hobby2011 Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Hi there. We have only recently purchased our motorhome and are off tomorrow for a week. We have filled the water tank but it is not coming out of any of the taps, well only very slowly and intermittently. The pumps is going full pelt and we know that it can take a few minutes for it to come through but it seems to be taking an awful long time. Has anyone got any ideas on this please. Really would be appreciated. Otherwise we cant go away!!!! :-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 You may have an air lock in the system. Depending on the shape of the tap, either get your mouth round it and suck while running the pump, or attach a bit of pipe and suck on that. You'll need to pause now and again when you get a mouthful of water, (or just to breathe!) but you should eventually get a proper flow of water running. If it's REALLY hard to suck, there may be a kink in the pipe somwhere - maybe another Hobby owner will advise where this is most likely to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Can we assume that the tank is physically full - as in water backing up out theough the filler - and not just appearing full according to the tank gauge which are notoriously unreliable and can often show full when the tank is nearly empty? If priming the pump by Tony's tried and tested method fails, can you get enough access to the tank to find out whether the pick up pipe is picking up water from the bottom of the tank or if it has a clogged or sticking filter or nonreturn valve, if it has these? The other culprits can be an air leak on the 'suck' side of the pump or a water leak on the 'blow' side of the pump and checking the pump connections and security of an external filter, if it has one, would not hurt as these are well known points of leakage. Just because no water comes out of a joint on the 'suck' side of the pump does not mean that no air is getting in. The 'suck' side is from tank to pump and the 'blow' side is from pump to tap! There might also be a tiny air hole in the tank filler cap to allow in as water leaves and checking this clear is worthwhile although I very much doubt this is your problem in this case - unless the water gradually dries up when taking a shower! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whisturx Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Have you checked if the frost dump valve is closed. If not, when the pump is working the water will be flowing straight out the bottom of the van ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterjl Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Hi is this the cold water, hot water or both. If its the hot water it may have to fill the hot tank and this can take a few minutes. If its cold water then it usually comes through quickly. Soo is the tap turned to hot or cold? When we had Hobby it had in internal water tank and you could take a cap off and look inside. Also our pump was under the bed and relatively easy to get to so you can have a quick look. If that doesn't help may be a current Hobby owner can give a clue. Good luck Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobby2011 Posted August 29, 2011 Author Share Posted August 29, 2011 Thank you all so much for your advice. Actually we have found the problem. There is a small green button on the frost control valve next to the cold water tank which needs to be fully pushed in. Once we had done this, all was OK and the water is flowing well. This must have been mentioned at hand-over when we bought the van but we were so overloaded with info. at the time - think we just glazed over eventually. However all is fine now and thanks again for your support :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Great - I'm glad all is well - there are some sound tips in this thread ready for when the gremlin bug does strike your waterworks and if the search facility was working properly they would be easy to locate when you need it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
art338 Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Sue, Don't forget that its usual to fill the hot water side first with the hot taps open so the heater container is filled, (with the cold taps closed), then reverse the procedure when the hot side flows ok, and if you have a shower head positioned up high, make sure that this is opened first. art Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 hobby2011 - 2011-08-29 6:47 PM Thank you all so much for your advice. Actually we have found the problem. There is a small green button on the frost control valve next to the cold water tank which needs to be fully pushed in. Once we had done this, all was OK and the water is flowing well. This must have been mentioned at hand-over when we bought the van but we were so overloaded with info. at the time - think we just glazed over eventually. However all is fine now and thanks again for your support :-D Don't forget to take the manuals with you, and to read them! :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Brian Kirby - 2011-08-30 6:30 PM Don't forget to take the manuals with you, and to read them! :-D I think you may just have got that wrong Brian? Surely it should be - " When all else fails - read the manuals!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Tracker - 2011-08-30 7:57 PM Brian Kirby - 2011-08-30 6:30 PM Don't forget to take the manuals with you, and to read them! :-D I think you may just have got that wrong Brian? Surely it should be - " When all else fails - read the manuals!" My first 'Fill-up' with my Autocruise Starburst left me very ' red faced' I connected up to the tap and started filling up, 10 minutes later it still hadn't reached half full ????? Blimey I thought how big IS this tank ? only to then notice the stream of water under the van going straight down the drain ! the fresh water drain tap was open (I didn't even know there WAS one ). NEVER assume ! it makes an Ass of U and Me. I then took 10mins to read the manual. :$ Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tugga Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 After we read our manual several times, we still could not get our Trumatic