flennwagner
Member
I found this website/forum while in a panic due to a water leak in our newly remodeled kitchen – any advice you can pass along would be greatly appreciated. Here’s my situation – we purchased a 25-year old home and we’ve done a full kitchen remodel (new cabinets, counters, sink and such). I had a plumber hookup the RO and sink/faucet/disposal/dishwasher about 3 weeks ago – everything had been working fine. On Saturday mid-morning, I noticed water pooling under my cabinets (it was enough water to soak up a dish towel - we haven’t installed the cabinet toe-kicks nor tile so it’s very easy to see under my cabinets – I believe the water pooled to the low spots on the concrete floors). I had run the dishwasher Sat morning, so I figured I must have a leak in/near that area – but unfortunately, the area under the dishwasher was dry (easy to see the area without the toe-kicks) and the inside of my sink cabinet was completely dry as well. There was water pooling on the concrete floor near my RO system and under 2 other areas of the cabinets (again, perhaps just the low spots on the concrete floor). I checked the 3 RO filters and the connections all appeared to be dry, so I don’t think the water is coming from the RO system (it’s been making water for 3+ weeks). The only unique thing we did on Sat morning was run the dishwasher – but we had run the dishwasher 2 times before without issue. I’ve run the dishwasher 7-10 more times in the past 2 days just to see if I can reproduce the water leak – but you guessed it – no water leaking anywhere.
Couple things to add… the kitchen had a loop vent in the plumbing. During the remodeling project, we lowered the island down from bar-height so my plumber had to cut and lower the loop vent a few inches. I’m wondering if the intermittent water leak could be coming from (1) the ABS couplers that he used (perhaps he forgot to use glue on those couplers), or (2) if the cabinet installers inadvertently screwed into the ABS plumbing, or (3) if the granite installers inadvertently screwed into the ABS plumbing when they were installing the plywood base. Or perhaps – I just have a leak with my RO system and I couldn’t detect that it was coming from there.
Again, I’ve had the kitchen in operation for 3+ weeks and this is the first time I’ve detected a leak. Could running the dishwasher push so much water through the upper portion of the loop vent that it caused water to leak out of those top couplers (or out of a screw hole)? Could running the dishwasher at the same time as the RO system is making water cause enough pressure in the drain lines to cause water to leak out of a fitting?
I haven’t been able to reproduce the water leak so I don’t know who can help resolve the issue (the plumber, the RO company, the cabinet guys, or the granite installers). Is there a way to pressure test the drain lines to see if there are issues with the loop vent or drain lines? Any tests/scenarios you think I should go through to try to reproduce the water leak? The floor tile is 2-3 weeks away (and the cabinet toe-kicks as well) – any advice you can share would be greatly appreciated.
Couple things to add… the kitchen had a loop vent in the plumbing. During the remodeling project, we lowered the island down from bar-height so my plumber had to cut and lower the loop vent a few inches. I’m wondering if the intermittent water leak could be coming from (1) the ABS couplers that he used (perhaps he forgot to use glue on those couplers), or (2) if the cabinet installers inadvertently screwed into the ABS plumbing, or (3) if the granite installers inadvertently screwed into the ABS plumbing when they were installing the plywood base. Or perhaps – I just have a leak with my RO system and I couldn’t detect that it was coming from there.
Again, I’ve had the kitchen in operation for 3+ weeks and this is the first time I’ve detected a leak. Could running the dishwasher push so much water through the upper portion of the loop vent that it caused water to leak out of those top couplers (or out of a screw hole)? Could running the dishwasher at the same time as the RO system is making water cause enough pressure in the drain lines to cause water to leak out of a fitting?
I haven’t been able to reproduce the water leak so I don’t know who can help resolve the issue (the plumber, the RO company, the cabinet guys, or the granite installers). Is there a way to pressure test the drain lines to see if there are issues with the loop vent or drain lines? Any tests/scenarios you think I should go through to try to reproduce the water leak? The floor tile is 2-3 weeks away (and the cabinet toe-kicks as well) – any advice you can share would be greatly appreciated.
