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replace all water lines?

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 3:30 pm
by mud2005
Hello all, I own a 1972 Redman Flamingo 14 x 68 mobile home.
All the water lines in this house are steel and the kitchen sink cold water only gets a trickle of water. I climbed under the house today and couldn't see the water lines because they are covered by insulation.
My question is: how possible is it to replace all the water lines? would I have to do it from below and remove the insulation or from above and cut through the floor?
would love to hear from someone who has tackled this job or has experience with plumbing in mobile homes.
I'm not sure where to even start as it seems like a huge job and this house needs so much other work I often think I should replace the whole house...

Re: replace all water lines?

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 5:38 pm
by Greg
There is no Quick & easy way to do it. At the very least you need to open up the belly to gain access to the lines. Depending on what other work you are planning you may want to incorporate the work into other jobs.

Replace the whole home? that would be your call, but there are a few things to factor in.

What is the overall condition? Is it structurally sound? If so it is a good candidate for a rehab.

What is YOUR time frame? If you want a quick job, I would look for another home. When I rehab-ed our daughter's I spent about 6 months on it.

Budget, Are you planning on doing the work your self? If you are going to contract the work out, I would doubt it would be worth the cost.

Greg

Re: replace all water lines?

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 6:56 pm
by bobfather99
Replacing the water lines can be done, but its time consuming. Consider using PEX tubing for the lines.

If your time and budget allow, Gregs idea would work great for you. Cut the belly material as necessary to replace the water lines. Check for any water leaks afterwards, replace insulation if its wet or moldy, and tape up the belly tight when finished. Any holes or gaps is an invitation for animals to enter.

Re: replace all water lines?

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 9:27 am
by Steve-WA
Bah – easy peasy. My next plumbing replacement will be using a pex manifold. Fewer fittings, less crimps, less loss of pressure. Google it

Go up through belly by strategically placed slits, and then belly repair with spray glue. Maybe even add some insulation along the way. Run the tubing along the heating ducts for osmosic (my word),freeze protection.

Re: replace all water lines?

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 12:35 pm
by Spydrweb1977
Totally agree with Steve, easy peasy...

I just did mine at the end of this past summer... single wide 14 x70 Poloron. Had PB in there and stuff was starting to fail left and right, so I made the exec decision to replace it all. I posted some of the work I did on the forum here.

All in all, it took me a day to complete, had a helper to help snake a couple of the long runs, but other than that, did it all myself.

I went with a manifold set up using pex. I know they are controversial, but I used all sharkbites with mine, and no leaks yet :) I went sharkbite for ease of installation, and the fact that the cost is about the same when you factor in the tools needed for the crimp or clamp fittings. Also, all the connections are now in exposed accessable areas due to the manifold, so if a leak does develop in a fitting, it will be easy to inspect and repair.

I used pexsupply.com for my stuff.. great service and good prices.. for the underbelly, i made some cuts where needed, and then used the underbelly repair tape to seal it all back up.. its avaialble on this sites store.

good luck, and message me if you have any questions on it... i think my post is titled goodby pb hello pex or something if you want to search it.

Mike

Re: replace all water lines?

Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 12:25 am
by Djstorman

Re: replace all water lines?

Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 1:18 am
by 1987Commodore
Don't overlook the possibility that the problem is in the faucet itself, especially if all other fixtures have good flow.
If you do decide to replace everything, working with PEX is super easy. I am considering total replacement soon, as I have the PB pipe now, with a few sections patched with PEX.

Re: replace all water lines?

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2013 8:13 pm
by AndrewY
Steve and Mike, where did you guys install the PEX manifold? I recently had some broken pipes in my DW, and was thinking of doing a PEX refit. The HWH is in the closet of one of the bedrooms, which is about as far away from 80% of the water fitting (kitchen, MBR, laundry) as could be, and on the opposite end of the DW from where the water feed it. Some posts suggested building a false wall, seems like a good idea to me, though maybe I'd build it in the laundry area, which is right off the kitchen.

Re: replace all water lines?

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2013 9:09 am
by Steve-WA
Haven't yet, but if hwt closet isn't big enough (rarely are) probably build out a spot in the laundry

Re: replace all water lines?

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2013 9:23 am
by Spydrweb1977
I put mine in a closet just next to the hwt closet... it's really the same closet lol...

I built out a false wall on the back of the closet because the manifolds are designed to be recessed between normally spaced (16" on center) 2x4 studs... my interior walls are 2x3 so it would not recess properly. You can surface mount them, but I wanted the recessed look, so I built out a false 2x4 wall in front of the existing closet wall and recessed the manifold there. This made it a bit easier to route the lines down through the floor to as well because the old wall sat on top of a floor joist, the false wall enabled me to drill straight down thought the floor in to the underbelly.

Hope that helps,
Mike

Re: replace all water lines?

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2013 1:54 pm
by Steve-WA
Yeah, like that

Re: replace all water lines?

Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2013 1:06 pm
by mdnagel
I've got a project all mapped out for completely replacing all my existing plumbing (PVC in a double-wide) with PEX. Unlike most folks, however, I plan on using PEX-A ("Uponor" - original manufacturer of PEX). PEX-B, which uses crimp rings, is what you find in all the big box stores. PEX-A is, IMO, a bit better- I HATE PLUMBING, so for me it's worth the extra expense to have a bit more quality. PEX-A tubing is a bit more resilient (to freezing), and it doesn't require clamps to secure it (doesn't, however require a special tool [can rent it; I'd planned on renting the power version and then purchasing a manual one for any needed repairs or additional work]).

My project budget, though not including repairs to the belly wrap (it's pretty messed up to start with- I have this as a separately budgeted project), is about $800.

A note on manifolds... I was figuring on installing them inside my HWH closet (HWH is now converted over to electric), and not recessed in between any studs: I would have ZERO connections below the floor, other than to a couple of outside faucets. Manifolds give you a lot of flexibility in design. Planning is KEY.

Re: replace all water lines?

Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2013 3:10 pm
by Steve-WA
Where will you run your water lines if not below the floor

Re: replace all water lines?

Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2013 10:34 pm
by 1987Commodore
He's saying no connections below the floor. He'll be using rolls of PEX, allowing an unbroken line from the manifold to each fixture.