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Swift sunto water tank pickup


Marko

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Hi everyone, I have a 1999 swift Suntor on a fiat ducato base. The water tank pickup never seems to reach all the available water in the tank, anyone ever extend theirs to reach most the water rather than the two thirds I'm reaching ?
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Welcome to the Out&AboutLive forms, Marko.

 

I’ve no practical knowledge of the water system that’s fitted to your motorhome. However, normal practice would be to have either a water-pump outside the freshwater tank with a tube inside the tank to pick up the water, or a ‘submerged’ water-pump that’s suspended from a tube inside the freshwater tank with the water-pump itself picking up the water. It’s also the case that a motorhome’s freshwater tank may be mounted within the vehicle’s habitation area or external beneath the vehicle’s chassis.

 

If a motorhome has an internal freshwater tank it should be (fairly) straightforward to establish whether or not the pick-up tube does not reach to the bottom of the tank, or whether the submerged water-pump is hanging in the tank well above the tank’s bottom. In both instances it should be (fairly) easy to replace the tube with a longer one.

 

It should be anticipated that extending the tube will be harder when an external freshwater tank is involved, and the tank might well need to be removed from the motorhome to do this.

 

You are sure that only two-thirds of the water in the freshwater tank is available?

 

If you have a tank of a type where the water level can be seen, or the tank can be ‘dipped’, or you’ve carried out tests to confirm that, when the water-pump can no longer collect water the tank is plainly still one-third full, then OK. But leisure-vehicle water-gauges have a reputation for inaccuracy and you don’t want to be trying to extend the pick-up point if there’s any possiblity that your gauge is providing a significantly over-optimistic reading when the tank is actually near-empty.

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  • 2 weeks later...

thanks for the response,

Yes I have personally verified that the tank is still holding approx. a third to one quarter of a tank of water when it stops picking up water.

I have a small removable inspection hatch that allows one hand inside the tank but not two and it feels like a rather large bulbous cylinder inside exiting to the top end of the side of the tank leading by pipe to a small water pump.

heres hoping I can extend it as you suggest

 

cheers

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Marko

 

I think your Suntor’s water system may include a submerged water-pump (the “rather large bulbous cylinder”) that is inside the freshwater tank, and that what you refer to as a “small water pump” is actually an in-line pressure-sensitive switch. This is very much crystal-ball gazing, but this type of system was certainly used on older Swifts.

 

An example of an in-line pressure-sensitive switch can be seen here

 

http://www.thecaravanshop.co.uk/waterpumps/accessories/whale-pressure-sockets-damper/whale-pressure-switch/prod_922.html

 

and this earlier forum discussion highlights how difficult it can be to gain access to a submerged pump sometimes.

 

http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Water-pump/28362/

 

I notice that you’ve asked elsewhere about extending the pump pick-up

 

http://www.roadtestreports.co.uk/qanda/111106/

 

but yours is really a Swift-related problem rather than a Fiat Ducato one, so I'm doubtful that you’ll obtain a useful answer there.

 

As Pauline says, your best bet for ‘hands on’ advice may be to ask about this through Swift Talk

 

http://www.swift-talk.co.uk/main/authorization/signIn?target=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.swift-talk.co.uk%2Fforum

 

In order to lower the water-pump towards the base of the freshwater tank so that it can suck up more water, it seems unavoidable that you’ll need to fish the pump out of the tank to permit you to replace the pipe that’s attached to the top of the pump with a longer pipe. And, as the pump would be lower down in the tank, there’s a fair chance you’d also need to lengthen the wiring that provides the pump with 12V power.

 

As two-thirds of the water in the tank is available, you might want to consider whether it wouldn’t be better just to leave things alone. I suspect that your Suntor’s tank is not large-capacity, but as long as the pump is still in working order and delivering water adequately to the taps/shower, fiddling with the system may not be wise. (Sod’s Law and all that!) if the pump eventually packed up and needed replacement, that would be the time to lower its pick-up point in the tank.

 

 

 

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