years old but has a mysterious water leak under the bench seat near the side of the trailer wall and agaist the wetbath. I had an RV guy look at it with me. We turned off the water, dried the space, put the water back on and no leak. For days its as dry as sand paper.

It has rained yesterday and today. So far no leaks. The water pressure is around 40. The place I am staying seems to have good pressure besides.

I let my grey water tank tell me when to empty the tanks and I am wondering if that is a mistake. Could the water build up internally be a problem?

When I found the leak I had a Good Sams campsite RV directory stored in that space and 3/4 of it absorbed the water. And there was water beneath the pex tubes. So it was significant.

Any ideas? Has anyone else had such a problem? Thanks in advance.

[Kevin A]

I’m sorry I can’t specifically answer your question and hope you find the leak source soon. You mention that you use your gray water level to determine when to empty the tanks. If that system is working for you, great. However, in our trailer, the gray water tank takes far longer to fill (51 gallons) than our black water tank (21 gallons). Your experience may be different, but we have to use the black tank level as our guide, instead.

[Larry Singer]

This may not help, but it reminded me of our current frustration.

We also have an (so far) unresolved water leak in our late 2016 Casita 17' SD. I've posted my whole experience thus far on this forum.

My first approach was to determine whether it was a plumbing leak, or a rain leak. I quickly determined it was obviously NOT a plumbing leak, but definitely a rain induced leak. ie it only leaked when it rained, and never when it didn't rain.

Symptoms: Water puddled at the rear towards the right side (passenger side) under the very rear transverse "kick" panel that I removed (2 screws) to expose the water. The amount of water after each rain was significant. It soaked up 3 bath towels. And our rain gage read as little as a half an inch each time. One would think it would be obvious to find the source.

"Luckily" it rained quite a bit late summer/early fall 2021.
We went, one by one, and isolated (covered up) each likely source, each time before it rained, thinking/hoping this must be it. Here's our odyssey: And I have pictures of all this.
-License plate-2 rivets, electrical wire
-Fresh water tank door on right side
-Rear window
-Belly band
-Spare tire mount
-Awning mount on roof
-All window weep slots
-Right rear tail lamp (2 lenses)
-Right rear marker light
-Refrigerator vents (2)
-Right rear window seal gap at bottom vertical (REALLY thought this was it)
-Rear awning strut holder
-Then we covered entire areas with a 12'x20' tarp
---entire roof
---entire rear

How is it possible to have such a large leak, and not be able to find the source ???
I called the Casita factory, and they said maybe it's a rivet somewhere. Can a rivet allow so much water ???

If anyone has any ideas or similar experiences, PLEASE let us know. PLEASE.

[dmad1]

I have a Liberty Deluxe 17' with the bench on the side with the small access doo to storage. I suspected the storage door gasket and removed the bench. Sprayed the door and water was coming in around the gasket. Taped up the gasket area around the door and no leaks. Kept an eye on it during rains. Seems a "normal" rain didn't leak but when it rained hard and against that side, it would run in around the gasket. It looks as if the door doesn't fit the opening correctly and water gets past the gasket. Have not replaced the gasket as yet but it can be purchased from Casita. My other leak was around the skylight.

[Larry Singer]

Thanks for reply Dick,

I'm assuming your "small access door" on the side is what I'm calling "fresh water tank door" on the right side.

And yes, this was one of the first areas I suspected. But as stated, I completely covered this up, and the leak was still very much present. I even put several paper towels just inside the door to see if they would get wet after a rain. They remained completely dry.

Will begin my leak detection quest in the spring. Casita is winter-prepped inside our barn for winter.

[dmad1]

Mime was very similar to yours in that it was running past the gasket, down the wall and past the water tank to the back wall and them behind the rear panel covering the lines. I first noticed it dripping under the trailer and found that it was dripping from where the table post is mounted into the floor. It was backing up under the flooring and into the post mount hole and then past the caulking an onto the ground.

[jon carpenter]

Debbie,
If you have an outside shower, you may want to check the faucet fittings or even the sealant around the outside cover. Another place to check would be where the city water hook-up comes thru the fiberglass.


Let us know what you figure out.

[Steve Hague]

I had a persistent leak under the rear benches of our Trillium. I finally found one of the holes by accident when the sun was shining on the back of the trailer and I opened the bench and saw a ray of light shining through the hole. I patched that one, then used a lamp on the other side at night to find the other hole. I my case, these were tail light mounting holes left when the previous owner replaced the light fixtures. Not sure if this would help in finding the source of your leak, but might be worth a try if it is a penetration of the shell.

[Jann Todd]

Originally Posted by Debbie in Florida

Hi. My Casita SD is less than 3 years old but has a mysterious water leak under the bench seat near the side of the trailer wall and agaist the wetbath. I had an RV guy look at it with me. We turned off the water, dried the space, put the water back on and no leak. For days its as dry as sand paper.

It has rained yesterday and today. So far no leaks. The water pressure is around 40. The place I am staying seems to have good pressure besides.

