[John]

Nice job Darcy..

[Archived]

Looks very nice Darcy…thanks for sharing your project.

AL

[Corey]

Beautiful job to all you guys. Great posts and the pictures are great.

[Archived]

Just a comment for anyone that wants to chase leaks.

I played with my latest changes posted above. I started by measuring my pressure leak down rate on the total system, then I shut the valves off to one system and measured the leak down rate. The amount of time it took to leak down with one system off did not vary significantly so I knew where I was going to initially focus. I started by picking the circuits that had the biggest leaks, and with little effort I isolated three leaks which I corrected. Just doing that cut the leak down rate in half.

It sounds easy, but I spent three hours to identify those three leaks and it took my ultrasonic leak detector and soapy water to pinpont them. I am awaiting a solenoid valve (due tomorrow) to shut down another part of the system which will help with isolating more leaks. Solenoid valves fail, so to prevent a failure from disabling the coach I am trying to figure out in each case is it easier to carry spare solenoid valves or to make up solenoid by-pass hose assemblies? There is nothing on the house systems that will be a problem, but on my vintage coach a solenoid valve failure can disable the belt tensioners, retarder, the suspension solenoid valve manifold and the driver’s seat. Until I got into this project I did not realize how easy it was for a simple solenoid valve failure to impact the function of coach and some of its systems.

Peter and others like Al who have chased leaks will agree the big leaks are easy to find. But with leaks as small as one ot two bubbles a minute at each fitting it adds up to frequent aux compressor cycling so to get a system so tight the compressor may only operate once a day is a project that can easily eat up a lot of hours. At least having the ability to isolate every single air circuit with shut off valves makes the job a whole lot easier.

[Archived]

Do you have a preferred type
of shut off valve? Brass, stainless, or
?????? Preferred brand? Best or favorite source?

[Reagan]

Unfortunately I have to buy valves whose size will work with the manifold.

As a practical matter I want 90 degree ball valves, and even if they leak a small amount the only time they will be off is when servicing the coach or checking a system leak rate. Under all normal operations every valve will be in the open position.

[Davy]

Jon,

Can you add to this the details of the shut off valves you are using?

Links to suppliers/parts would be appreciated 🙂

I wanted to add a couple in some place, but wasn’t really sure which shut off valve would be the best fit for this application?

[Archived]

To replace the push in manifold on the chassis (not likely on your coach Charles, but is on XLII and probably late model H3 coaches I used the manifold used by Liberty I had two of them so I never ordered them, I just used old ones I had removed from my last 2 coaches.

The valves I used on those were WW Grainger 22FT07

http://http://www.grainger.com/product/GRAINGER-APPROVED-Brass-Mini-Ball-Valve-22FT07?nls=1&nlsit=0.8&ssf=2&searchQuery=22ft07

Because of the small spacing between holes in the manifold I screwed two into the block one space apart and I added a 1 1/2″ nipple to the other two along with a connector. The photo above shows that.

For the house I used a large manifold block similar to this one, with 18 ports

http://http://www.amazon.com/Williams-Hydraulics-8M7L7P-Inch-Manifold/dp/B002IAVMKC/ref=sr_1_cc_2?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1440093313&sr=1-2-catcorr&keywords=1%2F4%22+hose+18+port+manifold

The ball valves used there were the ones listed below, but with one ear cut off the knob to make its use work with the manifold.

http://http://www.amazon.com/PneumaticPlus-MMTH-25-Brass-Valves-Female/dp/B0086QTYPW/ref=sr_1_4?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1440093404&sr=1-4&keywords=1%2F4%22+mini+ball+valve

Each of our coaches varies so what is important is to pick something that fits the space and will allow you to shut off each circuit. There are multiple benefits. The obvious one is finding which circuits leak is as easy as shutting off a valve, waiting a few minutes and opening the valve. If air passes through the valve upon opening you have a leak downstream. But it also is going to make some customization simple. Each of my manifolds has extra ports. I have already changed a couple of things on my coach using the ports such as adding my air hose connection and its valve, adding pressure gauges, and adding a solenoid valve to a circuit so that circuit is closed with the key off. Needless to say the original push in fittings are all replaced with brass DOT compression fittings.

[Archived]

Darcy,

You are quite the mechanic! I love to see things done in a nice neat manner. Sweating that copper and polishing it out like that takes hours and hours but the end result is awesome.. Good job. Plan on showing all y’all mine like that one day… If I ever retire!!

Steve

[Kim]

Steve the elegant lady’s come with all the copper and brass he was just putting in a new black tank , take rubber fernco’s off and it comes out

[Dean]

Peter is right, I have to defer to the Liberty folks for the beautiful job on the copper for the Elegant Lady, I fear I would have butchered it in comparison if I had undertaken polishing copper!

[Tim]

While the tanks and their pretty copper pipes look pretty, they are not necessarily the best choice. Like aluminum copper is somewhat reactive. The reason I know is because I have had to replace an aluminum tank and some of the copper pipes. Both corroded.

But the copper polished appearance is easy. If I remember the copper is 1 1/2″ tube and associated fittings. Sweat soldering the pieces together is fairly easy with a torch available anywhere. To polish the copper to a shine takes a small buffing wheel in a drill, a little polish, and a little patience.

What is a pain is dealing with the corrosion under the laquer or poly finish on the existing pipes. That has to be stripped and then the copper beneath it has to have the tarnish removed and then every day I have to go out an polish the pipes to maintain the image.

[Archived]

Thanks Jon for the parts, will go get some and add inline valves for a couple of the accessories I want to be able to control.

[Archived]

I am in the middle of an article that goes deeper than just using the manifolds and valves to more easily isolate leaks. Peter and I figured out most coaches are putting water into the accessory tank and accessories because the aux compressors typically do not have an air dryer, moisture trap or other device to stop and collect moisture.

I will post it soon. It is more oriented towards my efforts on a Liberty, but the generalizations can be applied to all other coaches. The intent is to help isolate air system leaks, but the second purpose is to stimulate some thinking about how or if the aux compressor air is being dried before entering the coach systems or accessory tank.

[Archived]

Jon,

I’ll be in Vonore starting the 8th going through the end of Sept. if you need to test anything out on a coach with air leaks, please let me know. you can come over and work on mine all you want 🙂

We will be at the campground out Toqua on the lake, so not that far from Jeff’s…