Burstner water issue.

Ok we open the white filler cap and fill until the water starts to flow out. At that point can we all agree the tank is full?

We drive and arrive and when we do the tank meter says 75% and on opening the hatch and looking at the tank the level has dropped to below the shoulder which to my eye is roughly 20 litres. No sign of it on the road that I have spotted and no wet around the tank so dammed if I know which is why I am asking....

B2
 
Borders2 said:
Ok we open the white filler cap and fill until the water starts to flow out. At that point can we all agree the tank is full?

We drive and arrive and when we do the tank meter says 75% and on opening the hatch and looking at the tank the level has dropped to below the shoulder which to my eye is roughly 20 litres. No sign of it on the road that I have spotted and no wet around the tank so dammed if I know which is why I am asking....

B2
Click to expand...

No I don't agree, the tank is only filled to the bottom of the filler opening when it flows out. There
could be 20litres of air above this. Your water gauge may not be calibrated to allow for this.
When you fill up 'on the level' and before you move what does the gauge read?
Need Sherlock on this I think.
 
Ok, I assume that you have primed the water heater and taps before traveling, if not did you do that before you looked at the tank level? Does it drop to the same level every time or keep falling even without internal use of facilities? If the answers are no and yes, I would be investigating all the internal pipe work for a leak or split/damaged tank.
 
So what happens if you fill up on site and don’t move ? Or use any water

Eg overnight
 
We willd camp. As stated at the beginning.

How can someone not agree the tank is full when it is filled up to the point it begins to flow out the filling point? Sorry but.... and on that point we are not going by the internal gauges but by visually looking at the tank. The gauges obviously can be considerably off like all instruments.

No we have not been running the hot water as without draining down between trips why would the hot be empty but I take the point so will try that this morning and see what happens.
Thanks.
 
Hi. On my kontiki and also on my current autotrail. I had the same problem. Leave home ,visually check tank. Full. Arrive at destination. Lost a third of a tank. Visual check. My cure was fitting a cheap plastic drain tap on end of tank overflow pipe. Then when filling ,leave tap open till it overflows. Close tap when travelling When arriving open tap no rush to open. This I found to cure the problem. I have noticed on my travels that some motorhomes have water coming out of the rearoverflow when they are going up hills. It worked for me
 
This mornings experiment so far... Filled tank and checked hot and cold water lines, no air at all. Now waiting for the boiler to get up to 40C and will check the hot again.

I am leaning towards Carrots line of thinking as the water has to be going somewhere and it's not visible in the habitat nor is it filling an air space so logically it's leaving the vehicle totally while moving.
 
Borders2 said:
We willd camp. As stated at the beginning.

How can someone not agree the tank is full when it is filled up to the point it begins to flow out the filling point? Sorry but.... and on that point we are not going by the internal gauges but by visually looking at the tank. The gauges obviously can be considerably off like all instruments
Thanks.
Click to expand...

Well I can! Seriously, as far as I can see your tank water inlet is in the side
ovbiously at the top?
When you fill the tank it will only fill to the bottom of the inlet before it
starts overflowing, but this wouldn't be the very top of the tank would it?
But forget everything I've written if I've misinterpretated the pic.
 
Well in my offshore oil experience of some 3 decades a tank can only be filled until it is unable to take any more whether due to the inlet leaving heading or the overflow running. Either way the tank cannot be filled any more and so is "full". End of.

Anyway, the boiler made no odds, there was no air in the system so I am now thinking its an overflow of some sort but how to find it is the next issuse.
 
Remove that red inspection cap, try filling with a hose. How full would
the tank be before water came pouring out. Your actual filler appears to be
much the same, although not so obvious.
Of course when you fill up you turn all taps on to make sure the boiler is primed
all pipes full ie no airlocks, then top up tank. Turn the pump on listen for intermittent stop/start.
Then check the tank see if it needs topping up. if it does you have a leak under
pump pressure perhaps the boiler relief valve is u/s. Repeat the process with pump off relieve the
pressure by turning a tap on for a second or 2, if you need to top up then it's a leak under no pressure.
If the tank requires no topping up testing while stationery, but you do need to top up after a run then
of course that suggests leakage or overflowing out of the unpressurised part of the system, ie the storage tank
and connections. Time to lay down a few telltales.
 
