Chausson Flash 04 freshwater drain tap

[Dr Dave]

Does anyone know the location (if there is one) of the fresh water tank drain point on the Chausson Flash 04. I have found the hot water heater drain tap, but cant locate any other drain points. And on a separate subject as a warning to others i have fitted a second battery under the passenger seat (ford transit) and noticed the original battery (which is a standard lead acid) vented directly into the habitation area so i had to drill a hole in the bottom of the seat base and attach vent hoses to both batteries which now vent outside talk about manufacturers spoiling the ship and all that. We will be going to the lincoln showground in September and hope to see some of you there.

Dave

[Hawcara]

We have a 2010 model and the fresh water drain is on the nearside next to the vent for the diesel heater. It is hard to get at first time. It is nearer to the front by the diesel tank for the vehicle.

The hot water one is in the garage on the offside.

Have not had a look at the vent for the battery yet!

[Dr Dave]

Thanks for that i will have a poke about tomorrow and see if i can find it.

[Derek Uzzell]

Dr Dave - 2011-08-27 9:57 PM

 

... i have fitted a second battery under the passenger seat (ford transit) and noticed the original battery (which is a standard lead acid) vented directly into the habitation area so i had to drill a hole in the bottom of the seat base and attach vent hoses to both batteries which now vent outside talk about manufacturers spoiling the ship and all that...

 

That's one of the reasons why right-thinking motorhome converters choose to fit genuinely maintenance-free batteries beneath cab seats. Another reason is that, if the cab-seat has a swivel mechanism (and most seem to nowadays) this effectively prevents battery maintenance as few owners or servicing technicians will be prepared to remove a cab seat just to check if a battery's electrolyte-level is OK. Even if an ordinary lead-acid battery is correctly vented, it's still asking for trouble to assume it will never need maintenance.

[HansZinderfaan]

Chausson don't seem to be able to get it right with fresh water drainage. I have a Welcome 76 and the drain point is clearly marked on the nearside, however it's about 18 inches up which is about 1 inch longer than my forearm! The result is you almost have to lie on your back to unscrew the cap and by the time the cap is nearly off the water is fast running down your arm. You have to be extremely quick to release it, and by that time you are already soaked. I have tried writing to Cak tanks but they do not offer any solution. Surely it is not beyond Chausson to provide an short extension with a tap especially as they are so keen to ensure that it is drained for the winter. Some of us actually use our motorhomes in the winter months so draining could be made a little more pleasant. :-S

[pepe63xnotuse]

The freshwater tank on our Allegro 83 has a chunky,easy to reach,plastic lever tap,which seems to just screw into the fitting which exits from(..I assume )the underside of the tank... :-S

 

Hans'..it seems very strange that you have to unscrew a cap on your van?(..and indeed that it's "18" up"..as the underside of our floor is only about 7-8" up)...also find it odd that you're having trouble finding something to fit it?..I would've thought that by taking the cap along to a decent spares outlet,plumbers merchants or even maybe even somewhere that does ponds etc,you would be able to come across something...even if it was only a basic straight fitting ,which could then enable you to fasten a length of flex' hose,with a tap on the end...

Anything has got to be better than having to crawl underneath the van... ;-)

[Derek Uzzell]

It's likely that Hans means "18" in" rather than "18" up", so that the cap he is unscrewing to empty the water tank is positioned well towards the motorhome's centre-line and beyond easy reach.

 

His mention of a screw cap suggests that this may be the large-diameter type of recessed cap commonly fitted to fresh/waste water tanks to allow access for occasional cleaning rather than for regular emptying. My Hobby has two such caps embedded in the underside of its waste-water tank, but normal emptying is via a separate easily-accessible tap in the side of the tank at its base.

 

I'd be very surprised if Chausson had deliberately designed a fresh-water tank installation that forced the motorhome owner to drain the tank in the way Hans describes. This suggests either that (despite the clearly-marked nearside drain-point label) there's another drain-point somewhere else, or a different draining arrangement, or (possibly) that Chausson has made a mistake at the build stage.

[Derek Uzzell]

A follow-up on Hans tank-draining problem...

