whale water fillers

[calypso]

Hi been reading old posts on this subject and see that one or two people where thinking of trying to go back to the old system ....did any one do so and where did you get it done and what was the cost thank you

[AndyB]

Hi,

 

Our 2011 Elddis Sunseeker 155 came with the Whale system as standard.

 

I honestly find it a great system to use.

 

One of the criticisms of Elddis is the small 45 ltr tank. Using the aquaroll it doubles capacity

to 90 plus 10 in the water heater.

 

Just back from a great weekend at Lincoln Park Fam in Oxford. We had a serviced pitch so the

m/home was hooked up to our own water supply via the Whale attachment. This was great as

it self filled and I switched off the water supply last night to save any waste.

 

Makes me wonder how many owners brim their 100 plus litre tanks, only to dump most of

it when they leave pitches after a night or so ?

[calypso]

Hi thanks for the reply ...the system i suppose is ideal if you use your van like that ,but we travel mostly in france and use the aires and to put out a n Aqua roll is considered as camping ....I would have thought,so it would be much better to go for the old way if possible .Maybe some body out there has done it . but thanks again for your help .

[Rayjsj]

My Autocruise has a Truma 'Crystal 2' filler, which means that a pump or special attachment is required on the end of a standard hose to fill the tank.

A problem at first, but I overcame it by fitting a 'truma plug'

on the end of my standard filler hose for tank filling, and kept the Pump to use with a water container, if we stay on a site for a few days.

Couldn't find a 'Whale Plug' on it's own for sale on E-Bay, but there are a few attached to pumps at reasonable prices.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Whale-Watermaster-caravan-water-pump-/110849276728?pt=UK_Campervan_Caravan_Accessories&hash=item19cf21bb38

 

or what about this one ??

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ref-69-Whale-Plug-Assembly-Use-Dual-Connector-/200728785168?pt=UK_Campervan_Caravan_Accessories&hash=item2ebc5e3110

. Ray

 

PS Our 'truma' Plug;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Truma-Carver-Crystal-MK2-Hose-Adaptor-Plug-40060-60800-/160754989247?pt=UK_Campervan_Caravan_Accessories&hash=item256dbe78bf

[calypso]

Hi ray thanks for that but we have the hose and the pump...thats not the problem .We want to be able to put afew watering canfuls in to just top up without having to move the van to the water tap?????And also we usually put some milton in first trip of the year swish it around then empty ....how can we do this with this pump system .creatures of habit or just left behind with technology???

[Mel B]

Perhaps you could get one of the plugs (shown in the last link above) and see if one of these funnels below would push onto it, if not perhaps a piece of hose between the funnel and the plug would work, to allow you to poor water into the tank?

 

If you want to use a hose only, would it just push onto the connector on the plug anyway?

 

I don't think you have to use the pump at all do you????

:-S

[Mel B]

Thinking about this some more, as the black type of funnel (it's actually a fuel funnel*) comes in 2 parts, it may be that you could attach the 'bendy bit' to your watering can spout and the end of it could be cut to size to fit the plug tightly enough, to negate the need for the larger part of the funnel at all?

 

*They usuall cost £1 and on ours we removed the filter which sits at the base of the large funnel part as it makes it quicker to get the water in.

[Rayjsj]

I always carry a small watering can, for topping up the toilet flush tank, I also use this for topping up the fresh water tank, by putting in the pump and pumping the water in. 2 or 3 is usually enough.

I have also now bought a Water carrier, a squarish 'Fiamma' one as it fits under one of our bed boxes. Use the pump to pump the water in. Not a problem now. Ray

 

you can pump a milton solution through, as long as it's not 'Neat'.

[calypso]

oh dear I don't think I'm explaining this system right...we haven't got ahole that we can pour water in . we have one of the black funnel thing thats how we topped our calypso up but the auto cruise broadway we have now can not be filled manually .It has a plug that goes into the van andthe other end fits onto the tap....we also have the fitting that goes into an aqua roll ..but we wondered can it be changed to just anhole that we could top up with the black funnel and a 5litre bottle thank you

[calypso]

oh dear I don't think I'm explaining this system right...we haven't got ahole that we can pour water in . we have one of the black funnel thing thats how we topped our calypso up but the auto cruise broadway we have now can not be filled manually .It has a plug that goes into the van andthe other end fits onto the tap....we also have the fitting that goes into an aqua roll ..but we wondered can it be changed to just anhole that we could top up with the black funnel and a 5litre bottle thank you

[Mel B]

Possibly some answers here?

 

http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=24429&posts=24

 

If the system can be 'gravity fed', rather than requiring a pressure fed (ie from a pump or mains tap), then I don't see any problem with sticking with what you already have and using my 'funnel' suggestion .... however, when we were considering buying an Autocruise van conversion with the arrangement you have I had a good shuftie at it and IMO I don't think it would be a problem to change it for what you want.

[Derek Uzzell]

calypso - 2012-03-26 11:13 PM

 

oh dear I don't think I'm explaining this system right...we haven't got ahole that we can pour water in . we have one of the black funnel thing thats how we topped our calypso up but the auto cruise broadway we have now can not be filled manually .It has a plug that goes into the van andthe other end fits onto the tap....we also have the fitting that goes into an aqua roll ..but we wondered can it be changed to just anhole that we could top up with the black funnel and a 5litre bottle thank you

 

As far as I can see, as you have the ability to connect the water-inlet of your Autocruise to a water tap (as well as to an external water container), there's little genuine incentive to try to convert to a traditional 'hole-in-the-sidewall' water-filling arrangement. I can appreciate that you might like to continue with the practice you became accustomed to employ with your Calypso, but the amount of work involved to convert from the system you've now got to the Calypso's type must surely outweigh any potential benefits of 'watering-can' filling.

