Is the dealership trying to screw me?

JDFractal

Hi Nucamp friends,

I'm looking for advice from the community before I take my 2022 TAB 400 BD Edition back to the (NuCamp recommended) dealership tomorrow. Last October I took it in for leaks that would occur every time I turned the water pump on. The leaks were coming from a couple pipes (connected horizontally) to the back of the Nautilus panel in the under-bed compartment, as well as a leak from behind the toilet. I discovered the leaks after following the de-winterizing/powerfilling/dry camp-mode'ing video NuCamp has on their Youtube channel.

The day I got the camper back, I had a family emergency come up and ended up having to quickly drop the camper off at it's usual spot before leaving the state to take care of a sick elderly parent; I only just got back a week ago and after filling the fresh water tank (to 3/4 full from nearly empty) discovered the leaks are still occurring in the same areas previously mentioned.

I called the dealership and told them the situation and they asked whether the camper had been in storage (no, I had it outside) and whether it was winterized (it was not). The dealership guy said the leak was likely caused by the fact that I hadn't winterized it and didn't store it away from the elements. So in other words, they want me to foot the bill for all upcoming repairs.

However, the indicators for the water tanks were at the lowest possible readings, and though there might've been a small amount of residual water in them, I question whether the leaks are due to the quality (or lack thereof) of their repair services. When I picked up the camper and did a walkthrough, they hadn't even put the wooden cover back on over the Nautilus compartment.

Key sidenotes: I live in the foothills of Colorado (at about 5k feet) and though I wouldn't have had time to do it anyway, I was not planning to winterize because the previous owner (an engineer) did a custom 'winterproofing' job by installing insulation (among other things) underneath the camper - just above the exterior bottom-most layer of the camper. He said he had lived in the camper with wife and kid for 2 months the previous winter with running water and seems like a truly honest guy.

I am questioning the dealership's stated complete lack of fault for the pipes leaking. One of the two leakyy spots I found is in the nautilus compartment at the connection points directly behind the nautilus and are situated horizontally. Since my tanks were presumably almost empty, it seems unlikely that water would have pooled up in those pipes.

Of the two pipes leaking in the under-bed compartment, one of them is leaking at the same coupling as the original leak, the other from the coupling in the pipe just next to it. These are the first points of contact coming from the back of the Nautilus. The leak in the bathroom is from the same leaky coupling connected behind the toilet that existed prior to their repairs.

Now, I admit I am no plumber, but I am reasonably handy. Seemingly the only thing that prevented me from making the repairs myself was the fact that I could not access the leaky pipes with a PEX tool (due to the lack of space around all the other pipes behind the Nautilus) without taking everything apart.

So my question to you all is: should the dealership bare some (or all) of the responsibility for the leaks, since it seems to me like they might not have fixed it properly in the first place - OR - does it seem more likely the leaks were caused by my lack of winterizing and indoor storage?

If you made it to the end here, thank you for reading! Any and all advice, thoughts, and questions welcome.

Grumpy_G

You're not going to like this but you can't blame it on the repair work. If you you had discovered the leaks a few days after getting it back you would have a case but after letting the trailer sit not winterized they have an easy way out.
Assuming they did the repair and tested it the water lines would be full of water regardless of how much was left in the tank. The additional insulation does help with heat loss when camping in the winter but it would need the heater to run to prevent lines from freezing. The PEX tubing itself survives freezing because it is flexible but the hard plastic fittings do not that's why the leaks are at the connections.  

Mobean

I'm afraid I agree with Grumpy_G.  While you may be correct about possible subpar repair work, the information provided doesn't give you much to stand on.  Hopefully, the dealer will cut you some slack and provide a bit of a discount in the spirit of good business (which would pay them back much more in the long run).  Get the problem fixed and take this as lesson learned.  Don't let this experience take away the enjoyment you will get from your T@B. 

scott14

Sorry to say, but I tend to agree with the previous posts.  I would add that if they fixed the leaks, charged the line with water to verify their repairs and the unit was not then subsequently winterized, I would be concerned that there may have been water in other areas of system that froze.  For example, the residual water in the pump and filter.  Water is not easily drained via gravity from those locations.  It would be worth investigating yourself to see if other issues have developed.  As mentioned, I hope this does not take away from all of the adventures that are ahead of you!  Keep us posted on what you discover.

Cherokee

Living in the trailer in the winter the previous owner probably ran the heating system and the added insulation assisted keeping the heat in the trailer. However, with no heat in the trailer while setting outside, the added insulation would simply slowly become the same temperature as it was outside. Water is interesting in that it expands as ice crystals form - this is what cracks and breaks pipes. Unfortunately, even residential water at any low point in the system can produce damage.