heating and water heater to work properly until we asked a motorhome engineer (CLS) to explain it, and then it all became clear. The translation from German to English left us both confused. We always carry our manuals with us, they have their own shelf in one of the top lockers and we are very glad that we carry them on many an occasion. Good advice Brian :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Seeing as the problem has been 'solved', I'm gonna hi-jack this thread!!! :D In our van we've started to have a problem with the cold water for the kitchen sink tap. When on the hot part of the mixer tap it comes gushing out as normal (as it does for both hot and cold mixer tap in the washroom) but when on the cold water setting in the kitchen sink it pulses weakly ... the pump throbs and squirts out a dismal flow of water, to get enough for a cuppa would take about 60 seconds! I've tried filling and getting the water through to the taps in varoius combinations but nothing seems to solve it. It never used to do this but we're having to use the hot setting to get water out all the time now and I'm getting fed up of having to remember to move the lever from the hot setting (which hovers over the sink) to the cold setting (ie next to the wardrobe side) so that it is out of the way everytime I lift up the sink cover ... especially when I forget and knock the tap on in the process and get water everywhere! *-) Anyone got any ideas? It can't be a problem with the pump as it is fine otherwise and I've checked and the pipe hasn't been inadvertently squashed etc at the back of the cupboard thus restricting the flow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted September 8, 2011 Share Posted September 8, 2011 As it didn't do it from new Mel maybe a bit of swarf or crud has lodged in the cold pipe close to the tap or in the tap itself - which may or may not have a filter built in? As it only affects one part of one tap logic suggests that the problem must be somewhere between where the cold pipe tees off from the rest of the system and the tap outlet? Have you tried blowing back down the tap and cold pipe with it disconnected at the nearest join or at the pump to see what comes out - apart from water! I don't know how easy the access is but if it is like most vans it may well be a knuckle bruising encounter getting it apart and back together? Perhaps the dealer would like to look at it for you under warranty! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted September 8, 2011 Share Posted September 8, 2011 Mel B - 2011-09-07 10:09 PM ... I'm getting fed up of having to remember to move the lever from the hot setting (which hovers over the sink) to the cold setting (ie next to the wardrobe side) so that it is out of the way everytime I lift up the sink cover ... especially when I forget and knock the tap on in the process and get water everywhere! *-) Mel..ours' used to do that..and it's bl**dy irrirating isn't it...!? :-S ...but it's easy enough to fix(..assuming there's enough slack in pipes/hoses).Just ease off the locating nut underneath the worktop and rotate the tap assembly until it clears the sink lid when it's at it's furthest point.. ;-) Sorry,not much idea about what's causeing the slow,pulsing though..other than as Tracker said to make sure it's not blocked... :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobalobs Posted September 8, 2011 Share Posted September 8, 2011 We had a similar problem with the pressurised system in our van. The water flow dropped and the pump ran in rapid bursts with very little time beteen the bursts. The Shurflow manual did not give an obvious solution but a quick phone call to Murvi gave a rapid answer. The system like many others has an accumulator fitted close to the pump which does something to help smooth out the water flow. The experts will know more. Anyway it looks like a plastic bottle screwed in to the water pipeline. Apparently it should have some air trapped in it but in our case it was full of water which can happen over a period of time. Simple solution is to turn off the pump, ease the pressure by opening the taps and then unscrew the accumulator bottle and empty it. Reverse the procedure and problem solved.. Many of you may know of this problem but there was no mention in the manual. n Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 pepe63 - 2011-09-08 11:03 AM Mel B - 2011-09-07 10:09 PM ... I'm getting fed up of having to remember to move the lever from the hot setting (which hovers over the sink) to the cold setting (ie next to the wardrobe side) so that it is out of the way everytime I lift up the sink cover ... especially when I forget and knock the tap on in the process and get water everywhere! *-) Mel..ours' used to do that..and it's bl**dy irrirating isn't it...!? :-S ...but it's easy enough to fix(..assuming there's enough slack in pipes/hoses).Just ease off the locating nut underneath the worktop and rotate the tap assembly until it clears the sink lid when it's at it's furthest point.. ;-) Sorry,not much idea about what's causeing the slow,pulsing though..other than as Tracker said to make sure it's not blocked... :-S Thanks pepe, I don't think I was clear in what I was saying, the tap does already swing out of the way, however, because we're having to use the lever in the 'hot water' position it sticks out over the sink top (to the left), whereas if we use it in the 'cold water' position it sits next to the wardrobe side (to the right) so there isn't a problem - we always remember to move the actual tap spout but forget about the lever ....! *-) See picture below. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 Bobalobs - if it was the accumulator wouldn't it affect all of the taps in all positions, or even just when both are set to cold water? It is only the kitchen sink on cold that is affected. Richard, if nothing else works I'll have to take the pipes off and see if there is a problem at the actual tap, before that, though, I'll check the cold water pipe feed to the tap and make sure there's nothing squishing it somewhere else that I haven't looked at yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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