 

I've been motorcaravanning since 1998, much of the time using French aires. Both of my motorhomes had a tradition 'hole-type' filler-inlet and I don't remember ever filling either of the vehicle's water-tanks other than by connecting a hose directly to a water tap (which, apparently, you can do). In fact, with my present Hobby - that has the internal feed-hose running near-horizontally from filler-inlet to water-tank - trying to fill the Hobby's tank other than via a hose would be impracticable.

 

Funnily enough, on a French aire last Saturday, I saw a Chausson owner doing exactly what you want to do. He was walking to the service-pedestal (no more than 10 metres away) with a small plastic container, filling the container with water and then decanting the water into the motorhome through its standard filler-inlet. He made at least five trips in all, managing in the process to get a significant quantity of water all over the tarmac where the motorhome was parked. There may have been a good reason for not using a hose (like he'd forgotten to bring one), but it seemed a perverse way of going about things to me.

 

How difficult it might be to alter a a Broadway's water-system will depend on the original Autocruise design, and you should be able to make a reasonsable value-judgement about this by inspecting how water currently gets from the inlet to the tank. I think it won't be easy and, personally, I think it would be a mistake to attempt it. If you MUST top up your motorhome's tank without moving the vehicle, why can't you do as Ray does and use a smallish watering-can to carry water from the service-pedestal and then pump the water from watering-can to water tank via the 12V submersible pump that you'd drop into an Aquaroll. You could also use this technique to introduce Milton into the water tank should you so choose (though it perhaps needs saying that chlorine-related products like Milton aren't recommended for sterilising Truma water-heating appliances).

[Rayjsj]

calypso - 2012-03-25 6:05 PM

 

Hi been reading old posts on this subject and see that one or two people where thinking of trying to go back to the old system ....did any one do so and where did you get it done and what was the cost thank you

 

We seem to be going around in circles in this post ? So, going back to the begining: No, I hav'nt converted my 'Special' Whale or Truma 'Pump' type filler for a 'Standard' one (because I 'overcame' the problem, see previous posts.) But it can be done, here is one on Amazon :

http://www.amazon.co.uk/CARAVAN-MOTORHOME-SQUARE-WATER-FILLER/dp/B005NY5ASK

All that would be needed to be done would be to remove the original filler, and replace it with one like this. CAK tanks do a similar Filler. (now why didn't I say that in the first place ??)

*-) Ray

[calypso]

Thank you all so much ..you've been really patient explaining everything I think we will stick with what we've got and see how we get on thanks once again jean

[calypso]

Hi me again what dummies we are.....just been and tried the pump ...didn't realise you could pump it in ...we thought it had to sit there until you turned the tap on .so sorry to have troubled you all..feel a right fool

[Derek Uzzell]

Rayjsj - 2012-03-27 11:28 AM

 

calypso - 2012-03-25 6:05 PM

 

Hi been reading old posts on this subject and see that one or two people where thinking of trying to go back to the old system ....did any one do so and where did you get it done and what was the cost thank you

 

We seem to be going around in circles in this post ? So, going back to the begining: No, I hav'nt converted my 'Special' Whale or Truma 'Pump' type filler for a 'Standard' one (because I 'overcame' the problem, see previous posts.) But it can be done, here is one on Amazon :

http://www.amazon.co.uk/CARAVAN-MOTORHOME-SQUARE-WATER-FILLER/dp/B005NY5ASK

All that would be needed to be done would be to remove the original filler, and replace it with one like this. CAK tanks do a similar Filler. (now why didn't I say that in the first place ??)

*-) Ray

 

I believe you'd find that converting from a Whale filling system to a traditional one could be much less straightforward than you are suggesting.

 

The difficulty is likely to lie not in replacing the original Whale "Watermaster" ES1000 filler-inlet with a conventional inlet of the type being advertised on Amazon, but in modifying the original system 'downstream' of the ES1000 inlet to accommodate water being gravity-fed to the water tank.

 

There's a picture of an ES1000 inlet here:

 

http://www.marshallleisure.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=150594

 

It will be seen that the rear of an ES1000 carries a relatively small-diameter outlet spigot on to which the hose leading to the water tank will be attached. Logically, there will be a similar small-diameter inlet-fitting on the water tank to accept the other end of that hose.

 

So it's not a matter of just replacing the Whale ES1000 inlet with a conventional design of inlet - there will also be a need to replace the original hose between the Whale inlet and the water tank with a much larger diameter hose that will connect to the outlet of the replacement conventional filler and to replace the inlet-fitting on the tank with a fitting that matches the new wide-bore hose.

 

However, the real show-stopper may emerge if the motorhome manufacturer has exploited the fact that the Whale system does not demand a large-diameter hose connecting filler-inlet and water tank and has positioned the inlet and tank accordingly. A small-bore hose can curve through bends and spaces where a 'conventional' large-bore hose won't go. This is why I suggested checking what Autocruise had done with their Broadway model to gain an idea of the practicability of retro-fitting a system that would cope with watering-can filling.