Plumbing: Manibloc Repair

by Barry and Cindy 1997 U270 36′ 1-8-11

For a few years, Foretravel did not use hard PEX water lines, our coach is one of them.

We developed a crack in one of the four top/bottom connectors to the water manifold made by Manibloc.

Foretravel & Manibloc do not have any parts for our style of the manifold.

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We used epoxy on the crack and let it dry for 3 days, while we lived with water from pails.

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When I removed the broken part connected to the manifold, I found it had a round rubber washer in the connecting nut.

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I figured that the original rubber washer would not seal again.

Since replacement parts are not available, I looked around and found large round 1/8” thick rubber at Lowe’s in the hardware drawers that could be fashioned for a replacement.

I used an X-acto swivel knife to cut out a new washer.

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New washer and epoxy parts are holding up and we now have normal. Indoor plumbing back again.

I had several workarounds in my mind if the epoxy did not hold. But they all are dependent on using the 1/8″ rubber I found at Lowe’s.

1) Our top connectors are not being used since I redesigned our plumbing in the water pump area and put in a new hot water tank. So I could use a top CPVC connector on the bottom and seal off the open top.

2) Seal off the bottom where I had the crack. And then connect the bottom hose to a lower side manifold connection.

3) Install a new type of Manibloc manifold that uses O-rings instead of rubber washers and make new top/bottom connectors to match our plumbing.