(another) carver cascade leakege

[boris2020]

Hello there,

I bought a campervan with the carver cascade already installed. I made a test run and while filling up it leaked (pretty hard) around where the rubber O ring should seal everything off. I decided to tighten the bolt a bit faster, thinking the tank wasn't pressured enough but then the pole the runs trough the tank snapped

I guess I have two questions, one being the source of the leakage. I have a shurflo trail king (picture as attachment), max pressure 45 psi. Is this too much for the carver? And so probably the source of the leakage?

Second question is if this something worthwile to repair. Somebody have seen this before? Know a nice trick?
I've read about gary from arc systems, however we live in portugal.

 

[JTQ]

I made myself a new "Tie rod" when mine failed, in my case simply it corroded where the thread started. Though I had the facilities in my workshop to readily do that, manufacture a new rod and remove and alternatively thread the heat exchanger plate.

It is an exceedingly poor design in that the materials chosen are not inherently corrosion resistant in the arrangement here, and this is countered by lacquer and or plating, but these can be degraded during assembly and with aging.

Without searching out the specification, my guess at over 3 Bar your running pressure is way too high.

In its defence, it must be very old and had reached any intended design "life" quite a long time ago.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Boris,

Welcome to the forum.

The Cascade 2 and later variants were designed for use with a pressure not exceeding 2.5Bar (37psi) (including self heating pressure gain. Given that limitation it does seem the pump you have is too powerful for the appliance, but that mighty not necessarily have caused the damage, as the appliance also has a pressure relief valve which would have afforded some protection by letting excess water pressure out through external grille.

I suspect there are two other factors which have led to the failure. The first is corrosion, The fact the aluminium tie rod has sheared at the casting end points to this as a contributing factor, but until the rod actually fractured, it should have retained the main tank O ring without a problem.

The displacement of the tank O ring is usually due either to someone releasing the tank nut, and not reassembling it correctly, or the heater may have been left with water inside which has frozen in cold weather, and the force the ice creates when it expands is enough to damage the tank and release the O ring.

If the O ring let go whilst there was water in the tank, then it will almost certainly have caused some damage to the control electronics which sit under the tank joint.

I cannot see any electric heating element in the tank, in which case the heater will be at least 27 years old, and its likely that most of the plastic fittings will have embrittled and will easily be damaged whilst removing or reinstalling the appliance.

As all original manufacturing of the appliance ceased in 1999, sourcing parts now can be a problem.

The question is is it worth or even safe to attempt a repair?

Arcsystems do have a wealth of experience, and may be able to help you, but I suspect the safest and most reliable solution will be to look for a more modern replacement.

 

[boris2020]

OK thanks guys, and especially your advice John. Looking modern replacement is what I should do. I don' even know if the cascade works all, not worth the effort. Better invest my time and energy in something new. What I would love is a gas/electric combination heater. I have 750 watt on my roof, gives me al lot of excess power here in Portugal. Would be nice to transfer that in hot water.

 

[ProfJohnL]

I don't know what sort of payload capacity you might have available for increasing the volume of hot water stored on board, you'll have to review your present loads and teh manufactures limits, but if your intention is to increase hot water volume, then might I suggest an alternative thought.

PV panels are great for keeping batteries charged, but they are rarely better than about 20% efficient at converting the light photons to electrons, and it seems you wold still need something to then convert that power to heat the water.

Consider going to a mix of PV for electric and solar collector to directly heat a water circuit. under the same light conditions these can hit 40% efficiencies.

I've never seen it done on a caravan or motorhome, though you may have seen the outdoor showers that use a black water storage container, and under sunny conditions they cane get quite hot.

I do have some concerns, such as the most efficient Solar collectors often use glass components which might not stand up to being bounced around on a caravan etc. It needs some careful home work.

 

[Gafferbill]

....it is relatively easy to obtain a used Carver GE water heater from the UK market in breaking up older caravans.
They retail for around £200 for one in good working order and would involve minimal work as it would be a direct replacement.
Your old unit could serve as a source of spares.
Shipment to Portugal would of course be an additional cost.

 

[PTA]

Subject to where you live in Portugal, and whether you wish someone else to do the job, we have found Camperserv (covering the Algarve) very helpful.

PS. Lucky beggars living in Portugal. I wish we had moved there ten years ago, but we are a bit "long in the tooth" now!

 

[Beachball]

Hi Boris welcome to the forum one of my favourite place Portugal i love it there i hope you get it sorted on your campervan

 

[boris2020]

Hey guys, thanks. What a cozy and welcoming place here.
We've been on the road for 1.5 year now, first spain since a month here an hour above lissabon. We love it here, in exchange for a couple of hours maintenace work we live on a now closed vacation park. Lovely deal.
Normally we don't travel in a caravan, but in a Mercedes 508 self converted camper van, but what's the difference? A road gypsy is a road gypsy.
And it's never too late PTA, you gotta explain long in the tooth to me here as a I am a non native english speaker (dutch).
Thanks for the tips, a solar heater directly is not a bad idea. Keep it in mind

 

[Jcloughie]

you gotta explain long in the tooth to me here as a I am a non native english speaker (dutch).

Been around for a long time

Been there, done that.

OLD!

Ancient

Decrepit

Past it

Experienced.

Sorry Beachball

Others may add to the list.

It actually derives from being able to judge a horses age from it’s teeth.

 

[boris2020]

hahaha, I think I get it
nice

 

[PTA]

Been around for a long time

Been there, done that.

OLD!

Ancient

Decrepit

Past it

Experienced.

Sorry Beachball

Others may add to the list.

It actually derives from being able to judge a horses age from it’s teeth.

Well, there's no need to rub it in!

(knackered).