Water problems

[Webmaster]

I have just imported a Heritage 640 to Australia.

Unfortunately there is no owners manual and I am trying to pump water from the water barrel into the van. On a previous van when the tap was turned on the micro switch activated the whale pump. On this van this does not seem to work. I then turned on the pump switch but the water supply is very intermittent with very little water coming through the tap. How can I resolve the problem?

Thanks,

[AllanandJackie]

Congrats on your purchase, I'm impressed!!

What year is the 640? If you let us have the 17digit Vin No etched onto each window we can confirm the Yr of Manufacture and advise you accordingly. There is a specific sequence that you need to follow and this can differ from yr to yr.

The Club does have copies of 'Owners Handbooks' on CD that we can forward to you once we know the year, if your interested. We ask for a fixed donation plus post and package, however, don't feel obligated to purchase as we are happy to help owners come what may.

[Webmaster]

The year of my Heritage 640ESD is 2004 and it has the double bed east / west across the back.

I would love to join the club but notice you require a cheque., I don't think an Australian cheque would be acceptable. To send a bankers draft would cost more than the membership. I do pay for a lot of purchases in UK by paypal. Could this be arranged. Obviously because of the distance full membership would not be of much use apart from technical information. I would have no hesitation to purchase a manual if it were feasible to pay for it.

I am also importing a 2009 Heritage 640ESD for my son and it is probably on the water now. I have been made aware that this van also does not have any paperwork with it so would be looking to also buy a CD for this also.

I import caravans from UK for sale in Australia and tend to concentrate on the various Fleetwwood models from 2003 (not the Adria clone) onwards as I consider them to be very well made and stylish compared to other UK vans. Also it helps to sell them when you own one yourself!

Kind Regards,

[AllanandJackie]

See the attached documents form the Owners Handbook on the water pump. I'm not too sure if you have an on-board pump or one that lowered into the aqua roll (water barrel) outside the caravan; think it's the latter, either way the info is in the attachments.

If it's the external pump it's NOT unusual for the pump to work, i.e., run, but not be that effective, as they do pass water over time and become less effective, so in that case I'd recommend you obtaining another unit, they also now make higher output pumps that will give both a better flow and pressure at the outlet.

Let me know how you get on, and come back to us if you need anything.

I have a 2004 & 2009 Owners Handbook should you decide to go down that road at a later date. We do accept PayPal so that can be sorted.

cheers,

[Webmaster]

The van in question has a water pump fitted in a cupboard below the sink. As the external flap on the whale was broken off and as I wanted to use the mains water connector I had to buy a new Whale fitting as the mains water pressure would blow the fitting out if it was not secured by the holder in the flap. However the new fitting I received yesterday has two spade terminals whereas the original did not have these terminals.

My question is - are there wires in the wiring harness to activate the submersible Whale pump from the micro switches in the taps or do I have to rely on the pump already fitted, which seems pretty useless and if you are using the Whale submersible does that restrict the flow with the onboard pump fitted?

If you advise the email account to send my payment to the club I would like to order both CD's of the manual.

Thanks,

[AllanandJackie]

Think you have a caravan that's had a few modifications over the years.

Firstly, the OEM setup would have been the external pump fitted in the water butt external, later models had the on-board pump, internal pressure switch and accumulator setup, which is normally better for both flow and pressure at the outlets. When you open an outlet a drop in pressure starts the pump, closing the outlet the pump continues to run until the set pressure is reached and the pump shuts down.

Is your caravan fitted with an on-board water storage tank? My guess is NO, if it has one, then that's also a later addition, and you would need the on-board water pump to continue to use the on-board tank.

The external setup would have employed a small, but adequate pump in the water butt, an adjustable separate pressure switch located on the inside of the water outlet, and of course the wiring, as you suspected would have been connected too the outlet. On opening a tap a micro switch is activated to start the pump in the water butt to initiate flow.

The internal setup is expensive when compared with the external setup.
You have to be careful with the onboard setup not to expose it to mains water pressure as this can damage the seals in the pump assembly, which I think, could have occurred with your setup from what you mention.

It's normal to restrict the mains pressure to a max of 3 bar using a pressure reducer in the mains water line, or safer to employ mains water level control in the aqua roll to maintain water in the latter then draw water from the aqua roll in the normal way.

Spares are readily available for this unit and we do have a forum thread where one of our members has done such a repair and been so kind as to give photographic step by step account of how to do this overhaul.

From what you have said so far I get the impression that you prefer to go with the external setup?? Let me know, as then I can dig out the relevant information to help you.

Hope this all makes sense.