 

It seems that the fresh-water-tank emptying method for a Chausson Welcome 76 is exactly as Hans describes. You have to reach up under the chassis and undo a relatively small (green?) plastic cap that screws on to a downwards-facing threaded 'stub' on the tank itself. There's no other draining-point and no tap or extension-hose.

 

The difficulty in draining a Welcome 76's tank is highlighted in a March 2, 2011 posting by 'Richard45' (who owns a 2007-built vehicle) towards the bottom of the following French-forum webpage:

 

http://www.campingcar-bricoloisirs.net/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=3452&start=30

 

Richard45 (in his subsequent 31 March 2011 posting) describes his solution that comprises drilling a suitable diameter hole in the green plastic cap through which a plastic wide-bore lever-tap can be bolted. (For information, I've copied the cap/tap photos below, but they are much easier to view if you just click on the French website links.)

 

http://img10.hostingpics.net/thumbs/mini_420442Solutionendtail.jpg

 

http://img10.hostingpics.net/thumbs/mini_214897Solutionassemblee.jpg

 

The type of plastic lever-operated ball-valve tap Richard45 has used seems to be readily available in France from caravan/motorhome accessory outlets

 

http://www.top-accessoires.com/advanced_search_result.php?%20%20keywords=vanne%20vidange

 

but may be harder to find in the UK.

 

Even if a look-alike tap can't be sourced easily here, I'm sure (as pepe63 advises) that something similar could be arranged using normal plumbing fittings or (as Hans himself suggests) an extension could be fitted to allow a remote drain-tap to be installed more accessibly. An alternative to modifying the cap might be to remove the threaded 'tank-stub' on to which the cap screws and fix a slide drain-valve in its place. These valves offer fast draining and easy operation. Examples are shown on the top-accessoires webpage and they are also marketed by CAK.

 

(Lots of ways to improve on Chausson's primitive tank-draining method, though I'd be tempted to try to obtain a 2nd cap before performing surgery on the original one!)

 

[pepe63xnotuse]

Oh well,I live and learn eh? .. :$

 

...I wonder why a manufacturer would just not bother fitting a simple drain tap?...surely it can't be a for the sake of saving a tenner...? :-S

 

(..the tap you show in link 2 & 3 looks similar to the tap on our van..)

[Derek Uzzell]

It's perhaps worth noting that the Original Poster (OP) who started off the French 'water draining' thread owned a Chausson Allegro 94 that also had a screw-cap water-tank outlet. He had been looking (without success) for a tap with a female connector to fit directly on to the tank's threaded stub (believed to be 40mm diameter) in place of the screw-cap.

 

Although the French forum administrator suggested that it should be quite easy to find something at a large DIY store that could be suitably adapted, and the OP planned to follow that advice, there are no later postings to indicate such a fitting was found.

 

Another posting (from an Allegro 82 owner) said that his vehicle's tank had a similar draining arrangement to pepe63's motorhome.

 

Evidently Chausson don't have a standard technical policy when it comes to fresh-water tank draining.

[flicka]

standard plumbing waste fittings are 40mm.

So a visit to the local Plumbing Wholesalers, Screwfix, etc. should be able to source a 40mm short radius 90deg elbow, a length of waste pipe, & a full bore 1/4 turn valve & a few mounting clips.

Then mounting the valve in an accessable location, would appear to be the solution.

[HansZinderfaan]

(!) Thanks for all the replies, I still have not found a solution. 40mm are plastic waste fittings but I am not aware that there is a tap that fits. The green cap that is fitted is a stinker to find but CAK tanks will supply one for £15 plus postage (send them a photo to get the right one). I think at the end of the day the best solution is a separate fitting on the fresh water tank but only if there is access from above, I recently had to remove the lounge seat squab to get access to the tank and to be honest it did not look too promising.

[flicka]

HansZinderfaan - 2011-10-09 9:42 PM

 

(!) Thanks for all the replies, I still have not found a solution. 40mm are plastic waste fittings but I am not aware that there is a tap that fits. .

 

Hello Hans

There are numerous sources / manufacturers for 40mm Ball Valves.

