water pressure

[loftyboy]

Hi all,

Just returned from a five week tour of the vendee with the wife and kids.. apart form noticeing the towbar was hanging off on the day we were due to leave france. Slightly stressfull but looking back funny. Anyway my question is this. We have a new bailey ranger but recently the water pressure seems to be a bit odd. Initally it comes out of the taps fine but then the pressure gradually reduces. I have noticed this when both using a mains adaptor and the whale pump. The van is not fitted with a in line filter so any other suggestions as to possible causes would be usefull.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Loftyboy,

Let me describe a known characteristic of many caravan water systems, then compare yours:

I assume you have a storage water heater, the heater tank is designed to have an air cap in teh tank above the water to allow for expansion. As the water gets hotter, it expands and compresses the air cap, so when a tap is opened, the increased pressure in the tank gives you a burst of incresed flow(up to about 10 seconds). As the excess pressure is exhausted, the pump or mains water pressure takes over but at a smaller flow.

This should only be noticable when a hot tap is opend, a solo cold tap should not experience the same surge. Equally if the heater is turned off and there is no hot water, then the effect should be reduced or non exsitent.

If this describes your experience, then there is nothing wrong.

 

[chris_5068897]

When you say "mains adaptor", I assume you mean a Whale aquasource mains water device. The caravan wall connector block contains a pressure reducer, to avoid full mains pressure within the the vans interior system. This does produce the effects you describe, although I found that the flow was better using an onboard pump than the mains water connection, which I now use simply to fill the onboard tank.