Leaking (damaged?) low point drains

[RipVan]

Experienced a relatively serious (caught it in timely fashion) with all of the OEM low point drains for both the hot and cold water lines and the one near the pump on my ‘07 x210 FF.
Sadly, it was the first time out for the year (life keeps happening and prevents doing fun stuff ). Arrived at my campground and filled my 25 gallon reservoir then moved to my electric only site. Once set up proceeded to charge the lines and fill the water heater tank with the pump. The process seemed to be taking longer than usual so I did a quick exterior check and saw water coming out of the low point outlets. Back inside checked to see if all of the plungers on the drains were closed and quickly saw that the two on the lines running in the compartment below the fridge were leaking (significantly) into the compartment. I manipulated the plungers up and back down several times but the leak persisted. Turned the pump off and the leak slowly subsided and eventually stopped. It’s had to get a good view of the valve for closer inspection but I’m guessing that the O-rings have failed or perhaps the valves are cracked . It doesn’t look like they can be disassembled to replace the O-rings but I’m unsure. They are in a VERY inconvenient location for any type of work. Any suggestions? I’m thinking that I could replace them with a “T- piece” and put a removable cap on the stub coming out underneath the camper .

 

[RipVan]

Well, I was hoping for some level of input, specifically a “hack” that others have used to revitalize leaky low point drains. I guess that was a bridge too far. Back in the day (when this forum had members that, even if they didn’t have a specific answer, would at least make a comment. Those days seem to be gone.
In the absence of a much desired “hack” (or even a moral support comment), I decided to “re-engineer” my OEM low point drains by replacing the faulty valve with a “T” connector with a removable cap on the short segment leading out beneath the camper. My neighbor said that many of the newer models employ a similar method. My costs for parts has been less than $40 plus I’ll still have a few left over parts for any future plumbing woes. I’m sure that having the work done at my local camper sales and service center would have been much, much more!
I may do a “destructive post mortem” on one of the faulty valves to see what the issue was but that’s a pretty low priority.

 

[LexGTS265ds]

I don't know why I didn't see your post until today since I check the site every day. Though I don't think I could have helped regarding your situation. My low point drains have caps on the ends outside the trailer. Haven't had any leaks. I noticed you had 53 views with no replies- typical for this website.

 

[RipVan]

At the very least, thank you for the reply . I’m finishing up my “conversion” to the more modern standard today! The hardest part is working in the tight spaces where the low point drains are located. The drain under the bed was a real struggle for the final crimps . The arms on my pex crimp clamper have to be opened very wide to fit over the nub on the crimp ring. I’m going to do all but the last two crimps per line on my workbench. I’ll only have to struggle four times .

 

[cschlab]

At the very least, thank you for the reply . I’m finishing up my “conversion” to the more modern standard today! The hardest part is working in the tight spaces where the low point drains are located. The drain under the bed was a real struggle for the final crimps . The arms on my pex crimp clamper have to be opened very wide to fit over the nub on the crimp ring. I’m going to do all but the last two crimps per line on my workbench. I’ll only have to struggle four times .

I also have a 2010 x-210. Let us know how this turned out. I may have to crawl under my trailer and check my Valves out. Not exactly sure where they are. I’m pretty new to RV’ing.

Good luck with your fix.

 

[RipVan]

My repair project has been completed! When I did a leak test I found that one of the crimp rings hadn’t been squeezed tight enough and was leaking. Unfortunately, it was at one of the connections near the pump in the compartment under the foot of the bed. Prolly one of the least convenient to get to but I was able to do so. Outside, all three of the low point caps were leaking but that was on me for not using pipe tread sealant . Once that was done everything was fine .
RE: “crawling under the trailer” to check the valves, if the ‘10 x210 had the same system as the ‘07 x210, that won’t be necessary as they are located inside the trailer. One is in the front left corner of the under bed compartment and the other two are in the compartment under the refrigerator. Neither location is particularly easy to access. To check for leaks, you will need to have water in the onboard reservoir and have the pump turned on or be hooked to “city water”. If the valves are tight, there will not be any noticeable water coming out of the top of the valve nor any dripping from the drain tubes underneath the trailer.
If the ‘10 x210 model has the more modern system, crawling or at least reaching under the trailer will be necessary to open the drains. I hope that helps .

 

[sherrb1158]

Dear RipVan,

For what it's worth, I just received the FunFinder.com site email linking to your message today, Sun. 8/24/2025 @ 11:30 a.m./CST, and just read it. My email provider is normally very fast, so I can't imagine what the cause of the delay was for some of us to receive notification of your post, but I know how important it is to get help, or at least a "sounding board", when these kind of issues happen. I try to help when I can ... but you folks have been a lot more helpful to me than I've been able to reciprocate! That said, I'm glad that you seem to have found a good solution, thanks for sharing it here, and I wish you the best!

 

[RipVan]

Now that the camping season is all but over (for me at least), I thought I’d make an additional comment RE: my issue with the OEM low point drains. My repairs are for the most part, permanent and hopefully will no longer cause issues BUT curiosity drove me to look into the problem with the OEM low point drains. I cut away the remaining segments of PEX tubing. Closer inspection didn’t reveal any noticeable cracks or damage to the outside of the drains. I removed the “pull rings” and found that the plunger could be pushed completely out of the drain housing. The plunger had two O-rings that provided the “seals” when the drain was in either the open or closed position. The O-rings weren’t damaged but looked “dry”. I clean them off and cleaned off the seats inside the housing. I applied some faucet grease to the O-rings and reassembled the drain. That seems to have remedied the issue but further testing under full water pressure may be necessary to confirm. I’m thinking that during Winter storage the O-rings either “dried out” and/or had a bit of calcification form within the valve preventing and effective seal. I suppose that it would have been possible to merely remove the short segment of PEX tubing directing water out of the bottom of the drain, push the plunger out, clean (or replace) the O-rings and seats, apply faucet grease and reassemble. Too late for that approach but someone else may benefit. If anyone was truly interested, I could attach a few pics. LMK