What type goes in here

[Petest]

Hi folks.

 

What type of water pump (?) goes in here?

My manual says a pump but not what make.

[Keithl]

Hi,

 

It looks like a 'Bullfinch' brand water inlet point... Link to Google.

 

It looks like a standard garden Hozelock hose fitting may fit directly on to it.

 

Keith.

[Derek Uzzell]

I believe the photo is of a 12V electrical socket that allows an external submersible water-pump to be powered to take water from, say, an Aqua-Roll and feed it into the motorhome’s normal water-filling point.

 

Pete’s motorhome is a 2008 Elddis 100 and the relevant handbook mentions that its fresh-water tank can be filled directly via a hose in the usual manner, or by using the external pump supplied with the vehicle and a water container. No details of the pump are given, nor how it is employed.

 

However, the 2005 Elddis motorhome handbook is more forthcoming

 

http://www.elddis.co.uk/documents/Brochures/2005/motorhome-handbook.pdf

 

and - on Page 14 - describes in more detail the two ways in which the tank can be filled, with photos showing the external water-container/pump method.

 

I don’t know for sure what Elddis would have provided when Petest’s motorhome was new, but I’m guessing it was a version of the Whale product shown here:

 

http://www.whalepumps.com/rv/product.aspx?Category_ID=10010&Product_ID=9&FriendlyID=Portable-Pump-Kit

 

http://www.whalepumps.com/rv/siteFiles/resources/docs/resource-library/portable_pump_kit.pdf

[Alanb]

Having looked at the link provided by Derek, may I suggest that we are looking at a DIN 12V socket outlet.

 

I have several of these sockets in my PVC and the picture in the original post does look like a DIN socket (I am referring to the black centre part not the mounting plate and flap.)

 

When we first started motorhoming nearly 25 years ago I used an "Amazon" submersible pump and suitable large mouthed water container to top up the on board fresh water tank.

 

The Amazon pump was chosen for its high delivery rate, so as to reduce the time spent exposed to Scottish or similar midges when refilling.

 

The advantage of this method of refilling is that you are not restricted by hose length when refilling. In those distant days motorhome service points were a rarity.

[Derek Uzzell]

There’s no real doubt over what the thing in Petest’s photo is.

 

A participant in the following Caravan Club discussion

 

http://www.caravanclub.co.uk/community/discussions/technical-and-advice/motorhomes/12v-water-pump-with-cigarette-lighter-connection/rt/477211/?p=0

 

says "Our previous Autoquest 100 came with a submersible pump wired to a Euro plug to use with the external socket fitted to the van...”

 

As shown in the Whale-related links I provided the Whale Portable Pump Kit includes a submersible pump fitted with a cable that has an electrical plug on the end and a 3.75m-long food-quality hose. Also included is a 3.75m-long cable fitted with crocodile clips and a ‘cigar-lighter type’ connector into which the water-pump’s plug can be inserted. (This would probably be superfluous in Petest’s case as the motorhome is already fitted with a 12V socket.)

 

I expect the Portable Pump Kit’s £40+ asking price could easily be beaten by a DIYer, but at least the kit is readily available. If I were in Petest’s position, before forking out for a kit I would want to be (reasonably) confiident that its plug did actually fit properly in the Elddis’s 12V socket and that 12V was actually present at the socket. I assume that the Elddis-fitted socket takes a standard ‘dashboard’ plug so - if no multimeter is available - plugging, say, a sat-nav’s 12V power lead into the socket should test whether or not the socket is ‘live’.

[Petest]

Thanks guys. That's helped clear up that little mystery.

 

I don't plan on filling the tank other than with a 10 litre bottle every now and again.

 

Curiosity got me asking as I can't leave something unknown once I've started looking at it.

 

Thanks again