Mobile Home Laundry Room Hissing!

[Soquilii]

I have a 20-year-old mobile home and just now discovered a hiss in the laundry room emanating from behind the washer. It sounds exactly like air, not water! There is no water on the floor and I don't feel water coming through the pipes to or from the washer. When I turned the washer on, it worked. I cut off the water using the inside valve (stopcock?) and the hissing stops. I'm going to leave it off all night.

I will have to move the washer away from the wall tomorrow and unscrew the panel behind it to see if there is a leak; meanwhile I will keep the water cut off.

Does the hissing mean there is a leak?

We live in the woods; could a rat or raccoon have chewed through a pipe?

Has anyone else with a mobile home experienced this? What did you do?

I'm open to suggestions! This is the first time this has happened.

(I am a 71-year-old widow with no one to fix it and very little money to hire a plumber! Any information you can give me will be greatly appreciated! I will probably have to jury-rig a solution.)

 

[Diehard]

I'm not familiar with the typical mobile home hook up so must ask...
You mention an "inside valve (stopcock?)". Are the washing machine hoses that are connected to the back of the washing machine, visibly connected to valve. In other words is there any piping between the shut off and the machine that is in a wall and not visible?
The reason I ask is if that was the case and there are no signs of water then it may be the small leak at the solenoid valves just behind where the hoses connect to the machine. But again in the absence of water any where, it may be leaking into the machine. But of course, that would show up inside the machine.
Not totally sure where this valve is that stops the noise but if it's strictly for the washing machine, you should always have it OFF when not using the machine. Unless of course you have another means to shut it closer to the machine, similar to the picture below.

 

[Geofd]

we had something similar to this at work it was a bad solenoid valve it filled and leaked out of front of the machine

 

[havasu]

I have a mobile home at Lake Havasu, and when I hear a hiss, I just know it is a Western Mojave Rattlesnake!

 

[Soquilii]

I'm not familiar with the typical mobile home hook up so must ask...
You mention an "inside valve (stopcock?)". Are the washing machine hoses that are connected to the back of the washing machine, visibly connected to valve. In other words is there any piping between the shut off and the machine that is in a wall and not visible?
The reason I ask is if that was the case and there are no signs of water then it may be the small leak at the solenoid valves just behind where the hoses connect to the machine. But again in the absence of water any where, it may be leaking into the machine. But of course, that would show up inside the machine.
Not totally sure where this valve is that stops the noise but if it's strictly for the washing machine, you should always have it OFF when not using the machine. Unless of course you have another means to shut it closer to the machine, similar to the picture below.
View attachment 19993

DIEHARD: Thanks for the info. Once I got behind the washer (in a mobile home laundry room, no easy feat!!) and unscrewed the panel and turned the water on, it was apparent where the sound was coming from. There is a metal pipe (see red circle in picture) that looks like it was dented - how, I don't know - but it hasn't been chewed. It looks maybe like metal fatigue from being bent.
Seeing as how I can't afford a fix right now I am going to try to seal that hole then wrap it with flex tape. Maybe that will hold it until I can afford repairs.
Let me know if you think this is a waste of time, or if you have any suggestions. All I can do for now is plug the leak.
Thanks for your help!!

 

[Diehard]

Well good that you found the leak.

Now...that doesn't look like a metal pipe. Is that a grey PVC pipe or something along those lines?

In doing a little searching, I found they have patches you can apply but their not cheap and if you can find them. I found one, 3" x 6" Quick Patch Repair Patch and that was about $13, over the internet.
I also saw some YouTube videos where they showed different methods you could use to glue a cut coupling over the hole. I believe you could find a patching clamp with a rubber seal also.

Here's another couple of approaches.(These are not my words.)

"If its a small hole, if there is no other way to do it, you can buy a plastic screw, 1/4" long and put PVC glue and Cleaner on the screw and the hole, and screw it in. Since the screw is only 1/4 inch deep, it will not extend into the interior of the pipe, since PVC wall thickness is 1/4. To prepare the hole, drill it out with a bit that is exactly the diameter of the screw shaft without the threads.

My recommendation, though is if you can move the pipe at all, cut the pipe right at the screw hole and install a coupling. You can either buy a PVC coupling or a rubber coupling that you can install once you split the pipe. If you can cut all the way through the pipe and you can push one section to the side, you can install a fernco or mission coupling designed for plastic to plastic connections.

