Condensation maybe?

[C.LeeNick]

Last night our temps dipped to 29 degrees. Not catastrophic cold, but enough that I turned the heat on in the Passport to it's lowest setting just to be sure. I also wanted to kind of "test" the new heated underbelly. We don't have any other below freezing temps in the forecast for a while, so I'm not doing a full winterization yet. We've got a few trips planned yet this year here in the southwest.

This morn, I noticed a water drip on the outside of the trailer at the back of the wheel-well. The water is on the inside of the thin black aluminum trim along the bottom of the wall, right behind the wheel. The water pump was off, so no pipes are pressurized. All the appliances are on the other side of the trailer. The only thing nearby is the little electric fridge in the outdoor kitchen. I pulled it out looking for condensation, but found none.

The outside of the wall is dry. The roof is dry. There's no water along the ridge where the awning is connected. Everything up top is dry. I checked the floor inside the trailer. No moisture. The dinette is inside opposite of where the water drip is. I pulled the seats and looked in the storage underneath. Dry.

The drip is clear water. No odor. It was 60 degrees during the day yesterday. We haven't had any rain for a few days, but it has been more humid than usual. The wall where the drip is doesn't see much sun, as it's the west side and is shaded by a tree and a carport in the afternoon.

On of my first thoughts was that maybe the dealership drove a screw through plumbing as they did with the electrical on the other side, but the "drip" is higher up, and more outboard, of where the underbelly was installed. What's more, there shouldn't be any plumbing there. The sink is on the opposite side, and the bathroom is at the back. Plus, the drip is level with the top of the frame rather than the bottom of the frame, where the underbelly coraplast is screwed to. Also, we had it at an RV park with city water for three days since the underbelly installation debacle, and there was no leaks.

Currently, I've put a little water in the fresh water tank and have turned on the pump to try to see if there is a leak. The system is holding pressure so far.

Is it possible for the inside of walls to gather enough condensation for water to collect and drip? I'm not finding any drip anywhere but that one spot.

Anything to be concerned with?

Thanks!

[ctbruce]

Cary just my opinion but it sounds like condensation to me. Maybe somebody else will chime in soon.

[bobbecky]

If you're very lucky, it will just be condensation. If it were me, I would be running the heat at more than just the minimum, because a little propane is much cheaper than having to repair a burst plumbing pipe or fitting in addition to all the other damage than can occur from a water leak. From how you described your rig, it sounds like it's fairly new, and from my experience with our rig, I had to open up areas to access plumbing in order to tighten many fittings that were barely hand tight.

[C.LeeNick]

Thanks for the replies!

Yes, the trailer is new. It's a 2019 that we purchased in July.

The minimum setting on the thermostat is 40, what would be a good temp? From experience with our old motorhome, I wasn't too concerned with anything freezing at or below 32 for a short time. Here in Northwest New Mexico, we have the widest temp swings from day to night of anyplace I've ever lived. A 30-40 degree swing from day to night is common, so everything warms up good during the day. But you are right, propane is cheap insurance!

Another thing I really like about the motorhome in comparison to the new trailer is that the plumbing all runs inside the coach, through the bottoms of cabinets, and even the fresh water tank is inside, under the dinette seats along the wall. So when the heat is on, everything stays thawed easily. I'm not familiar with how effective a "heated enclosed underbelly" is. That's a new thing to me.

As it turns out, I'm guessing at this point is was condensation. It dripped for a while, maybe one or two drips a minute, but then after a while it went away, and dried up. And that was with the water pump on and the system pressurized for hours. I even ran the water heater so see if the expansion of hot water would affect anything, but it still stayed dry. Strange!

I was mostly concerned because the drip was in such a unusual place, given there was no moisture on the walls either inside or out. I found no large area of wet surface anywhere to have caused that much water to collect. It almost would seem as if the moisture would have had to come from inside the wall panel itself. But given their construction, (I believe they are solid foam core?) I'm not even sure that is possible.

Only other thing I can thing of is that maybe there was condensation from the little bar fridge in the outdoor kitchen earlier, but by the time the water moved down to where it was dripping, it had already dried up around the fridge. Not sure though, since the fridge sits on a little pedestal covered in real thin carpet...seems I would have felt some moisture around there.

Sure is a mystery. And usually, I like mysteries...just not the water dripping kind. :)

[flybouy]

A picture of where this was dripping might help.

[theasphaltrv'er]

Hey Cary... see you joined in Sept. Welcome neighbor. We're here on the Northeast side of Farmington. I"ve noticed some condensation on our 5er (truck to) in the mornings now for the past couple of weeks & especially heavy the 3 or 4 mornings following the rain we got.

Milo