Abi award daystar/ cascade 2 - inlet leak

[Shellybop]

Hi,
Myself and my partner have an abi award daystar caravan fitted with a cascade 2. We have used the caravan twice with no problems. We recently went over to set the caravan up for out next holiday. We set everything up, turned on the pump which seems to be working and waited for the tank to fill up, only to find water gushing out from under the caravan, tank doesn't seem to be filling up and we have only had trickles of water from the cold water tap. Can anyone please help us find out what the problem is?

Thanks Michelle

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hi,
Myself and my partner have an abi award daystar caravan fitted with a cascade 2. We have used the caravan twice with no problems. We recently went over to set the caravan up for out next holiday. We set everything up, turned on the pump which seems to be working and waited for the tank to fill up, only to find water gushing out from under the caravan, tank doesn't seem to be filling up and we have only had trickles of water from the cold water tap. Can anyone please help us find out what the problem is?

Thanks Michelle

Hello Michelle.
A few things in your post suggest to me that you have a pre 1984 caravan. Principally the comment about water gushing out ' from under' the caravan. The only Cascade to discharge water is a Cascade Mk1. This has a red insulation jacket with a mushroom shaped copper tank in a bed locker.

The Cascade 1 has all its water connections to the tank under the caravan, as well as having a pressure relief valve, Without looking to see which of these is involved with the problem, it is difficult to provide a solid answer. There are several plastic components which over time can become brittle, and if any failed they certainly would gush water.

You may find this usefull
http://arcsystems.biz/manuals/Cascade1.pdf

Whilst the Cascade 1 is indeed and old and obsolete design, some spare parts are still available. I suggest you contact Gary at
http://arcsystems.biz./
He has wealth of knowledge on most Carver designs, and will also know where to source spare parts. He also often replies to post on this forum.

 

[Shellybop]

Hi, thanks very much for the reply. It's definitely a cascade 2 system in the caravan though as we have the original paperwork and manuals etc but there's no troubleshootin in the manual. The caravan is a 1995. My partner says the water looks to be gushing back out the inlet rather than under the caravan, that's my mistake. The water only gushes out when the tap is on, when the tap is off nothing happens. We don't have much experience but last time we turned it on the system primed but this time it doesn't seem to be doing that.

Thank Michelle

 

[ProfJohnL]

Ok, Michelle,

From the correspondence so far it seems you are unclear about what involved and what is actually happening. without a common understanding we can end up doing a lot of tooing and froing on the forum , its going to be a long and perhaps fruitless experience.

Just based on the information you have given us so far, there have been some fundamental errors, and sadly is shows you are not fully conversant with the equipment you have in the caravan.

In your last post you tell us ""gushing back out the inlet", This again this is not consistent with the Cascade 2, as its water inlet is inside the caravan, not on the outside. I suspect you are actually referring to the caravans water inlet system, which at that date will almost certainly be a Carver Crystal unit.. but is its Crystal Mk 1 or Mk 2.?

I can think of several possible things that may have gone wrong,

Could be a split hose,
or a lost oring
Split housing
blocked filter

but without being able to look directly at the system, it could take a long time and a lot of posts to get to teh nub of the problem.

How much quicker and more reliable it would be for you to seek help perhaps from a form a friend who caravans, or even consider getting a mobile caravan service fitter, who will not only be able to identify the equipment and what's wrong but most likely be able to fix it .

 

[lorenzo0011]

Hi,
my 2000 Swift Azzura is fitted with the Carver Cascade 2,and a couple of years ago I was in sunny Scarborough and like you went to fill my water system,which went ok for a while until I noticed water leaking through a drain hole in the bottom of the van.After lifting the seat above the boiler water could be seen to be leaking from the boiler and although it was not immediately plain to see where from, it was from the main tank where it butts up to the wall.
The outer 'O' Ring seal is available from sites on Ebay for only a few pounds,and is not too hard a job to do.
As mine is the three way Carver first of all the oval shaped control box has to be removed from the rear of the tank, just be careful to note which wires go to which connectors,these need to be in the right place when refitted,and the earth has to be dis-connected from the rear of the tank which is held on by one screw and is a little fiddly.Once the control box is removed you will need to undo the nut which is located in the rear centre of the tank(there is an 'O' ring behind this which will need to be replaced,which I obtained in a multipack from B & Q for £1.80).
The bolt that you have just removed the nut from goes right through the centre of the tank and holds the tank to the side of the caravan,so in order to get at the faulty 'O' ring which is located in a groove on the outer unit between the unit and the tank, twist and pull the tank away from the wall,this should slip away revealing the 'O' ring.This then has to be slipped off the length of the central bolt,(if like mine the tank will only come part way off the central bolt because of the amount of room you should be able to reach round inside the tank and slip the ring off).Once this is done thread the new ring over the bolt and locate back in the groove in the unit against the wall,the tank then needs slipping down the bolt and over the ring,being careful not to push the ring out of the groove.Re-assemble the rest of the unit in reverse order and the leak stops.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello lorenzo

Welcome to the forum. We of course we like to see contributors experiences.

What actually concerns me is you report you had a leak from the Cascade 2's tank main 'O' ring seal. This tank seal was usually very reliable, unless some other damage or fault compromised its operation.

Usually a leak from this seal is a symptom of damage to either the central tie rod, or the tank its self.

In most cases it is the tank which has been damaged by frost. This usually happens when the tank is not properly emptied and its subjected to sub zero temperatures. As the water content freezes the expanding ice has enough force to jack the tank away from the main casting. The tie rod and nut do not stretch anywhere as much, which means the expanding ice forces the tank against the nut, and the tank deforms around the nut.

This leaves the tank permanently deformed and it won't properly engaged with the main tank 'O' ring on the casting. If you do achieve a seal it will be very weak and is highly likely to start to leak again either after few thermal cycles or from movement caused by the vibrations of towing - So I urge you to monitor this carefully.

It's vitally important to ensure the entire water system is fully drained when the caravan is being stored in sub zero weather conditions.