Few Newbie Questions!

[ric71]

Hi all. Weve only recently bought our first caravan a cheap 91 Abbey Piper 14. 5 and have spent our first night in it on a local CC site. It was excellent! Beds comfy, extremely cosy in the evenings, no real problems. However, I do have a few newbie questions if thats ok;

 

When the water pump was inserted into the external (full) container it started to buzz as soon as I connected it up (with no taps running in the van). I assumed it was just priming the system and that it would soon stop, but it didnt! In the end I had to disconnect it. Can anyone shed and light?

The van has a 3-way fridge and gas heater. In spite of there being plenty of gas in the cylinder neither worked (although the fridge was fine on mains hook-up). I followed the instructions carefully but neither gave off a gassy smell when I tried to get them going. However, the hob / oven works fine. Is there a separate shut-off for the fridge and heater somewhere or can anyone suggest a cure? It could be theyre both broken but wanted to look for alternative causes first;

Finally, the van has an electric toilet. Is it essential to use the 2 chemicals in the respective tanks (waste and clean)? Would any household cleaners do?

 

Apologies for such a huge post! Once Ive got these basics sorted I promise Ill go quiet! Cheers all.

 

[Brecon]

As far as the water pump is concerned, it depends whether it is controlled by microswitches in the taps or a pressure switch which is normally located near the water inlet.

 

Regarding the gas appliances I expect that they have not been serviced for a long time, so I would recommend getting a mobile engineer to service them to ensure your safety.

 

The toilet should use the correct chemical in the waste tank,Thetford Aquachem or similar.

Use ordinary plain water in the flush tank.

 

I would also guess that the van probably has not been serviced, so it maybe better to get the whole thing serviced so that you know everything is working, and you can ask the engineer how different things work at the same time.

Edited September 15, 2014 by Brecon

[ric71]

Thanks a lot Brecon. Re the pump, there's a water pressure adjuster near the inlet connector. What would I need to do to that? I'd have thought that would purely control the rate at which water is pumped rather than WHETHER the pump is on / off?

[OWOMW]

If it's a Whale pressure switch then this might help

 

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

 

The switch can be sensitive to voltage, so best set it when connected to electric hook up if this is what you normally use.

 

Fully charged battery will be 12. 8 volts, but when EHU connected the charger will be supplying about 13. 5 volts.

[ric71]

Many thanks all - much appreciated.

[Coldog]

We use a green (i. e. eco-friendly) liquid that can be used in both the tank and the flush, can't remember what brand it is but it is one of the big names. I got fed up with faffing with 2 bottles.

 

There should be a separate gas tap for the fridge and heater near each appliance. These allow each appliance to be isolated.

[zen]

I agree with the recommended servicing. When I got my first van I took it out and stopped on a ex- quarry camp site. when I woke the next morning and got out of the van I smelled gas, not realising it was from a rotten pipe on my heater I went to the office and asked if anyone had reported any smell from the site, they hadn't so I went back to my van and turned off the gas, the smell went almost immediately. I reckon I was lucky. I never used the gas for the rest of the hol. and when we got home had the van serviced and as mentioned above, a rotted pipe was found. that was just another learning curve for me.