What you want is a full bore 1/4 turn Ball Valve,

Try your local Plumbers merchant -

commonest manufacturers are Worcester (bronze - screwed ends) or George Fischer (plastic - push fit)

 

if that fails:-

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/products/2825176/ is a push-on fit

 

[Derek Uzzell]

The type of 40mm screw-cap Chausson has used seems to be commonplace for tank-draining in France and readily available fairly cheaply. An example is shown on:

 

http://www.top-accessoires.com/product_info.php?cPath=&products_id=5857

 

It's evident from the photos on the French forum that Chausson mounts the fresh-water tank inside the motorhome with a downwards-pointing outlet that protrudes through the floor. This outlet has a threaded end that accepts the 40mm screw-cap.

 

It's perhaps worth noting that, on the French forum, "Richard45" said that he had contacted the manufacturer (CHANTAL BONAR) of the water tank and been told that there was nothing that could be screwed directly on to the threaded tank-outlet to allow a tap to be added.

 

What is ideally needed is something like this

 

http://www.jojotanks.co.za/index.php/component/virtuemart/?page=shop.product_details&product_id=73&flypage=flypage.tpl&pop=0

 

but there's absolutely no guarantee that the female thead of that tap would marry up to the male threaded end of a Chantal-manufactured tank's drain outlet. Richard45's solution was to adapt the screw-cap to take a tap and that may well be the best ploy.

 

It should not be too difficult to use UK plumbing bits and pieces to add a tap, but I don't think it would be cheaper, or simpler, than Richard45's approach. The critical thing would be to ensure that, whatever method were employed to add a tap, it would subsequently be straightforward to remove that assembly from the tank's outlet should it prove necessary (eg. if the water tank ever had to be removed from the vehicle).

 

Although it's undoubtedly infuriating to have water running up your arm as you are grovelling under your motorhome to drain its fresh-water tank, and it's an interesting technical challenge to consider how best to get round this, draining a fresh-water tank won't normally be done often. A large-diameter screw-cap, while certainly basic, does allow maximum tank draining and its very simplicity has a certain appeal. Me, I think I'd probably leave things alone and accept the occasional wet arm.

 

(As I always know well in advance of when I'm going to drain my motorhome's fresh-water tank, I can envisage a tank-draining work-around (for a Welcome 76) where I ran the tank fairly low, then pumped as much as possible of what water remained into the waste-water tank, then tilted the vehicle over on chocks, then removed the screw-cap. OK, it ain't sophisticated, but it should stop your arm getting wet.)

[ips]

Just to clarify matters for the OP.

The location is as Hawcara stated. It is a 15mm plastic pipe with a push fit end plug that requires pulling off in order to drain the fresh water tank. It is not a 40mm pipe. It is quite awkward to reach (a point also previously noted by mr Hawcara) therefore I fitted a 15mm compression washing machine tap so although the position is awkward at least you only need to turn a lever instead of trying to get the end plug off without pulling the pipe out of the tank (as I did whoops) you could of course extend the pipework to wherever you wanted if you require really easy access.

Hope that clears things up.

[Hawcara]

We bought our Chausson from Highbridge. They fitted a sort of turn tap arrangement to the outlet, similar to Mr IPS I think. It maybe worth contacting them to see the mod that they applied and either go round there or get them to sell you the bits. :-D

[Mel B]

We have a white tap on our freshwater drain - you have to look underneath to see it as it's right up under the side skirt above the Eberspacher heater. Hubby has fixed a piece of hozepipe to it, mainly so he can direct the flow away from the top of the heater (stupid place to have the outlet directly above it!). As ours was from Highbridge too I wonder if as Hawcara suggests this is a mod which they do rather than Chausson .

[Dr Dave]

Thanks Everyone who replied especially IPS and MEL B, i have located the pipe over the eberspacher exhaust and can confirm no tap was fitted just a push on blank. i thought that by running the pump and emptying the tank it should have been more or less dry but about two gallons went up my sleeve and settled in the back of my jacket when the blank came off so i must remember not to lie under the van to do it. Now i am going to fit a pushfit drain tap and the length of hose to direct it away from the heater exhaust again many thanks.

Dave

[ips]

your welcome