Water heater - cant get it to work!

[mummyalex]

I'm writing on behalf of my friends, they've just bought a Compass Reflection Merit 430/5 (1995) and they dont seem to be able to get the hot water to work. When they turn all the switches on inside the caravan and plug the pump in, then turn the taps on the water only runs cold. Infact the only way of getting the water to come out of the taps at all is by turning both hot and cold taps on full. They dont seem to work individually. Is there anyone who can offer me any advice please?

Thank you in advance

Alex

 

[Philspadders]

just run the hot tap and wait..the tank may be filling up with water.You may get a lot of spluttering from the tap.

 

[DavidKlyne]

Have they tried working it on gas? If its a Cascade water heater in has a little reset button on the inward end of the heater under a little swing cover. It might also be an idea to remove the pump and empty the water heater and then reconnect the pump. This sometimes gets rid of air locks that prevent the hot side working.

David

 

[Douglas_374404558]

HI Alex why don,t you give the previous owner a phone and ask them how it works . or try giving it about 15/20 minutes to see if the water gets hot there should be 2 switches 1 under the front seator fixed into the fusebox and another rotary switch somewhere on a bulkhead or in a cupboard with the temperature dial on it .as said before there should be a reset button somewhere near the actual hotwater tank and check all the fuses.

cheers Duggie

 

[TD42]

Do your friends know that they must not switch on the water heater until they have bled the system of air by opening the hot water taps until the water runs without spluttering

 

[Kevin_374582254]

can you give details of make/model of water heater, I have fixed a few now so might be able to help once I know what model/type it is

 

[raccoon]

Hi Alex, What you need to do firstly after filling your water barrel and putting your pump into it is to make sure the battery is conected. Then turn on the HOT tap only. Wait for water to run freely. Then do the same in the bathroom with the hot tap.

Only after that do you run the cold taps. This will ensure you have got the water through the system and filled the water heater.

If its a cascade 2 heater then you will need to turn the switch on that is marked on the wall of the caravan. A green light should appear if the gas has lit. It will stay green while things are ok.

The water problem you have can be caused by the micro switch in the hot tap not working. This happened in my caravan. What I could do was to turn on the hot tap as if to run the water from it, then just turn the cold tap just say on so the micro switch worked the pump and this pulled the water through the heater but was not opened enough to run the cold water through.

Hope this has been some help.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hi Alex,

There are several aspects to your question that are not entirely clear. Judging by the date/age of the caravan, it is most likely the water heater is a Carver Cascade 2.

These are storage water heaters and they do not provide instant hot water. Typically the heater takes between 25 to 30 minutes to heat a thankful.

The heater has a 9 litre tank that needs to be filled, before it you try to heat it. When it is hot , you need to be able to push cold water in to push the hot water out, so it will never be empty even if you run out of cold water.

The heating systems are thermostatically controlled so it should never 'boil dry'

When travelling or storing in the winter, the heater needs to be deliberately drained which is the only time the heater should be empty, so when setting up on a new site, the heater needs to be re-filled by closing all drain ports, and opening the hot tap and allowing the cold water fill the tank. This may take about 1to 2 minutes When it is full water and air will come out of the hot tap. Close that tap when there is a good flow of water. The heater can now by turned on. After about 15min, you will get some warm water, but it will only reach full temperature after about 30 min. or a little shorter if you have both the Gas and electric option fitted.

Now It sounds as though you have micro-switched taps. This is where each tap has a small electrical switch the allows power to the pump when the tap is opened. If the pump does not run when you open a particular tap, then either the microswitch in that tap is faulty or the wiring is damaged.

If when you open the hot tap, the pump runs but no water is delivered then the heater may have been damaged over winter. There is a none return valve fitted to the cold water in let to the heater. If the heater has not been drained properly, then the NRV may have been frost damaged. Sometimes the NRV can be carefully repaired, on other occasions it may need to be replaced. This is why it is very important to drain the heater properly for winter storage.

The replacement vales are still available from good caravan suppliers, or I belive from arcsystems.biz. Check out the web site as it also has copies of the instruction manuals for many carver appliances including the Cascade Rapide which is in most respect the same as your model.