Why are you so bothered , a full tank of water is heavy and will use fuel why not drive with minimum amount and fill when you arrive

Why drive with 100 plus kg of extra weight when you can get it for free at next site


Danger of modifying overflow is you could forget to open stop tap , you also need it open as a breather to allow air in to replace water used up

Do you have plenty of spare payload to drive with this extra load .?
 
Good grief because as stated at least twice already we wild camp. There is nowhere to top up from! Losing 25 litres makes the odds between another night where we are or having to make a move.

Daygoboy we are at the point where all you have mentioned is done and eliminated. So it seems there is some sort of overflow line we need to find and adapt.
 
Nothing worse than arriving at a meet in bad weather than having to fill water tanks ?.the extra fuel used is. miniscule .compared to a headwind .
 
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Yep, can be difficult remote diagnosing a problem. Nearly always offends to some degree
suggesting the obvious, such has "have you tried the light switch" if someone
asks why doesn't my light work! I speak from experience!
 
As the tank is not completely draining it isn’t the main bung in the bottom of the tank. If the system is fully primed and it still happens when driving that really only leaves the possibility of an overflow pipe which is syphoning once water gets into the tube after going round corners etc. A small bore overflow may not leave a visible trail as you are driving.............
 
daygoboy said:
Remove that red inspection cap, try filling with a hose. How full would
the tank be before water came pouring out. Your actual filler appears to be
much the same, although not so obvious.
Of course when you fill up you turn all taps on to make sure the boiler is primed
all pipes full ie no airlocks, then top up tank. Turn the pump on listen for intermittent stop/start.
Then check the tank see if it needs topping up. if it does you have a leak under
pump pressure perhaps the boiler relief valve is u/s. Repeat the process with pump off relieve the
pressure by turning a tap on for a second or 2, if you need to top up then it's a leak under no pressure.
If the tank requires no topping up testing while stationery, but you do need to top up after a run then
of course that suggests leakage or overflowing out of the unpressurised part of the system, ie the storage tank
and connections. Time to lay down a few telltales.
Click to expand...
This isn’t a pressuried system, all taps have microswitches.
We have the same water tank in our Burstner, there is no overflow pipe.
when I fill ours up ( till water gets to bottom of filler neck) the gauge shows 100%). generally, if we then travel anywhere, the gauge shows 75% with no water drawn off.
But, if after filling and just opening the tap for a short time means the gauge then shows 75% with less than a litre removed.
I know I have read the whole thread but probably missed the answer to this, but, if you fill up, travel then fill up again ( when you think you have lost 20 litres ( which is an awful lot of lost water) how much water can you get in ? ( you’ll need to take a 25 litre water container with you! )

( edit...just a quick note about the water levels and gauge indication, our tank still shows 75% full till the water drops to half full, then changes to 50%. So at 51% water, the gauge still shows 75% full. The gauges are not really to be relied upon fully)
 
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Unless the boiler relief valve is faulty and the boiler self empties when on the open road, or a
conventional leak which must be very unlikely with 20+ litres loss. It only leaves a faulty gauge or sensor as the
culprit. I have seen tank sensors which are not infinitely variable, but stepped so they only register at say 3
levels so you fill up 100% then you take a litre off and the next nearest level is shown, say 75% then when
just a litre or so below 75% the gauge reads 50% and so on means you've always got a bit more water than you think
in reserve.
Not the same scenario but some of those tank water level probe devices that sense the water resistance
as the level drops are a real pain. Problem is different water sources have differing resistances (minerals, pollution,) which means you have to recalibrate every time you fill, ie bleeding useless.
 
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Make sure it's full when you overnight and catch the early ferry from Calais
Then ask the bloke slung underneath if he noticed anything...
 
How about making sure everything is empty and then using a 5 or 10 litre container to refill and prime tank and boiler and count what goes in. Then drain through taps and count what comes out. Do the same fill and go for a drive and drain through tap and count. That way you know if you really are loosing water or bad gauge
 
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