I let my grey water tank tell me when to empty the tanks and I am wondering if that is a mistake. Could the water build up internally be a problem?

When I found the leak I had a Good Sams campsite RV directory stored in that space and 3/4 of it absorbed the water. And there was water beneath the pex tubes. So it was significant.

Any ideas? Has anyone else had such a problem? Thanks in advance.

I hope you are using a water regulator in campgrounds. Campgrounds usually have much to high of water pressure for campers.

[GlassCastle]

I had a leak in my 1995 Casita, the strap holding the fresh water tank broke loose, which allowed the tank to move around and pulled the tank away from the outside faucet on passenger side. and allowed the water to leak, I had water under the rear bed/table. I removed the fiberglass shroud over the water tank and attached fresh wood and then attached the metal strap and re-attached the spigot.

[Cherie Tampa Bay]

I had a leak from the valve behind the toilet seat and the water collected behind the toilet and traveled from the back corner to the storage compartment that shares a wall in that corner. (I always have trailer slightly angled to allow AC drip to run off back corner) It happened overnight and I was fortunate to be at a rally with other Casita owners. One of them volunteered to check on it and was able to" tighten things up". No trouble since. I have gotten in the habit of turning water off overnight and when I plan on being away from camp for the day.

[computerspook]

One thought I have is water pressure. Campers are not designed for full city water pressure and that varies place to place. That is why they have those pressure reducer adapters. But they also do wear out and leak more pressure than they should.

One thing that can happen if you over pressurize the system is that the joints can start leaking but then stop if the pressure is reduced.

[Shannon Thompson]

I have a 2002 Scamp 13 and had a similar, mysterious leak in the same area. It only happened when it rained, but not always when it rained. After doing a ton of sleuthing and calling Scamp and water testing, it turned out to be water coming in from the running lights on that side of the trailer. They had been installed with no waterproofing from factory and in a fairly heavy rain storm, water would penetrate. I went around and fixed all the running lights and have been dry since. The others weren't leaking, but it was just a matter of time, based on how they'd been installed.

[computerspook]

Originally Posted by Shannon Thompson

I have a 2002 Scamp 13 and had a similar, mysterious leak in the same area. It only happened when it rained, but not always when it rained. After doing a ton of sleuthing and calling Scamp and water testing, it turned out to be water coming in from the running lights on that side of the trailer. They had been installed with no waterproofing from factory and in a fairly heavy rain storm, water would penetrate. I went around and fixed all the running lights and have been dry since. The others weren't leaking, but it was just a matter of time, based on how they'd been installed.

Yeah I noticed that when I installed my new LED based ones on my 16 foot scamp.

I have had to use a pressure washer on low a few times to find leaks too.

[Sal c.]

Originally Posted by computerspook

Yeah I noticed that when I installed my new LED based ones on my 16 foot scamp.

I have had to use a pressure washer on low a few times to find leaks too.

Those difficult to find water leaks are the result of the pressure that builds in the water heater when the heater is on. It is not uncommon to find those leaks at faucet connections and water heater connections. Turn on the water heater and simply watch the connection and suspecting area. Within 10 minutes the leak will typically show up. This is the same reason that the hot water faucets have excessive pressure when opened after the water heater has been on.

[sunnyone]

Originally Posted by Shannon Thompson

I went around and fixed all the running lights and have been dry since.

How did you fix them?

[Sal c.]

Originally Posted by sunnyone

How did you fix them?

The first leak while the water heater was running was dripping above the furnace from the hot water faucet connection on the sink. This is on a Liberty with the sink over the furnace. I got in there with channel locks and tighten the fitting a slight amount. The next leak was under the bed at behind the water heater. It only leaked while the water heater was on so, I turned on the heater and layed on the floor watching all those fittings and within 10 mins it began to drip out of another hot water fitting. Once again I simply snugged up the the fitting/connector. With these types of leaks there will never be a sound coming from the water pump indicating a leak in which the pump looses pressure and cycles. On the contrary. These are high pressure leaks on the hot side of the water system that can be baffling to locate. The one on the furnace was easy since I could hear the drip falling on the tin cover of the furnace when the water heater was on.

[robswarts]

While not a rain leak my mystery leak showed up near the Casita bathroom door under my swivel seats. Found it was the city water inlet which required some surgery on the fiberglass chase that ran inside along the wall but has since been solved and I created an access hatch in the chase for the future. Biggest lesson was that I had to have the OEM part to make it fit; tried an aftermarket inlet but it didn't fit.

[Mkevin036]

Did you find your leak?

[Shannon Thompson]

Originally Posted by sunnyone

How did you fix them?

I actually caulked around each of the lights from the outside. A choice I may regret later if I have to replace them in the future and have to peel/clean it off but no more puddles on the floors in rain or washing.

I was really surprised Scamp was so lax on that. My trailer had a bunch of little issues right out of the factory -- silly mistakes -- that all had to be fixed. To their credit, they admitted they'd had some staffing issues over the summer my trailer was built (2002) and paid for every fix. I appreciated that as a newbie of newbies and afraid of every little thing as I was learning to camp.