Replacing old water pipes for new and its issues!

[DeeRama]

Hello all

Testing out our caravan prior to first outing this year I was somewhat displeased witnessing water spraying out of the side vents and onto my drive. Regardless of drain-down, damage was now obviously apparent.

Leaks were coming from both hot and cold connections on pipework Ts connecting kitchen sink pipes and bathroom pipes, which looked (and smelled :dry: ) to be perhaps original, on our 2001 chateau.

So, I decided to replace the 15mm red and blue pipework with 12mm pushfit.

Some of the original pipework is costly to replace (such as micro switch bathroom taps, which are away from the actual sink tap and obviously cut into the vanity unit). This will eventually need a replacement tap and bathroom unit). So, I ordered 15-12mm reducers. However! It looks like the blue pipes are 'somewhere' around 14mm as they just slide in and out of the 15mm JG push-fittings...and...the bloomin red pipes look to be around 16mm! No amount of manipulating would get the red pipes into the 15mm JG pushfit.

So, calipers essential. For any deciding to do some replacing. Measure measure measure!

 

[VicMallows]

That's an interesting situation, especially that you seem to have a difference between the original hot and cold pipes. What sort of connections did the original pipework use? It sounds as if some proprietary system was used which is incompatible with 'standard' 15mm pipework. I wonder if the increased size of the red (hot) pipe has occurred over time due to the pipe swelling?

You have my sympathy because I have a similar situation with the 15mm copper pipework in my (1967) house; it is very slightly oversize (no, it is NOT imperial 1/2"). You can get 15mm compression fittings on, and pushfits are very tight......but there is noway that solder fittings will go on! (There were big international supply problems with copper around that time which may have been a factor).

 

[otherclive]

I don’t know whether it’s relevant but wasn’t the Chateau built in Belgium? Perhaps their pipe work sizes were different to UK. But I agree your approach to measure/measure.

 

[DeeRama]

Thank you for your sympathy, it will be greatly needed as I now problem solve.
The connections were clamp type, ribbed plastic that inserted into tubing with a metal retainer around the pipe that one screws tighter to make watertight. Some however had some plastic rings on with teeth that just got squeezed shut, these were sods to get off.
However, it will be a new start!

Yep, this was the last year the chateau was imported. Maybe the pipes were of a different size.

 

[camel]

I had a Chateau, and it was a Belgium company and Lunar bought them out and produced the 'Lunar Chateau', if my memory serves me right there was a difference in the pipe work size, also the caravan only had one fuse for all the electrics on the caravan, also it had an on board water tank which was a thirty litre plastic container inside the o/s front locker which was removed when you wanted to fill it up, infact it was the best towing caravan I have had with the long continental 'A' frame, it was finished in a bubble finish which was good really because you had a job to see any awning dents, what I also liked about was the awning rail and the o/s rail that ran round the van was at a right angle rather than just butted on the side of the caravan side so the rail also sat on the top of the caravan making a really good water tight seal,

 

[DeeRama]

Hello Camel

Yes, this one is pre UK takeover. Interesting on the fuse, I'll have to keep an eye on that! Where was it!?

I love our chateau 500. It's beautifully bright and the layout lets us put our 3 year old to bed and still have run of the whole caravan.

Yep, there's a crappy 'Jerry can' for water, however I channel the water pipe out of the front locker into a roller bucket.

The long A frame is a dream, very stable to tow, which is good as it's our first van. Full metal sides with the bubble effect looks lovely too.

Interesting that you found the pipes different too. The bathroom tap is leaking, a drip, but without buying a whole new setup I'll just have to cut a clean pipe-to-tap connection and join the foreign pipe to 12mm.

Thank you for your input.

 

[camel]

The fuse was under the N/S front cushions cant really miss it all the electrics are there, I also had the kitchen tap leaking but it was an air line crack this was on the Isle-o-wight , manage to source the tap from a place in Newport and change it,