Yet another outdoor shower not working thread

Syd

Last year I decided to take apart the outdoor shower on my 2019 Tab 400. Why, you ask? You all know why.

Anyway, I took it apart and found the hose kink thing, so I decided to reroute the hose around the standpipe. This eliminated the kink problem and only shortened the hose by a few centimetres (a couple of inches). It seemed to work, until this summer, while we were on our vacation to the Oregon coast (Fort Stevens is lovely) and I was using the outdoor shower to rinse off some sand. I heard a leak in the holding area for the hose.

When we got home, I took the shower apart again, and sure enough, the hose had come loose. OK, I thought, I'll just use some plumbers tape and tighten it properly. This worked. I also took the shower head off and increased the size of the hole at the base, as I had seen in at least one other thread here. Did that ever increase the flow of water! Great, I thought. Now we will be able to use the outdoor shower for rinsing things off, or doing certain dishes, etc.

Today, as I was getting the trailer ready to go for the last trip of summer, I filled the water tank and ran the water pump to charge the system. All taps were fine, except, of course, the outdoor shower. Nothing came out at all. I am at a loss. I do not have time before we leave tomorrow to take things apart again and diagnose what is stopping the water from coming out. I will have to do that when we get back in a few days.

So, any ideas why this suddenly decided to happen? I won't be able to check answers until next weekend (Sept 17 2022), but I would appreciate any thoughts.

Thank you for being the go to place for Tab questions!

Denny16

On the 2018/2019 TaB400 you have the outdoor cutoff valves under the closet floor.  Did,they get shut during your winter layover?  You might give the valves a check to make sure they are open.
 Cheers 

qhumberd

So if your shutoffs are open per @Denny16, another issue might be the release valve in the sprayer. Mine got sticky and did not want to open or close. I was able yo take off the sprayer head and clean and lube the mechanism and it worked ok until my hose at the mixer started leaking again. This was after I did the plumbers tape and retighten thing. The in and out motion of the sprayer hose just creates torque on the fitting and sooner or later it loosens

There are a couple of versions of upgrades on the forum to a new hose connection. That will fix it once and for all. This version works great and has amazing flow pressure. Just search under outdoor shower. Have a great trip.

AnOldUR

qhumberd said:

There are a couple of versions of upgrades on the forum ...

Not having the hose causing complications from being shoved into the compartment is a big advantage to the quick disconnect mod. Here's our version.

Syd

To revive my own old thread - We are on our first trip of 2023. A week before we left, I had taken apart the outdoor shower assembly and replaced the hose. Before putting it back together I tested the shower and it worked perfectly. Put it back together and...nothing. No water coming out at all. When we get back home in a few days I will tear it down again and try to find some other solution. A family member has a different type of trailer and they took the shower out and MacGyvered a tap in its place. Since the outdoor shower is actually useless, I am wondering if anyone here has done something similar, and if so, any suggestions about what parts to get/use?

qhumberd

@Syd if you have not seen my solution you may want to consider it as the quick disconnect provides a lot of flexibility in use. Mine has worked without a hitch last 2 seasons 

not that expensive and only a little McGyvering needed
Parts are noted below

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/16114/quick-disconnect-for-the-outdoor-shower-a-success#latest

Syd

Thank you @qhumberd. I had not seen your hack. I will look into it as a possibility. But I think the mix valve itself is borked, so I will have to replace the entire assembly. Still, if I can get the water to flow again, this might be an affordable solution.

qhumberd

Looks like you can get parts for the Fontana, including the mixing valve.

This ITC site has the valve for about 29.00

Good luck