In order to install a PVC coupling, you would have to be able to move the pipe at least 1-1/2 lengthwise."

Maybe some of our plumbers would have good ideas for you.

Best of luck.

I'll post another picture of that pipe to make sure it can be seen by all.

 

[Soquilii]

Well good that you found the leak.

Now...that doesn't look like a metal pipe. Is that a grey PVC pipe or something along those lines?

In doing a little searching, I found they have patches you can apply but their not cheap and if you can find them. I found one, 3" x 6" Quick Patch Repair Patch and that was about $13, over the internet.
I also saw some YouTube videos where they showed different methods you could use to glue a cut coupling over the hole. I believe you could find a patching clamp with a rubber seal also.

Here's another couple of approaches.(These are not my words.)

"If its a small hole, if there is no other way to do it, you can buy a plastic screw, 1/4" long and put PVC glue and Cleaner on the screw and the hole, and screw it in. Since the screw is only 1/4 inch deep, it will not extend into the interior of the pipe, since PVC wall thickness is 1/4. To prepare the hole, drill it out with a bit that is exactly the diameter of the screw shaft without the threads.

My recommendation, though is if you can move the pipe at all, cut the pipe right at the screw hole and install a coupling. You can either buy a PVC coupling or a rubber coupling that you can install once you split the pipe. If you can cut all the way through the pipe and you can push one section to the side, you can install a fernco or mission coupling designed for plastic to plastic connections.

In order to install a PVC coupling, you would have to be able to move the pipe at least 1-1/2 lengthwise."

Maybe some of our plumbers would have good ideas for you.

Best of luck.

I'll post another picture of that pipe to make sure it can be seen by all.
View attachment 20007

Actually you're correct - it's not metal at all. I have poor vision and could not get close enough to see it. It's not PVC either, in the sense of that white pipe I know how to repair. :\ It's gray, opaque not-quite-rubber and not-quite-plastic that I lack a name for that is all over the mobile home. I've never been able to find anything like it in any hardware store. We bought some epoxy like stuff and some gorilla tape and flex tape. We will embark on a trial and error series of tests. If this doesn't work we'll try something else. I'll post again whether it was a go or no-go.
Again, your help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Diehard]

Sounds like a plan. Good luck!

 

[Geofd]

if its not pvc and not a metal pipe it may be something common only to mobile homes take that pic to an rv/mobile home place they may be able to help I don't wont to guess what it would be....

 

[sawguy50]

Memory serves me that the grey pipe was banned, discontinued quite a few years ago due to the resin reacting with chlorine and failing. I believe it was Polybutylene pipe.

 

[Diehard]

There should be markings on the pipes, somewhere.

 

[havasu]

PBP has been prohibited in mobile homes since 1999. For the first year, they paid to have that crappy gray pipe replaced with copper piping at no cost. I found out about it just 2 months too late for a full replacement, so I hired a plumber to replace all that junk with PEX.

 

[sawguy50]

The OP said the mobile home was 20 yrs old so it could be possible.

 

[Soquilii]

PBP has been prohibited in mobile homes since 1999. For the first year, they paid to have that crappy gray pipe replaced with copper piping at no cost. I found out about it just 2 months too late for a full replacement, so I hired a plumber to replace all that junk with PEX.

I thought what I had was PEX. I've written Palm Harbor for info.

 

[Soquilii]

Sounds like a plan. Good luck!

I just turned the water back on - in the words of Dr. Christiaan Barnard, 'Dit lyk asof dit gaan werk!'

I put a putty type epoxy on the pipe, let it cure, then added waterproof Gorilla tape followed by a spray coating of Flex Seal.

So far, so good!

 

[Diehard]

It seems to work!

 

[havasu]

I've been told "Sharkbite" fittings will work with PBP pipe. Just a thought for when this temporary fix fails.

 

[wood4d]

home depot sells an adapter from that to pex and you would need two and a short lenth of pex. Its an easy fix for a plumber because we have the right tools. Sharkbites dont work.

 

[Soquilii]

I thought what I had was PEX. I've written Palm Harbor for info.

Sigh. Palm Harbor has done nothing but try to sell me a new home. Typical.

 

[Diehard]

Sigh. Palm Harbor has done nothing but try to sell me a new home. Typical.

You should have asked what they use for water piping in the new homes. They probably didn't know.