Hi there,

The days of taking forever to fill my water tanks are gone, now empty to full in under four minutes.

The problem was the vent tube passing under the chassis cross members in four place on it's way back to the filler & water collecting in these four places was back pressuring the tank.

I have re-routed the vent tube through the floor, up into the top of the cupboard under the sink, through a u-bend in the top of the cupboard then back down & through the floor to the outside of the van.

The u-bend is higher than the filler, so the water overflows out the filler, rather than the vent tube.

However, should something go wrong, the vent tube will drain out under the van rather than in the cupboard.

I have fitted a plastic in line fuel filter to the outlet of the vent (under the floor) to keep dust & insects out of the tube.

Tips;-
1) Use an elbow under the floor in the inlet to the cupboard so the tube can't get kinked.

2) Make a u-bend from two elbows connected by a piece of tube. The u-bend can be mounted in the top of the cupboard with a saddle.

3) Mount the filter with the arrow toward the tube, that way you will be able to see any dust or insects in the filter.

I have always used the filler attachment (see link), however I still had the problem until I re-routed the vent tube.

http://i684.photobucket.com/albums/vv206/tartrekka/WATERTANKFILLER.jpg

Tar Trekka,

Similar to the one I made about 6 years ago (see attached photo). The other photo shows why I had problems filling my tank. Like you had to modify the outlet.

Cheers

Errol

Got one of these from Ebay America - works well too - needs a thread adaptor

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/RV-Camper-Economy-Water-Tank-Filler-w-Shut-off-Valve_W0QQitemZ220543556841QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMotors_RV_Trailer_Camper_Parts_Accessories?hash=item33596b9ce9

regards

Hi Errol,

I found by using a smaller diameter filler hose, until the tank is almost half full air can escape back through the filler tube.

As the water enters the tank half way up the tank, it's important for the air to be able to escape via the breather tube once the tank is half full.

If the air can't escape via the breather tube, from half tank to full tank takes forever.

While we are on the subject of water tanks .

I just discovered that the level gauge gave me a wrong reading, when the boss was having a shower!!

some choice words came flying out of the shower.

I thought we still hada one tank full, when both were actually empty!

Now I have to work out how the indicator works.

I will check my breather pipes as well and see if i can get an improvement when filling up

Women just don't have a sense of humour.

All these issues are near and not so dear to me...

Firstly, I simply cannot fill the tanks using that short length of hose trick..., the water just pours out the filler no matter how I fiddle with it. I have found the most effective way for me is to use a trigger nozzle pushed hard into the filler.

But, it seems to take forever to fill even when the pressure of the hose is good. It has me looking to see if water is squirting out underneath somewhere.

In Tamworth recently we were on an unpowered site but within a (twin) hose length of water and I was staggered how quickly we seemed to go through water. We were having very quick 'birdbath' showers and taking it easy with dishwashing but still, according to the twin guages, I was running out of water in under two days...then I realised that the guages, like Ruperts, tell lies so thought I would see how long they lasted after the reading empty...another two days...mmmmm. But that doesn't explain why it takes so long to fill if that is the case. I have twin 90l tanks by the way.

Hi Deke Had a jayco in a previous life and had problems filling the tanks till a jayco spare parts fellow told me to wrap a hankey around the end of the hose and hold it in hard in the filler tube and that fixed it just like you are doing with the trigger nozzel it then filled right to the bream Yours Loub

Hi there,

Be very wary filling tanks by using pressure.

The back part of the filler is usually just a push on fit & you can easily blow it off & fill your van with water.

I bumped the back off mine with a funnel & of course the filler is in a place where it's not very easy to get to, particularly if like me your arms aren't 6 feet long.

I did get it back on & put a big hose clamp around it.

If the air can't get out of the tank, the water can't get into the tank.

It's a good idea to separate your tanks, so if you get a leak, you don't lose all your water.

Also if you draw from one tank at a time, you don't get caught with two empty tanks at the same time & upset "The Bride" when she is in the shower.

Deke,

If fitted a guage to my water tank recently. If you have a guage like the one in the photo which is the same as mine. It should be installed as follows. Photo 1 shows the tank sender unit. Photo 3 shows the sender unit being fitted into the tank, the sender unit then has to be revolved in a clockwise direction until the end of the sender unit hits the bottom of the tank before you commence to tighten up the nut only hand tight.

If you have the same guage I think that the sender unit in your tank isn,t resting on the bottom of the tank and would be giving a false reeading. Simple to fix , just look at the tank and the sender unit should be at the back of it to prevent stones knocking it . Just loosen the plastic nut a bit and turn the sender unit till it hits the bottom of the tank and tighten the plastic nut up again.

Hope this helps you.