Water Leak Coming UP

Retiredx2 · 01-28-2015, 09:01 AM

Good morning everyone - we have a problem and need some help or ideas please. We have a 2014 Itasca Meridian 40 U that has been plagued with problems since day 1 - this newest one is a water leak coming up from the carpet-- if you are standing inside our coach looking at the residential refrigerator, which is on the drivers side slide, on the carpet about 8 inches to the right (towards the drivers seat) we have an area that is soaking wet, about the size of a baseball. (it is dry all around this round spot) There is water under the edge of the carpet to the refrigerator, but not all the way in front of the fridge and no water on the carpet edge going the other way. We have turned off the ice maker, the water to the coach and it is still staying wet. There is no water under the sink, under the bay and no other wet spots. Any ideas? I am one month out of my one year warranty and i hate to take it back to CW as they have had it 1/3 of the first year anyway and they have to keep it for 3 weeks to work on anything. Just massively frustrated right now. I have called a mobile tech - and his response was I'll come out but if it is the fridge i don't work on residential refrigerators.

Luckiest Dreamer · 01-28-2015, 09:11 AM

Look for the drain for the condenser in the refrig to be plugged. Open the freezer drawer at the bottom and see if it has standing water under the bins. Also check for leaking ice maker or water dispenser. There should be small door right behind the frig outside allowing for viewing and winterizing that may help locate a problem.

Luckiest Dreamer · 01-28-2015, 09:13 AM

Also, turn the water to the frig off and see if that helps isolate.

mel s · 01-28-2015, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Retiredx2

Good morning everyone - we have a problem and need some help or ideas please. We have a 2014 Itasca Meridian 40 U that has been plagued with problems since day 1 - this newest one is a water leak coming up from the carpet-- if you are standing inside our coach looking at the residential refrigerator, which is on the drivers side slide, on the carpet about 8 inches to the right (towards the drivers seat) we have an area that is soaking wet, about the size of a baseball. (it is dry all around this round spot) There is water under the edge of the carpet to the refrigerator, but not all the way in front of the fridge and no water on the carpet edge going the other way. We have turned off the ice maker, the water to the coach and it is still staying wet. There is no water under the sink, under the bay and no other wet spots. Any ideas? I am one month out of my one year warranty and i hate to take it back to CW as they have had it 1/3 of the first year anyway and they have to keep it for 3 weeks to work on anything. Just massively frustrated right now. I have called a mobile tech - and his response was I'll come out but if it is the fridge i don't work on residential refrigerators.

Retiredx2
Sounds to me like you have a leak somewhere in the water supply to the ice maker in the refrigerator....(loose fitting, cracked tubing, bad solenoid valve).
If you can't fix it yourself any mobile tech worth his salt will find it and fix it.
Mel
'96 Safari

jerichorick · 01-30-2015, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Retiredx2

Good morning everyone - we have a problem and need some help or ideas please. We have a 2014 Itasca Meridian 40 U that has been plagued with problems since day 1 - this newest one is a water leak coming up from the carpet-- if you are standing inside our coach looking at the residential refrigerator, which is on the drivers side slide, on the carpet about 8 inches to the right (towards the drivers seat) we have an area that is soaking wet, about the size of a baseball. (it is dry all around this round spot) There is water under the edge of the carpet to the refrigerator, but not all the way in front of the fridge and no water on the carpet edge going the other way. We have turned off the ice maker, the water to the coach and it is still staying wet. There is no water under the sink, under the bay and no other wet spots. Any ideas? I am one month out of my one year warranty and i hate to take it back to CW as they have had it 1/3 of the first year anyway and they have to keep it for 3 weeks to work on anything. Just massively frustrated right now. I have called a mobile tech - and his response was I'll come out but if it is the fridge i don't work on residential refrigerators.

By chance do you have frost building up in the freezer drawer? You do have the residential refrigerator? If so, open the drawer and look for ice on the bottom deck. If ice is there you have a plugged drain. Before I go into detail I'll wait for your next post.

Rick Y

John Hilley · 01-30-2015, 10:46 AM

I would document all the time it spent in warranty repair and send it to Winnebago requesting a Good Will Extension of the warranty.

bdpreece · 01-30-2015, 12:19 PM

Had a similar hard to find leak and spent over a month chasing it down. Like you said we turned off the water to the ice maker but the leak still was there. What I found was the inline shut off valve for the ice maker had a crimped on hose clamp that allowed a drop of water to escape about once a minute. the water would then run down the outside of the hose and under the frig. I cut off the crimp connector and installed a standard screw type metal hose clamp. Problem resolved

Journey39n · 02-02-2015, 03:09 AM

I believe your model has the residential refrigerator. I believe these units have a shallow pan for condenser water to collect. If it is too full, or near full and you drive the rv, water can slosh out and onto the floor, seeping to anywhere.

If this is the case, there should be a drain hole and hose that is probably plugged, letting the water build up.

