Leaks at Vinyl Hose on PEX fitting

BadMed · 03-30-2021, 02:24 PM

I have a 2020 Winnebago View. Recently I noticed water dripping from below the wet bay. I removed the access cover under the wet bay to try to find the source of the leak. I found a slow drip coming from where a 1/2" I.D. vinyl reinforced hose is attached to PEX fittings using a PEX cinch clamp (a.k.a. stepless ear crimp clamp). To my surprise I was able to easily turn the hose on the fitting. There are at least 3 other places where a vinyl hose is attached to a PEX fitting using a PEX cinch clamp. I was able to turn those vinyl hoses too, and when I did they started leaking as well!

I called Winnebago to ask if this is a known problem. Brian said he had heard of this type of connection leaking, but only after it had froze. He said that, according to the parts diagrams, this is how these connections are supposed to be. Mine has never froze, so I don't know why they would be loose and leaking. Typically a vinyl hose fitting is a barbed fitting, which is very different from a PEX fitting. Can a vinyl hose be used with a PEX fitting and a stepless ear crimp clamp?

Has anyone else had this problem? Can I fix the leaks just by retightening the clamps? Is there a "PEX to vinyl hose (barbed)" fitting?

Morich · 03-30-2021, 03:04 PM

I have seen several complaints of this change in plumbing and it seems to be a problem with the new RV. One fairly recent complaint on this forum but I do not know where!

Wyatt · 03-30-2021, 03:56 PM

I had the main line blow off when the water pressure was a tad too high. I don’t think is was ever installed completely over the barbed fitting before they crimped it.

Each time I work on a line, I replace it with a worm gear type.

BadMed · 03-30-2021, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morich

I have seen several complaints of this change in plumbing and it seems to be a problem with the new RV. One fairly recent complaint on this forum but I do not know where!

I think I found the post your are referring to, several people with the same issue, especially on 2020 Views and newer. I am going to post there.

https://www.winnieowners.com/forums/...-359882-1.html

NYer · 03-30-2021, 09:33 PM

During our last trip, I noticed water leaking out of our slide. I finally traced it back to the hot water line where it attaches to the kitchen sink. It uses this same white, vinyl tubing. I have a mobile service guy coming out next week to repair this and now, knowing that this is a common issue, will have him get to as many as he can find.

lenore · 03-31-2021, 09:33 AM

When I replaced the pex clamp on the rubber hose I also upgrade to Brass pex fitting.

NYer · 04-01-2021, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NYer

During our last trip, I noticed water leaking out of our slide. I finally traced it back to the hot water line where it attaches to the kitchen sink. It uses this same white, vinyl tubing. I have a mobile service guy coming out next week to repair this and now, knowing that this is a common issue, will have him get to as many as he can find.

I just looked under my bathroom sink and they used PEX all the way to the faucet. Odd they do it one way for the kitchen and one way for the bathroom.

T00lman · 04-04-2021, 04:20 PM

I had the exact same thing happen on our 2018 Winnebago 27PE when we were camping at Stone Mountain, GA a couple of weeks ago. It was cold but not freezing (35°F). I’m hoping it will now be re-sealed since we are back in Florida but I won’t know until the next trip. If it is still leaking, I intend to replace the PEX clamp with a fuel injector hose clamp.

BadMed · 04-23-2021, 07:46 AM

I had my leaks repaired, as well as prevented all future leaks, by having my RV Service guy replace ALL of the vinyl hose with PEX. He was able to do it without removing the shower. He had to remove the plate in the wet bay to access the majority of the "hose to PEX" connections. In some places it took some finesse and a lot of cussing to feed the PEX behind walls, but he got it done. Maybe a bit extreme, but now I can rest assured that I will not having anymore leaks from these substandard "hose on PEX fittings". Winnebago should be ashamed of this shoddy plumbing. Sadly, I think Winnebago is getting to big and just thinking of the bottom line. I'll think twice before I buy another Winnebago.

powercat_ras · 04-23-2021, 09:15 AM

The issue is that the vinyl reinforced hose that Winnebago uses so the water pump can vibrate on its rubber mount and that is supposed to reduce noise has a slightly larger inside diameter than PEX and the PEX compression clamp does not seal as well as it does on PEX. It seals well enough that they pass their leak test at the factory, but on my RV it already had a very slow leak even in the first year of ownership and use.

My fix was to also use good quality stainless steel hose clamps. To address the vinyl being bigger than the pex fitting, I pull the vinyl hose off and put about 4 wraps of electrical tape around the pex fitting before pushing the vinyl on and clamping. If you get it good and tight no more leak. I had to have the leverage of a 3/8" socket wrench to get the clamp tight enough to not leak in my case.

My Vista was built over 6 years ago and that vinyl tubing has really lost it's flex over that time so if your RV is older you may want to buy new tubing when you tackle this.