Christmas greetings from Hawthorne NV, the most patriotic city in the US!

Question: Below our refrigerator are two drawers. Beneath the drawer space is water piping with a turn off valve and a tag marked "cold drain". Anybody know what this might be and why it would be where it is?

Carl, at one time your coach might have had an ice maker in it and that is just a winter low point drain for the cold water in that area. sky

Any problem with just sealing it off since it leaks?

Carl, if it is marked as cold low water drain I dont't think I would just seal it off, if it is a cold water drain it could freeze on you during winter. sky

At the risk of belaboring the obvious, have you traced the route of that drain pipe to see where it originates? Once you know that, you might have a clue as to whether you should seal it off or not.

If you seal it whatcha gonna do if the water that leaks from it pools up somewhere you can't find it & floods your living room, or rots your floor out?

This is Betsy, not Carl. He'll sign on later but he's working on the engine at the moment and I'm "researching".

We haven't traced the pipe back as yet but will do that. The outside fresh water feed has been turned off so the leak has slowed. I'm mostly trying to figure out where the water comes from and if there is a turn off valve to stop the leak temporarily. Next step is dig out the schematics and see what is where and maybe even why.

I was hoping we could just seal the pipe at the leak with something super that seals water leaks not sealing entire thing. Should've made myself clearer. Still hoping that some kind of leak stopping gook might work.

We had 6-7 degree temps the other night and strangely enough that's when the leak started.

Thank you all for your help. Carl or I will let you know how we solve the mystery.

Sounds like something froze up with those low temperatures. Look for a plastic elbow, or union that has been pushed apart by freezing.

The first time I connected mine to water, I had the sound of running water but nothing coming from the faucets. Soon I had water running onto the ground outside, but nowhere visible inside. Some sleuthing disclosed that the elbows in the polybutylene (gray plastic) pipe that led both hot & cold water up to the kitchen faucet, had separated.

Apparently the coach had not been properly winterized. Stored on a slight slope, those elbows became at the lowest point in the system, collected the residual water, & froze themselves apart.

I found out how well Barths are constructed. The pipes ran under the bottom of the sink cabinet, in the farthest rear corner, covered by a 5/8" plywood deck glued & screwed to the cabinet sub frame.

I borrowed a battery powered miniature Skil saw, & reaching back as far as I could, managed to cut an irregular hole in the plywood deck that gave me enough room to access the elbows. I replaced them with with barbed hardware store elbows with threaded caps. The originals were also barbed, but clamped with aluminum rings, not threaded caps. You probably have the same in yours.

I trust you will find your leak in a more easily accessible location. Good luck!

You are right on. We have found the leak and it is almost right in the open under the drawer. What a Christmas gift! Here's hoping it's the only one. Thanks again.

So I woke up at 2am last night...thinking that the 'real' cold (10 degrees overnight) was here asn did I get everything out of the Barth (this thread started me thinking).

Trudged out through the snow to the storage building behind the workshop to double check - I found the three bottles of wine in the booze cabinet...that would have been a mess on the carpet!!

Thanks for making me think of things freezing!!

And what a waste of fine wine that would have been. Glad you were reminded in time.