What's the old saying?

[Darren Wright]

Something about pools, boats, campers, etc are things that make money vanish? I'm not arguing that.

I got the travel trailer out to un-winterize it for my BIL/SIL to stay in over the weekend since the guest cabin isn't finished. I must have forgotten to air purge the tankless water heater as the RV manual says not to use RV antifreeze in it. I had left the pressure relief valve open, but still ended up with a crack in the heat exchanger.

So $450 later...


The most difficult part was removing the old caulking to reseal the cover/door, otherwise 4 wires, the gas line, two water connections, and a dozen screws.

 

[Darren Wright]

I did get the old one opened up to inspect what needs replacing. There is a split in one of the exchanger tubes on the outside, so debating if I try to patch it or just replace the exchanger ($160) to have this one as either a spare or to use for another project.


Close up of the split…


I’m wondering if I could cut a thin strip of sheet copper, clean up elbow, flux and wrap the split with the copper strip and solder to try and patch it?

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

Bummer. I think the soldered copper patch might work, but then again, I think a lot of things that are wrong.

 

[Jim DeLaney]

If you can (gently!) reshape the copper tube to close to its original shape, you might be able to 'blacksmith' a copper patch to cover the break and sweat-solder it closed. Copper will work harden when you hammer form it, so you might need to anneal it before soldering the formed patch in place.

It's certainly worth a try.

 

[Darren Wright]

If you can (gently!) reshape the copper tube to close to its original shape, you might be able to 'blacksmith' a copper patch to cover the break and sweat-solder it closed. Copper will work harden when you hammer form it, so you might need to anneal it before soldering the formed patch in place.

It's certainly worth a try.

Tried this today. I heated the cracked tube and mostly closed up the crack.


I thought I had some flattened wire with my stained glass supplies, but instead found some desoldering braid.


I decided to wrap the tube with it, sanding the tube and fluxing first. I overlapped the braid a bit, the soldered every part of it.


I still need to pressure test it, but the seal looks good overall.

 

[Jim DeLaney]

Tried this today. I heated the cracked tube and mostly closed up the crack.
View attachment 129625

I thought I had some flattened wire with my stained glass supplies, but instead found some desoldering braid.
View attachment 129626

I decided to wrap the tube with it, sanding the tube and fluxing first. I overlapped the braid a bit, the soldered every part of it.
View attachment 129627

I still need to pressure test it, but the seal looks good overall.

Innovative. I wouldn't have thought of doing it that way. It's likely stronger than new.

 

[Frank Fusco]

Having owned many camper trailers over the years, I can attest to the fact that they are notoriously difficult to make repairs on. The trailers are built over the utilities.

 

[Darren Wright]

That is certainly true. They are built as light as possible, which leads to it's own issues with things holding up. I noticed our bed frame is starting to give way to the basement in the front of the trailer this week. Nothing a little extra support won't fix, but yet another thing to fix and figure out the best way to fix it.

We do enjoy taking it out and visiting new places though when we have time.