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Erratic water level readings


spospe

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I have a 2014 Auto Sleeper Warwick Duo fitted with the Sargent EC51 control panel and the water level indicator (a series of 5 LEDs) has started to behave very erraticly. Everything else works OK, including the pump and I suspect that the problem may be due to scale on the water sensor studs in the fresh water tank.

 

Has anyone else experienced this problem and what product did you use to clean the scale off the studs? (and how did you get whatever you used into the fresh water tank?) Or did you simply remove the studs, give them a wipe and replace?

 

Any practical advice / suggestions welcomed.

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spospe

 

I’m assuming that your Warwick’s fresh-water tank is external beneath the motorhome’s floor and that it’s not practicable to access the inner ends of the (possibly scaled) sensor-studs through a ‘cleaning hatch’ in the tank.

 

Removing hard-water limescale (say in a kettle or on a water-tap) normally involves using vinegar or citric acid or a commercially-available descaling product, but I can’t see that being effective in your case unless you put a very large quantity in the tank. Your suggestion to unscrew the studs from the tank and give them a good clean (perhaps soak them in vinegar for a while as well) sounds like the best way forwards.

 

(I’ve moved your posting from the Hints & Tips forum to Motorhome Matters. Nowadays H & T is intended for people to "Pass on your favourite recommendations, hints and tips” rather than for enquiries, so you’ll get a much bigger audience on the MM forum.)

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Have to say , ours does not appear to be that accurate. we can actually see the water in our tank , as it is under the dinette seat. We are in a very hard water area, and did have a fair bit of loose scaling in ours this year. But as it is easy to access , we where able to clean it out. Not had any other water problems in a 10 year old van.

On the taps at home. I find Viakal or Lime light, very good for for descaling the limescale build up.

PJay

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I notice that there’s a long discussion about Auto-Sleepers fresh- and waste-water tank ‘gauges' here:

 

http://www.autosleeper-ownersforum.com/t8341-fresh-water-level-indicator-not-working

 

If a tank had a very regular shape (eg. a cube) and was always level, it could be expected that a contents-level gauge would provide reliably accurate readings. But motorhome water tanks are all shapes and sizes - some very odd - and the vehicles themselves are often parked tilted longitudinally and/or laterally. The best one can realistically hope for is that the shape of a tank is not too weird and that the contents-measuring system chosen by the motorhome converter has a sporting chance of providing useful readouts.

 

Criticisms of inaccurate or erratic readouts are pretty commonplace. For example

 

http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/freshwater-tank-sensors/40293/

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I bought some Descalene from eBay and spoke to the manufacturers (Kilrock Products) for advice on how much to use to effect a cure. In the end, I put in 5 packets, each holding 2 sachets of powder and mixed it in hot water from the house kitchen tap.

 

The Warwick Duo has a 70 litre fresh water tank and it took 7 bucket-fulls to fill it. I turned the tank heater on to encourage circulation and left it alone overnight. In the morning, the water level indicator was working properly.

 

I then pumped water from the fresh tank into the Truma hot water tank and switched the water heater side of it on at 60 degrees for two hours. I then drained the hot water tank and repeated the process twice more (so the hot tank had three fills and the water level in the fresh tank went down in stages).

 

As of now, total success, the fresh water tank level indicator now works properly and shows the changing level on both filling and emptying. In addition the hot water tank has had a good scale removal cycle and at the same time, so has the waste tank, as all the flush water went down the kitchen sink and into it.

 

Descalene seems safe to use and has a pleasant lemony scent (smells better than vinegar). The whole process seems to me to be a little less fraught than taking out and refitting the level studs in the fresh tank and in addition both the hot and the waste tanks get a good clean / scale removal.

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