We can sort out the Owners Handbooks for you later, was thinking that we put both the 2004 & 2009 on one CD to save on postage if that's acceptable to you

[Webmaster]

Thanks for you very detailed reply. I have two requirements for water:
1. use the water hog when town water is not available ie. camping in out of the way places like a National Park with no facilities
2. use the Whale mains pressure connector directly into the side of the van - this connector I believe is used by owners using super pitches in UK. In Australia all our caravan parks have all facilities beside the van such as town water, waste water disposal and power and in some instances TV connection.

In the van we have owned for some years (Abbey Spectrum) there is an onboard water tank as well as the facility to use either a water hog or town water. Unfortunately there is no onboard tank on the Fleetwood, which is really of little consequence as we either used the water hog or town supply. The Whale mains water connector has a pressure limiting ddevice in the unit which plugs into the van and I believe this may stop any damage to the internal pump which I sent you a photo of.

I am not sure why there is an onboard water pump at all as the submersible pump from the water barrel has always been satisfactory. I notice with the Whale inlet that there is a pressure limiting adjustment which I have not noticed before.

To answer your question re preference of operation, I really like the use of the water barrel or mains water connection to any inboard tank set up. I may investigate installing an 80 litre water tank under the van at some future date and then utilise the onboard water pump.

I would really like to see the thread your member has posted on the repair of the water system but assume it can only be accessed by members?

It would be quite acceptable to put both year models on the one CD, however the differencein postage would probably be negligible. I have quite a lot of parts posted fromUK and the cost is not exorbitant

Looking forward to your reply.

[AllanandJackie]

If you plan to use the submersible external pump you may want to look at the Whale high flow model GP1652 as opposed to the premium unit GP1352, you will have to make adjustments to the pressure cut out switch on the water inlet though.

I know Whale include pressure reducing valves on their mains water connection systems that come complete with the water hose. The early ones of these have had high failure rates too, but understand now that's all sorted.

The pressure cut out switch on the water inlet as I understand it, is there to prevent the submersible pump from running continuously, it acts as an over pressure cut out, isolating the 12 volt supply to the pump when the internal water pressure reaches the set point. This high pressure situation can happen if one of the micro switches fails allowing the submersible pump to run with the tap closed.

Of course you don't need this with the on-board pump, the latter also allows by way of a diverting valve to select the water source, internal or external, and use the same pump and maintain the same flow and pressure after the pump.

The on-board water tank is located internal and therefore weather protected, not sure you guys need or care about that though? Sure your Spectrum tank was internal also; I've had a few of them 615’s. I think it was.

Jackie, my wife, who's the Webmaster for the Club will raise an invoice on PayPal for you to pay for the Owners Handbooks in the next few days, we'll need to have an idea of the postage cost, so once we’ve been to the post office and checked the invoice will be raised. I'll also copy the tread on the pump repair and load it onto the CD for you.

[Webmaster]

A bit further investigation has revealed that the taps do not have micro switches as there are no wires coming from the taps.

I now assume that if I am to rely on the internal pump that the whale submersible pump is of no use. Does that mean that the pump will not pump water from the barrel is the submersible is fitted. I have seen a Whale aquasmart water filter/hose/plug assembly which would seem to be the answer if a pump is not required in the water hog. The model is WF3000. Would you suggest that this is the answer?

Cheers,

[AllanandJackie]

You will need to use the on-board pump. You can use a water barrel it's just a case of connecting a Whale filter and water hosr from the water inlet to the caravan to your barrel, it's a carbon filter, costs around £30 ish, comes complete with filter, water line and connector that fits the water inlet to your caravan.

You then have the alternative to either use the above or as you mention in your last e-mail you can use the WF3000 setup directly to the mains.

[Webmaster]

You have been most helpful. I will follow your advice and use the on board water pump with a Whale filter. Just a matter now of buying one on ebay and having it posted over. I hope we don't have the same trouble with the 2009 model!

Thanks heaps,

[AllanandJackie]

I think you guys will find the 2009 model is WELL sorted, no really it is, and you will be very envious of the unit your son has. We have a 2008 model and are very pleased, no, ecstatic with it, and the 2009 is better. So there you go.

Do you have any objections if we copy the communications between us on our web site for others to benefit from, your privacy will be honoured.

We do have members of our Club visiting NZ this year and going to visit with a couple that have, like you, imported a Fleetwood, it’s great that WW communications can make that possible.

We'll let you know the overall cost for the Owners Handbooks after the weekend, and then you can decide which way to go.

[Webmaster]

My son is now really looking forward to getting his hands on the 2009 model after your comments.

No objections to you posting our communications on your web site - we really don't get involved in privacy issues as that is for the younger generation to sort out.

Of course any Fleetwood owner would be welcome to stay with us in Brisbane if they venture into this part of the world. I am sure that other Fleetwood owners in Australia would also welcome visitors. I am a member of the Citroen car club and have had several members from overseas stay with us and have made good friends from this.