Water in the belly of our mobile home

[mist1953]

I feel like a broken record as I tell everyone I talk to hoping I hear good news instead of what it could possibly be. We purchased a used 1999 16X80 Chandeleur, we are the third owner. We just recently had it moved (three weeks ago). The septic is installed and hooked up, the air conditions is in working order. the propane has been ran and working and the water line are in place. We've used the water and did not see any leakage till last weekend when my husband turned on the air conditioner and noticed very little water coming out of the drain tube. He decided to crawl under the house to see if he could see anything and found a very large bulging spot dripping with cold water. He straightened out the air conditioner hose and the water ran freely but he noticed we had four more bulging wet spots, around the area of the two bathrooms and kitchen. Our plumber thinks we my have broken waterlines. I did not want to hear that. The people we purchased the home from did not live in the home since last year, he thinks they did not winterize the home properly and since they turned the water off we were unaware when we looked at the home. Okay I'm now off my soap box any other suggestions??

[masswood]

Hello, Sorry about your problem. You probably will have to cut the belly open to get a good look and see where the leak is. good spot to start is where the belly is sagging. I don't think its to difficult of of job if you can handle crawling under the home. maybe others will chime in and give some suggestions. Good luck

Joe

[Yanita]

Hi,

It is going to be a little more than just replacing the water lines.

First you need to get under the home and make a X in the center of the sags, lowest point to allow the water to drain.

As said in a previous post we do not at this time know what you have for current plumbing. If you have galvanized, copper, or PVC it is best to completely remove the pipes. Although any of these can be fixed by cutting out the damaged area and replacing with new. I do not recommend that, but it is an option.

When folks replace the plumbing in their homes we typically go with pex, a beginner can do this, just follow your old lines. If you use pex will need a set of crimper's and a go/no go gauge.

I strongly urge you to get your belly material opened up, remove all wet and damaged insulation and remove some skirting to get good air flow under the home. Wet, stagnant insulation can ruin your floors, and cause mold and mildew issues.

You need to see what is going on under there, the water might not just be dripping down, it could be spraying/splashing upwards and this will ruin your floors real quickly. Could also cause problems for your ductwork.

Our homes are designed where the water lines and ducts are between the floor joist, cover with insulation and then the belly material to hold everything in place.

I recommend the purchase of the Repair Manuel that can be found in the BOOKS/PARTS link in the blue task bar at the top of the page. This can be ordered online or call the toll free number.

There are lots of threads about this topic, check them out. We will certainly be here to help in anyway we can.

~Yanita~

[Maureen]

I'm so sorry to hear about your troubles!

Take Yanita's advice in draining the belly of water.

Here's where Yanita and I disagree a bit. If you run Pex, all you need to do is run it next to the old pipes. There is no need to rip out all of the old plumbing. This advice, comes from Mark. You'll have to cut out and cap each area of delivery to the home. That's still much easier tearing out all the pipe.

Once the plumbing is in and all fixed, you will need to replace the insulation and belly wrap.

If it hasn't been suggested before, you might want to invest in Mark's repair manful. It's invaluble to home owners! Even if you're not into DIY stuff, it will guide you to the correct repairs for our homes.

Maureen

[altasnowman]

sorry to here your bad luck. best to open up belly bag and remove wet insulation so as to stop deterioration of wood. have to agree with both previous posts as to replacement of piping however, if you leave old pipes in place and you have replace piping yourself mark old pipes as N/A because if you have to get plummer in they wont know which pipe is good.

[mist1953]

Thank you all for the advise. We've contacted our plumber and he is supposed to take a look to see if he can find the problem whether it be the water lines or the drain lines. I'm praying its something very minor and can be fixed very easily. I'll let you know what he says.

[Mark]

If the waterlines are the issue, most of the time its just one bad fitting. If that's the case, you should be able to hear it running or spraying. Get the house quiet and put your ear to the floor.

Other things to look for is a cracked drain line or trap. Since you just moved the home, that's always a possibility.

And don't rule out the fact that the problem wasn't caused by the a/c drain. When an a/c is running in hot humid weather, it can create a lot of water. A rusted or cracked drain pan underneath the a-coil is a possibility too.

Mark