peacock312 Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 Hi, As we came back from Spain due to problem early Dec, spent first Dec. Jan in UK for 9 yrs. Drained down van,drained fully fresh water tank[,inside van],opened frost valve,ran pump untill taps dry,put shower head on floor,left all taps open, today put water in tank,switched on pump water gushing everywhere, the kitchen tap has two push fit connectors,right in behind sink of centre kitchen,one had simply blown,also the bathroom tap had blown its pushfit connector,i managed to refit both,But you need to be a bl###y contornsionist to do this, i dont believe that if i had left any heating on it would have been any good as especially the bathroom pipes feed up through the outside of toilet box which is very exposed & cold,my van is a Adria coral, Does anyone else ever get this problem,if no what did i do wrong??? Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 Sounds like you did everything right, just wondering when you left the taps open was the mixer tap on the one that froze set to one side so that either the hot (or cold) was still closed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 Every winter the water systems of many motorhomes, caravans, boats and houses will be damaged by freezing. Even though you followed standard, best-practice procedures for draining down, you still had problems and I'm sure other people will too. You might want to browse through this selection of earlier threads on the subject: http://tinyurl.com/ag43oqo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggyd Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 the kitchen tap has two push fit connectors,right in behind sink of centre kitchen,one had simply blown,also the bathroom tap had blown its pushfit connector I think that that might just be the problem :-S we have never had this problem with our last motorhome or caravans ! Im dreading turning on the water for the first time in our new van as this has the same push in connectors I think, and Ive been reading on the Swift forum about people having trouble with them on the previous models!! the excuse seems to be that the jubilee clips had been over tightened and cracked something or other.!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peacock312 Posted January 27, 2013 Author Share Posted January 27, 2013 Thanks Lenny,i think you have hit the nail on the head,never thought about right or left of the mixers, BUT i will in future!!! Thanks Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malc d Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 peacock312 - 2013-01-27 8:30 PM Thanks Lenny,i think you have hit the nail on the head,never thought about right or left of the mixers, BUT i will in future!!! Thanks Dave. Had a similar problem myself last year when I had ' opened ' all the taps but one was not centred ( or got nudged sideways at some time ) and we had a leak on our first trip out. Costly, and hard to get at to fit a new tap ! ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly58 Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 As we are all aware the majority of motorhome water pipe work is 12mm plastic with push on fittings , when we had our Autosleeper the fittings were a light cream colour which did not grip the pipe especially when really cold and moved under pressure causing leaks . Apparantly this was a problem throughout the motorhome industry . Our motorhome was returned to AutoSleeper and all the fittings were replaced by the better quality black ones no more leaks !! . My son being a builder / plumber said he could not understand why the pipework did not have any 12mm inserts in the pipe ends which stiffen up the joint and avoids leaks . When we get our new motorhome I will be putting inserts in all the pipe ends to illiminate any future leaks as they are only a few pence each , but well worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 Even after 'traditional' draining, there's always the potential with a tap/shower-mixer for sufficient water to drain back into the tap/mixer body and the hoses connected to it, and for that water to freeze in cold weather and crack the body or detach a connector. Plainly (unless you put an antifreeze solution in the system) it will be worthwhile making every realistic effort to remove as much water as possible from the water system when draining-down the motorhome. One option is use compressed air to blow water out of the pipework as desctibed in the link I provided earlier: another is to use a wet-and-dry vacuum cleaner jury-rigged to the taps to suck water out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 kelly58 - 2013-01-28 8:58 AM As we are all aware the majority of motorhome water pipe work is 12mm plastic with push on fittings , when we had our Autosleeper the fittings were a light cream colour which did not grip the pipe especially when really cold and moved under pressure causing leaks . Apparantly this was a problem throughout the motorhome industry . Our motorhome was returned to AutoSleeper and all the fittings were replaced by the better quality black ones no more leaks !! . My son being a builder / plumber said he could not understand why the pipework did not have any 12mm inserts in the pipe ends which stiffen up the joint and avoids leaks . When we get our new motorhome I will be putting inserts in all the pipe ends to illiminate any future leaks as they are only a few pence each , but well worth it. Although I've no statistics to prove it, it's likely that the majority of motorhomes do not have 12mm semi-rigid plastic water pipework with push-fit (John Guest-type) connectors. Historically, hose-and-clip pipework was the norm and many Continental European motorhome manufacturers (like Hobby) continue to employ 'flexible' water hoses with worm-drive-clip connections. Although 'inserts' are used in the building/plumbing trade when flexible hose is employed, the hoses involved are not the semi-rigid type used in leisure vehicles. I'm aware of reports of problems with 'grey' JG fittings in leisure vehicles, but I don't know if this was because those fittings were cheap-and-nasty or there was a general quality-control issue with them. The main supplier of JG fittings to the leisure-vehicle industry was Whale. Whale fittings used to be black, but now they are grey(ish). I don't know if the problematical grey JG fittings Auto-Sleepers used were from Whale or where the black replacements came from. Information on Whale's leisure-vehicle "Quick Connect" plumbing system is here: http://www.whalepumps.com/rv/siteFiles/resources/docs/resource-library/RV_quick_connect_plumbing_datasheet.pdf You'll note that, in the Installation Guide, no mention is made of fitting inserts to the semi-rigid pipework, and inserts are not included in the "Plumbing" fittings section. If a different sort of hose (ie. not the semi-rigid type) were used with these fittings, then inserts MIGHT be required. However, if your new motorhome has JG fittings and 12mm semi-rigid pipework, a) inserts will be unnecessary and b) I don't think you'd be able to obtain suitable inserts in any case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 maggyd - 2013-01-27 5:11 PM the kitchen tap has two push fit connectors,right in behind sink of centre kitchen,one had simply blown,also the bathroom tap had blown its pushfit connector I think that that might just be the problem :-S we have never had this problem with our last motorhome or caravans ! Im dreading turning on the water for the first time in our new van as this has the same push in connectors I think, and Ive been reading on the Swift forum about people having trouble with them on the previous models!! the excuse seems to be that the jubilee clips had been over tightened and cracked something or other.!! This earlier forum thread relates to tap-connection problems with a 2011 Autocruise Accent: http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Hints-and-Tips/Advice-request-Water-Leaks/24844/#M277036 I don't believe it has any direct relevance Dave's Adria Coral 'freezing' problem, as his motorhome's tap has push-fit connectors, whereas the Autocruise Accent, it would seem, uses worm-drive-clip connectors. Looking pragmatically at the two connector types, if water freezes in a push-fit connector there's a sporting chance the connector will detach without damage to the tap resulting. Conversely, with a worm-drive-clip connector, if water freezes in it there's a good chance damage will occur. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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