Bathroom faucet dripping

[Wayfinder]

Looks like this will be a sizeable project in order to change out the bathroom faucet. The faucet in this 2016 Elite II is dripping quite significantly. 

I saw @overland post his upgrade recently. I just want to change cartridges, but I am unable to unscrew the cartridges. They are quite frozen in place. I'm afraid to brake faucet or counter, or water lines under counter. 

How tough is it to remove the towel rack insert below the sink?  Just cut the cauk?  I hope!!

What are my other options?  @overland mentioned that removing the counter top was quite the job too. 

Thanks. 

Chris and Erika

[John E Davies]

Before you get too excited, try a vinegar flush of your entire water system, it is mild acetic acid and will dissolve any hard deposits and MIGHT restore things to normal. You need a 50/50 mixture of common vinegar and water, enough total to fill the water heater plus a couple of gallons more, I use 4 gallons of vinegar from Walmart. You don't need to treat the fresh tank itself. Use the winterization port to pump the mixture everywhere, including the outside shower, let it sit for four hours, drain the tank and HTW, and flush really well. Don't do this over nice concrete as it will leave a stain. If you also want to treat the three other outside check valves, you will have to inject the mixture with a hand pump.

CAUTION: I don't know about the Truma heater, check to see if this is OK! They do have their own decalcification chemical.

I haven't had the vanity cover off yet, it isn't hard to remove. Try the flush first, you may not need to do any more....

John Davies

Spokane WA

[Wayfinder]

Thanks @John E Davies for the idea.  Will try first and let you know the results.

[Jim_Oker]

Re: Truma, their manual does say NOT  to use  vinegar in the Truma. They say you  must  use their stuff for descaling the heater. But you can still do a vinegar flush of the rest of the system with the water heater cutoff valve set to divert it from from the heater.

[Wayfinder]

16 minutes ago, Jim_Oker said:

Re: Truma, their manual does say NOT  to use  vinegar in the Truma. They say you  must  use their stuff for descaling the heater. But you can still do a vinegar flush of the rest of the system with the water heater cutoff valve set to divert it from from the heater.

Thanks, Jim. We don't have a Truma, so we'll give the vinegar flush a try.

[SeaDawg]

While you're at it, remove the aerators, soak and clean them in a small cup of vinegar solution, rinse, and don't replace them til you have thoroughly flushed the system, including running crud out through the faucets with a new tank of fresh water .

The aerators are probably caked, too. The fine screens would trap everything you're cleaning out of the system.

We've replaced our aerators with low flow aerators, to save water. At home, too.

Overland found this really cool NeoPerl Mikado aerator. I copied him, right away, in the house. The spray pattern is like a basketball net. Saves a lot of water.

 

[Wayfinder]

Well, it took a while to get around to it, but I finally conducted a vinegar cleansing on the water system.  I'm back on normal city water and the bathroom faucet has not dripped a bit.  I was worried, as it was dripping almost to the point of a solid stream.  I let the vinegar/water mix set for about 4.5 hours, periodically running water through each faucet to flush (kitchen, bathroom, outside shower).

Here are my general notes and how I did it.  I did not yet run through hot water heater as I did not have a 1.5" socket on hand to remove anode road to flush.  That's soon, to check.

Think I "mucked" anything up?  I did see the water pump screen/filter was not too tight with a minor leak.  I hand tightened.  All good.  I should remove and inspect that too.  

* I referenced the Oliver how-to winterizing video for basic setup, reference only.

# Rinse system with Vinegar water solution

- Mix 50/50 vinegar to water in a 5 gallon bucket
- Use 3-foot host connected to the winterizing port on rear of rig, place other end in 5-gallon bucket
- Turn off water supply from city water (outside spigot)
- Open up water faucets to reduce pressure
- After pressure is reduced, turn off faucets
- Close the bypass valve to hotwater heater (only if not rinsing hot-water heater - Suburban only)
  - Will need to drain/rince hot water tank afterwards.
  - Good time to check or change anode rod
- Configure water valves for winterization mode
- Turn on water pump
- Run vinegar mix through all faucets (cold & hot) until smelling vinegar
  - kitchen
  - bathroom 
  - outside shower
  - toilet
- let soak in lines 4 to 5 hours, periodically opening faucets for a quick flush, with some mix still in bucket.

# Normalize system

- Re-fill bucket with clean water 
- With water pump still on, run all fausets and toilet, removing all vinegar
- Turn off water pump
- Normalize bypass valves as described for trailer
- Turn on fresh city was to trailer
- Run city was through all faucets

- * If fresh water tank indicates water has entered, use water jump to pump out the water - with the city water turned off.
  - Do not run water dump completely dry.

- Empty black then grey tanks.

 

 

[Townesw]

Read this thread. My original cartridge was leaking. I replaced it and have not had any more problems. 
 

 

[Wayfinder]

Great thread Bill. I hope I can remember how to find it when I do need to get in that silly cabinet.  It's annoying that it's so very sealed.  But, I bet it won't leak inside the cabinet.