Waste pipes

Sep 12, 2018
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Hi all,
may be a silly question, new to caravaning and doing a bit of tidying up on my new caravan I see there are three waste pipes under the van one for kitchen sink on on side and two on the other sink and shower. question is why not link them together so there is one outlet point?

thanks
Dave
 
May 24, 2014
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Fair point. Im sure there must be a reason but damned if i can see it.
 
Sep 4, 2017
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Van%20plumb%203%20.jpg
 
Nov 16, 2015
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otherclive said:
Grey13 said:

Grey

Long time no post. How did the hot shower mods work?
He is still working on it,

I recon by next summer Grey will give up his campaign, or will be showering in a thin diving wet suit.
He has yet to join the Woosie Club as he has not admitted to a mess up , yet. . Although his presence and Mrs Grey were great attendants.
 
Jul 18, 2017
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Gabsgrandad said:
Back feed from the higher sink drains into the low level shower tray drain.

A way around it is to connect the kitchen sink drain pipe to the bathroom basin drain pipe. Alternatively on the outside connect all three so that they all drain out one point. Parts are cheap enough from B&Q.
 
Jan 19, 2002
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Not crawled under my van, but I know the wastes for the 2 sinks are connected and the shower separate to the two drain points on the offside of van. I like to disinfect the sink and basin pipes after use so have expanded a wine cork by winding insulating tape round til it is a snug fit in the outlet. Then filling the sink sees water glugging up into the washbasin, in fact as the washbasin is lower completely filling the sink would cause the basin to overflow! Clearly then it could be a disaster if the shower outlet was connected to the sinks too!
 
Sep 4, 2017
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Regarding the waste pipes. I was sick and tired of standing in water in the shower and water generally not draining. Removed all the corrugated old piping, replaced with 1 1/4 smooth bore as you see exiting at the back, now water drains instantly, as fast as any home sink or shower.

OH my now the hot water issue. I recently went to Surrey for a few days armed with an AquaRoll insulator and 2 x heating elements. Was all excited to test my theory till I found out in fact both BRAND NEW elements were dud.

Back to the drawing board. Take it from me, I will end up with a van shower that delivers adequate hot water for a full shower....but yes, still working on it.

Keeping my garden pond warm for my goldfish is now more important just for a few weeks.

Have fun guys
 
Oct 12, 2013
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We were away last weekend at Knaresborough and temperatures dropped to about 1 or 2 degrees but my hot water seem to be fine and I even took the precautionary measure of rapping some underlay around my aqua roll and keeping it off the ground .

As for shifting pipes ; stuff that :lol: !!
It does look neat & tidy though .

My shower drains really well ( that's on the rare occasion when I use it ) :p
 
Aug 30, 2018
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Solid pipes and falls to a single point. looks like our Hymer. Never catch on. I fitted a motor mover in storage and had a quick look under the van either side of us, a coachman and a Bailey. I noticed both seemed to think that water and flow up hill.
 
Mar 14, 2005
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Craigyoung said:
We were away last weekend at Knaresborough and temperatures dropped to about 1 or 2 degrees but my hot water seem to be fine and I even took the precautionary measure of rapping some underlay around my aqua roll and keeping it off the ground...

As per a previous thread:

By all means wrap a water container to insulate it, but If the ground isn't frozen then its actually better to leave the water container on the ground, as the container will insulate the ground and the heat in the ground will keep the water container just a little bit warmer.

Where as if the water container is insulated from the ground it only has its own mass to store heat energy, and if the air can pass under the container it will loose more heat because the bottom (even with typical insulation) is exposed to the colder air, and it will loose heat, which if it were on the ground the cold air is excluded.

This is only true if you have plus temperatures during the day and mild night frosts.
 
Sep 29, 2016
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One day I will get round to Grey13's waste pipe modification.

Grey13's is the way it should be fitted.

Cheers Grey. B)
 
Aug 30, 2018
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The only observation I would have about Grey13’s installation is having the outlet at the back can lead to problems on a sloping field.
 
Nov 16, 2015
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Boff, our Coachman is pretty good at draining, but must admit, that Greys mods could help all round, and UK builders could take a learning curve.
 
Aug 30, 2018
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EH52ARH said:
Boff, our Coachman is pretty good at draining, but must admit, that Greys mods could help all round, and UK builders could take a learning curve.