Retiredx2 · 02-03-2015, 09:10 AM

Thanks for the many replies - by process of elimination we THINK it is the water line for the ice machine - but due to the way it is installed - we can't get to the drip pan or move the refrigerator - so we had to take it to the shop once again - now we are at a private owned rv repair business with numerous certificates of master mechanics and technicians - we were told there has been over 40 complaints in the same area with this fridge. You can't get to the drip pan without removing the fridge from its built in case (which includes undoing bolts on the back side) and we aren't able to move it. We did call a repair person out - but he too said he couldn't move the fridge but he did help to narrow down the leak area and did not charge us for the call. So I will let you know what we find out. Thanks again.

wa8yxm · 02-03-2015, 02:46 PM

Recommendation... If it is possible to do so have them extend the drip line to ... the ground. (outside the motor home)

This is one of the advanced features on my Dometic RV type fridge, it drips, drips, drips, on the ground outside the RV.

KD4XR · 02-07-2015, 07:12 AM

Is you ice maker making ice? Winterizing procedures for my coach includes disconnecting the water supply line to prevent antifreeze from getting into the ice maker. So, check you winterizing procedures in the manual to determine where the ice maker water line might be disconnected. I forgot to reconnect that line and had water collecting in the same area that you described.

D Lindy · 02-07-2015, 08:07 AM

Have you inspected the ice maker water feet line connections inside the compartment behind the fridge that you access thru the small 12"x12" door on the outside of the slide right behind the fridge. The water line connection fittings are just push in to lock type fittings and one of them might not be fully locked/sealed allowing the drip.

Retiredx2 · 03-07-2015, 09:40 AM

We found the issue - with this being a residential refrigerator - we didn't realize that we had a cold water dispenser inside the door. We had just started using this for ice cold water. Long and short is this water line was clogged with CONSTRUCTION DEBRI - we had to take it to a shop for repair. It took them a couple of days to find it -but it works great now. We are in a discussion with the repair shop because the refrigerator repair tech says there is a recall on this particular part also, fridge company says no there is not, Winnebago is REFUSING to pay on this as we were two months out of first year warranty - never mind that we had never used it and it was full of construction debri which caused the leak. The extended warranty paid $100 (finally after the repair shop spent a good deal of time explaining the issue) and with the $100 deductible we paid almost $500 for this repair. AS a side note - with a residential refrigerator - it takes 2 people to move it out and back in when it is in the cabinet like ours - not something just one person can do. Repair shops have a minimum they charge- so we paid. Not happy at all, especially with all the OTHER issues we have had with this rv, but it is fixed. So - moral of the story - if you have a residential fridge - try the cold water dispenser several times before your warranty runs out!

jerichorick · 03-08-2015, 09:54 AM

I truly believe that a large majority of the coaches produced by Winnebago come off the line in reasonably good working order. A bit of refining is not unusual because of the complexity of the finished produce and the components involved. With that said, I still feel very strongly about the poor pre-delivery service most dealer charge for and fail to do in a full and detailed manner. Every appliance should be check for full functioning before the buyer sees the rig. The jacks and slides should be operated several times during the dealers service, electrical system, etc. And, the condition of the eye appeal products should be examined. This last one is a no brainer. Looking is not hard work. Observing what they see seems to be difficult.

Your leak is fixed. I feel bad that you went through what you did for a $2 (at most) line with junk in it. If the service shop says there is a recall try to get a copy of it. You may have a Small Claims Court case with that evidence.

As far as removing the refrigerator is concerned, the front wheels are removed and replaced with feet that can be secured. I am certain a little ingenuity would allow one person to move it out.

With all the problems you have had set aside, do you like the coach?

Happy trails,

Rick Y

D Lindy · 03-08-2015, 06:31 PM

Why is it that when a component supplied by an outside MFR. fails everyone seems to blame the RM MFR???? We had a failure of our Maytag in our unit BUT IT WAS NOT WINNEBAGO's fault that someone on the assembly line at Maytag in Mexico screwed up and got the defrost heat tube too close to the cooling coils.

jerichorick · 03-09-2015, 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by D Lindy

Why is it that when a component supplied by an outside MFR. fails everyone seems to blame the RM MFR???? We had a failure of our Maytag in our unit BUT IT WAS NOT WINNEBAGO's fault that someone on the assembly line at Maytag in Mexico screwed up and got the defrost heat tube too close to the cooling coils.

Not certain where you are coming from on this one. What is a "RM MFR"? Besides, I am NOT "everyone". My blame for most of the problems with new deliveries goes smack dab into the lap of the dealer. Poor dealer prep/pre-delivery service performance is the major issue. None of the RV manufactures can control what the venders send them. If a brand repeats to be bad from the get-go the manufacturer has the obligation to resolve the larger issue; get a new vender. But, shame on the dealer that allows the customer to discover that there is a component that is not working on the day of delivery after he is on the road. This is the greater issue across the industry because the dealers are the common factor/point of contact.

All my opinion.

Rick Y

D Lindy · 03-09-2015, 02:21 PM

RM was suppose to be RV, typo. Was sort of just venting. I read post after post about someone who's totally upset with the RV MFR. when it's Camping World, a component from Suburban, Atwood, Maytag, Power Gear, etc. that they are actually having the issues with. It's like saying Chevy makes a crap car because you got a flat tire.

Retiredx2 · 03-09-2015, 09:23 PM

Ricky- thank you for your post and comments- I agree with your statements about the poor quality of the pre-delivery by dealers- This rv has spent approximately 180 days of its first year in the repair shop.

You ask me if I like it - well - we do like it but it is hard saying that and setting all the issues aside because the issues do steal the joy of having the rv when you can't use it.
Thanks for your response.