What did you do to your van today?

Landyseverywhere said:
I did the same a while ago ( used a length of threaded stainless bar from Screwfix) then made a heat exchanger to go in the tank and power it from a hydronic diesel heater..so now LPG,diesel 240v ..diesel does full tank to 65c under 15 mins...also added digital thermostat for diesel and gas control
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Ooh that’s clever. Good thinking as well as good engineering. I guess you might have been able to divert your engine hot water to the water as well. Depends how far away the Carver is.
When I got Hardly my new 1999 Autosleeper someone had ripped out the original Carver gas heater and installed a rubbish Chinese diesel heater. I don’t understand Chinglish and whoever threw together the ‘instructions’ didn’t know English . I bought a used Webasto diesel heater for about £300 and fitted that. Now, I think I should have bought a replacement Carver gas heater. All the fittings, chimney and wiring were there and those fan assisted convector gas heaters I think are wonderful. It would have been cheaper to buy than a used Webasto and as I have refillable gas I guess about the same cost to run.
 
Can someone please enlighten me? I have heard many a tale of woe on crappy microswitches that are and never have been fit for purpose. What is it that stops you from fitting a regular water pump with a built in pressure switch, thus removing the need for a microswitch? Is it that the taps don’t actually block the flow of water when they are turned off?
 
Well, so much for fitting the inverter, I (wrongly) assumed it would work, so I mounted it, did a nice, neat job with the cabling, turned it on, the display lit up showing the battery voltage, I though it odd that the fan was running with no load, and didn't like that, bit carried on, and tested it by plugging in the Dyson V6 vac charger, bang, blew the supplyline fuse, it did it twice more so out the fecker came and I rang Amazon to send it back.

So I thought, stuff it, and I've gone to the dark blue side. I want stuff to just work.

 
Fitting a Shurflo pump with its pressure valve is a blooming obvious thing that anyone with a Whale submersible should do. What I don’t understand is why these taps with microswitches ever existed and why people persistently persist, nay and persevere in trying to fix them. Is there some reason for cracking your knuckles on sharp bits of plastic or metal under the sink and bruising your skin all over the place when trying to fit new, ridiculously expensive microswitches? In other words, what would happen if you just fitted a shurflo and pressure switch in the water supply pipe from the tank? Do these stupid microswitch taps actually clamp the water supply when they are turned off? If they do, then just go and fit a sensible pressure controlled pump, saunter off down the pub and enjoy the rest of the afternoon.
 
gasgas said:
Fitting a Shurflo pump with its pressure valve is a blooming obvious thing that anyone with a Whale submersible should do. What I don’t understand is why these taps with microswitches ever existed and why people persistently persist, nay and persevere in trying to fix them. Is there some reason for cracking your knuckles on sharp bits of plastic or metal under the sink and bruising your skin all over the place when trying to fit new, ridiculously expensive microswitches? In other words, what would happen if you just fitted a shurflo and pressure switch in the water supply pipe from the tank? Do these stupid microswitch taps actually clamp the water supply when they are turned off? If they do, then just go and fit a sensible pressure controlled pump, saunter off down the pub and enjoy the rest of the afternoon.
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On the vans I've had fitted with micro switches, all they did was turn the pump on and off.
 
. . . . But did they have tap washers that stopped the air draining back down the pipes? I guess they must have done because if not, when you turned on the cold tap in the washroom, water must have come out of the hot tap plus the taps in the kitchen sink. If that didn’t happen then when the microswitches break all you need to do is to fit a pump with a pressure sensitive switch.
 
Tidied up the wiring from the new bathroom sink tap, clipping the cables back together at the top of the flexible conduit, and tucked the microswitch wires out of [potential] harms way. Rebuilt the bathroom undersink cabinet and refixed the 2 x shower cubicle screen screws that had been 'fixed' in situ with a gobbet of mastic. Gathered all the tools together and packed them away in their allotted spaces. One of those 'most of the day' 30 minute jobs that went on ad infinitum ...

Steve
 
gasgas said:
. . . . But did they have tap washers that stopped the air draining back down the pipes? I guess they must have done because if not, when you turned on the cold tap in the washroom, water must have come out of the hot tap plus the taps in the kitchen sink. If that didn’t happen then when the microswitches break all you need to do is to fit a pump with a pressure sensitive switch.
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Not as far as I am aware - the tap is either on or off and the microswitch clicks when the opening or closing switch is operated. 5 years ownership and 550+ nights away and the taps have always worked like this, without air locks or suction problems. The bathroom sink tap is a Mixer Tap - cold direct supply from freshwater tank; hot water supplied by freshwater tank via the Truma 6 Heater, and a constant feed to keep the 10 litres topped up when showering etc, albeit ever cooler as the cold water replaces the previous heated water 'stock'

'Fit a pump with a pressure sensitive switch' is not an option - the existing pump works fine and, after 1 microswitch failure in more than 5 years [kitchen tap replaced en toto 2 years or so ago when the drip from the failing cartridge could not be arrested], that's looking for a problem at which to throw more money. I also have no space to accommodate 2nd pumps/rejigged pipework et al

Steve
 
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