I am sure that this mod will help. The corrugated piping is horrible it traps dirt. We have had 3 Hymer’s from 2001, 2007 and 2015. Each one of these ithe waste was/is plumbed in hard pipe and sloped so it drains. In each case the drain point is just behind the wheel, It works and it’s not complicated. My observation about the position of the outlet is purely personal. We rally and often than means rather than level pitches, a sloping pitch so it could be the back of the van practically touching the floor. In that case it would be hard to connect up a waste container. Of course there are plenty of un-modified caravans where the outlet Is also at rear and suffers from the same problem.
 
Jul 15, 2008
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Boff said:
The only observation I would have about Grey13’s installation is having the outlet at the back can lead to problems on a sloping field.

.........I agree.

Grey13's modification will work well if the caravan is always used on level pitches such as found on CAMC club sites.
Where the caravan is likely to have to cope with all types of uneven pitches then the best position for the waste outlets is near the caravan wheel.
This is the only available position that has guaranteed ground clearance to allow adequate drainage to a container..........the reason this position is favoured by most manufacturers.
 
Sep 29, 2016
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I agree with your observation Bill, all tips appreciated.

I have not carried out Grey's mod yet, and whilst I think it is really very good, one can always adapt to ones own specif needs.

I will do what Grey has done but divert to near centre location, no big deal in my case as existing drainage layout pretty much lends itself to the adaptation.

Just wondering, for the very little extra cost I could have outfalls on both nearside and offside.

Not something I would have considered prior to Woodthorpe -Woosiefest, some of us may recall commenting that the waste water and potable water outlets were on the 'wrong side' of the caravan :dry: .

Unless someone can see a downside then I may well have 2 outfall points.
 
Nov 16, 2015
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Anseo said:
I agree with your observation Bill, all tips appreciated.

I have not carried out Grey's mod yet, and whilst I think it is really very good, one can always adapt to ones own specif needs.

I will do what Grey has done but divert to near centre location, no big deal in my case as existing drainage layout pretty much lends itself to the adaptation.

Just wondering, for the very little extra cost I could have outfalls on both nearside and offside.

Not something I would have considered prior to Woodthorpe -Woosiefest, some of us may recall commenting that the waste water and potable water outlets were on the 'wrong side' of the caravan :dry: .

Unless someone can see a downside then I may well have 2 outfall points.

We do remember you saving a few English shillings, only to have to take the hose back. On an Inferior item, . Haha. :)
 
Sep 29, 2016
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Hutch, your recall ability is impressive.

God knows what the others remember, whatever, have to let it go, it was a pleasure meeting you all, great company (missing it already).

John
 
Nov 16, 2015
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Anseo said:
Hutch, your recall ability is impressive.

God knows what the others remember, whatever, have to let it go, it was a pleasure meeting you all, great company (missing it already).

John

There will be another meet up, hopefully not so far for you next time. Maybe a spring one in Yorkshire. :p
 
Sep 29, 2016
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EH52ARH said:
Anseo said:
Hutch, your recall ability is impressive.

God knows what the others remember, whatever, have to let it go, it was a pleasure meeting you all, great company (missing it already).

John

There will be another meet up, hopefully not so far for you next time. Maybe a spring one in Yorkshire. :p

Go for it, 2 full size Stornoway Black Puds on the way for us all, dates please ;)
 
Sep 12, 2018
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Not thought about that but suppose I could lonk the two sinks then I’d only have two pipes and they’d be on one side of the van.
 
Sep 12, 2018
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Gabsgrandad said:
Back feed from the higher sink drains into the low level shower tray drain.

Not thought about that but suppose I could lonk the two sinks then I’d only have two pipes and they’d be on one side of the van.
 
Sep 4, 2017
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Regarding Gabs comment. After a year of using my pipe system, absolutely no problem. 1 1/4 smooth bore PVC pipe never fills so to start with absolutely no pressure at all. I guess if you plugged the outlet......

On another matter, to date every site I have used has drains to the rear of pitch. Still to find one where I thought, oh side exit would be better. I generally use solid pipe from van exit to drain hole as well but always carry a length of flexible hose "just in case" (As was the case at the last "woosie" site.... mind you my pitch was actually not a serviced pitch in the first place!