woodentop Posted September 8, 2010 Share Posted September 8, 2010 Hi, I have an issue with the readings of the water levels in the Fresh water tank. When filling the sensors can drop from 50% to 0% and the back up again. Even when full the reading can be irratic and some times the low level water buzzer sounds for no reason (annoying in the middle of the night). The dealer said that it may be due to calcium build up on the sensors in the tank and suggested using a tank cleaning agent to solve. Has anyone come across this and found a solution. The make of van is Rapido. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted September 8, 2010 Share Posted September 8, 2010 Hi, welcome to the mad house! The watertank sensors can play up. We had a Swift which was a nightmare, the sensor had been fitted badly and was 'shorting' (or something like that). The solution was for the technician to remove it, clean it up, and re-stick it in place, which sorted it out. You don't say how old your Rapido is, so it is possible that it could be a calcium build up if its a few years old, especially if it has been used in a hard water area - can you see inside the tank? :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted September 9, 2010 Share Posted September 9, 2010 They are all unreliable and at best can only be used as a rough guide. If you start with a full tank and use it normally until it runs out a couple of times you will soon learn how long a tank full lasts and will be able to forget the sensor and refill accordingly the day before it is due to expire. Has worked well for us for 40 years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodentop Posted September 9, 2010 Author Share Posted September 9, 2010 For info my Rapido is under 2 years old but has been mainly in hard water areas. The tank is not the easiest to access as it is between floors. There are 4 sensors on the tank of which the readings are through the control panel. I know when the tank is full when the over flow starts. The annoying thing is when the low level buzzer sounds for no reason. I did enquire with the dealer as I thought that this may be a warrenty issue due to faulty sensors and they were the ones that said use a tank cleaner to remove any calcium. I am not convinced however if anyone can recommend a good cleaning product that may do the job then I will give it a go, I do not want to go down the lines of removing sensors yet as they should still be under warrenty. Any ideas welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted September 9, 2010 Share Posted September 9, 2010 Daft question, are you sure it's the low water alarm? We had a problem with the low battery alarm on our Rapido when we had it, they initially thought the relay had gone but it didn't solve it, I can't remember if they had to replace the panel in the end or not .... as it was 5 years ago I can't remember! *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mad mac Posted September 9, 2010 Share Posted September 9, 2010 HI woodentop, as Tracker says, they are not the most reliable things. On our compass, It can go from full to a quarter after washing up! Also the waste water light comes on sometimes when we know damn well the tank is empty. We know by now how much we can use before we run out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosbotham Posted September 9, 2010 Share Posted September 9, 2010 We've got a Compass as well. The water meter's for decorative purposes in my experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody. Posted September 9, 2010 Share Posted September 9, 2010 I had the same problem on a swift , i found that the warning buzzer stopped when i turned the water pump off so thats what i did through the night , sometimes it went off when i turned the 12v off then back on again , usefull these warning buzzers arnt they !!! 8o| Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kedavi Posted September 9, 2010 Share Posted September 9, 2010 I had endless issues with the erratic (E) water level gauge on our 2008 Auto-trail. After a bit of investigation with a meter I found there were two seperate issues. Firstly, the water tank had a sort of silver foil backed foam blanket for lagging - a token gesture at winterization I suspect as it was full of gaps and was only a couple of mm thick. The silver foil was on the outside and the foam sponge against the tank. The water level is detected by a row of 5 studs through the wall of the tank - 4 studs for the 4 indicated levels and one common one for the return. After driving in heavy rain road spray would find its way in between the tank and the lagging and saturate the foam. Because the connectors for the wires onto the studs are not insulated the wet sponge lagging acted like an additional (external) water tank with the water logged foam periodically bridging the contacts in a random order, hence randomly showing various tank levels. It got even more interesting with a bit of salt on the roads. The cure was easy but required dropping the water tank down. All I did was dry out the studs and then insulate them with a big splodge of silicone sealant. Secondly, the multi-plug wiring connector for the level studs was mounted above the rear wheel - actually in the wheel arch. It was very badly wrapped in electrical tape. It too was full of water and was acting like another external tank, the water inside it bridging the contacts periodically. I removed the tape and relocated the connector out of the spray. The contents gauge was reliable after that. The bigger question is this: why do we tolerate such mickey mouse p*ss poor systems and dreadful installation on such 'high end' expensive vehicles? Imagine the outcry if our modern cars (even cheap modern cars) were built to these appalling quality standards. Imagine if the fuel level gauge on your Ford Focus or whatever was as reliable and stable as your motorhome water tank gauge. Imagine if Mr Ford routed the connecter in the wheel arch and just wrapped a bit of tape round it! My motorhome went back to Tyne Valley twice with this problem and twice they failed to find the answer. It took me an hour to find both faults but quite a bit longer to cure them because of the difficulty in dropping the tank without the benefit of a work ramp. I hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mountain_Biker Posted September 10, 2010 Share Posted September 10, 2010 I have a Rapido with the same problem, i was advised to remove it and wash in soapy water. Mine had some slime on it. However, taking it out was tough, I had to make a spanner since it was in a very restricted space. Well, I tried that - the washing improved it, but eventually I had to replace it Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted September 10, 2010 Share Posted September 10, 2010 As an aside, we had very a 'reliable' water level indicator in our home converted ambulance ... I drilled a hole in the top of the water tank, which I put a rubber bung in to seal it. When I wanted to know how much water was in it, I'd just poke a piece of thin dowelling in through the hole down to the bottom of the tank and lift it out again, how high the water mark was told me what was in there! Simples! :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stantheman Posted September 18, 2010 Share Posted September 18, 2010 Yep, waste of time. Water level sensor in my Lunar Roadstar never worked properly from new. Todds replaced it to no effect. They admitted that they were a waste of space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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