Internal water tank removal

[chippy49]

I am looking for advice or U -tube video on how easy it is to remove the internal water tank on 2002 Swift Kontiki, as I have a leak somewhere underneath, as the tank empty's itself.

Happy Days

[StuartO]

No specific knowledge of a Swift Kontiki but if the tank emties itself the leak must either be from the drain valve or by syphoning from outlet pipes or, I would have thought least likely, from a split or holed tank. This era of British MHs tended to have underslung tanks, so you may be able to detect and remedy the fault simpy by getting undrneath and looking.

[aandy]

Is the van a recent acquisition or have you had it for some time? The reason I ask is that the breather Swift used at around that time was pretty useless and could expel half the contents of the tank on a relatively short journey. I won't post details now, as it would be a waste of time if you've had the van for a while and it has only just started, but come back if you think that could be the problem and I will elaborate.

[Derek Uzzell]

chippy49 - 2019-08-20 9:52 AM

 

I am looking for advice or U -tube video on how easy it is to remove the internal water tank on 2002 Swift Kontiki, as I have a leak somewhere underneath, as the tank empty's itself.

Happy Days

 

Welcome to the Out&AboutLive forums, John.

 

If the tank is emptying itself when your motorhome is static, then it must be assumed there’s a leak somewhere - otherwise the problem may be what Andy mentions.

 

I very much doubt there’ll be a YouTube video that would help you, but you might be able to contact a current or ex owner of a similar age Kon-Tiki to yours via the SwiftTalk website.

 

https://www.swiftgroup.co.uk/owners/swift-talk

 

The internal fresh-water tank of my 1996-built Herald motorhome would (if I remember correctly) probably not have been too difficult to remove and that would have been true for my later 2005 Hobby ‘van, but removing the tank on my current Rapidio would be a ***tard and require significant surgery with a saw. Hopefully, if your tank has to come out, it will be cooperative... ;-)

 

(If you do enquire via SwiftTalk, you should say which Kon-Tiki model you own. In 2002 I think there were three versions - S, L or Z - but I don’t know if the fresh-water tank was the same for all three, nor whether the tank was installed in exactly the same location in the motorhome or in the same manner. It might be that removing the tank from (say) a Kon-Tiki S would be easy, but much harder from an L or Z.)

[chippy49]

Thank you for all your replies. I did remove the tank and fill it up , no leaks, checked pipework all ok.

Now externally filled system and pressurised system with on board pump, now dripping outside, underneath pump and water heater area , so I now suspect water heater. Is the heater easy to remove? Only concern would be gas burner outlet vent. Look forward to any advice Guys

[BruceM]

Water travels so leaks can be devilishly difficult to track down. I had a minor leak from the internals of a bathroom tap that showed some distance away in the van’s garage. I had to remove the bathroom sink to locate it.

 

I’m not familiar with your particular van but before you start pulling out the water heater, it might be worth checking that there are no leaks from the underside of taps and that the pipework to all water fittings within the van (including the water heater’s frost dump valve) are tight and dry.

[Billggski]

......and that it's not the heater dump valve either sticking open or leaking.

[Derek Uzzell]

I THINK that air heating for a 2002 Kon-Tiki will be via a Truma S-series convector ‘fire’, with water heating via a separate Truma “Ultrastore” boiler and, if that’s the case, there won’t be an anti-frost dump valve.

 

I echo the above advice, though, that removing the boiler should be a last-resort action and only attempted when it’s 100% certain that it’s the boiler itself that’s leaking.

 

[tonyishuk]

Billggski - 2019-08-26 2:27 PM

 

......and that it's not the heater dump valve either sticking open or leaking.

 

 

 

Similarly, it might pay to check thr dump valve for the winterisation of the whole water system. Sometimes the seals break and either dribble out the top of the valve or fail to seal when refilling the system, and dump the contents slowly on the ground.

 

Rgds

[Derek Uzzell]

Based on John’s last posting, all that can be safely said is that the leakage is from the pressurised side of the Kon-Tiki’s water system.

 

Provided that the water-pump is visible, it should be possible to identify whether the pump itself is leaking (not that uncommon). If the pump is not the culprit, the leak could be from a water hose, or a hose connector, or a drain valve, or the water boiler, or even a tap.

 

It would be worth checking whether the water is emerging from any ‘tube’ protrubing below the Kon-Tiki’s floor, as that would point to a leaking drain valve. Otherwise it may prove very tricky to detect the source of the leak if (say) it’s from a hose or connector that’s buried inaccessibly in the motorhome’s under-floor space.