Bourton waste water leak.

On our homeward journey from Spain. Second trip to Spain in our 2014 Bourton which we are absolutely delighted with, for us superb in every way for a two berth camper. However (we are at Cherbourg waitin for a delayed ferry as I type) the other day we noticed water in the hab door footwell, strange we thought. On inspection found that the waste water pipes had disconnected and all waste water was being deposited into the pan storage and beneath the rear drawers. A bit of a mess but we have managed to reconnect the piping and won't put any water down the drain until a full repair is done. Looking at the piping I'm no plumbing expert but what a Heath Robinson affair. A sliding pan in the storage may well hVe dislodged the piping and caused the mini flood. Why oh why can't A/S get something like the waste water disposal piping right. The last thing you need is grey waste entering the van and in my view this will occur in every camper with this set up. I would advice all Bourton owners to inspect this piping arrangement and take action to make these connections much more secure than they are from the factory. Not a rant but takes the shine of what I think is a super camper which we are really enjoying.

They don't glue the joints so that as the van sides and surfaces move whilst driving the pipe joints can move in sympathy and not fracture. If you get a chance to look behind whilst the van is in motion you will be surprised how much the 'fixed' furniture is moving.

I think you were just unlucky and now you are aware of the potential will wedge stored items in place - the loose scatter cushions are good for stopping things moving in cupboards and making things in the back quieter.

Peter #1

Thanks for that info, will check mine out asap, no leaks as yet (touch wood)
Don

I will eat my words Peter, it just looked so flimsy and of course didn't feel to impressed when I was mopping up the grey waste! As I said I do think it's a smashing van, very comfortable and a superb drive so I will put this hic up down to experience.

Ours came adrift too, depositing grey water all over the floor. I'm afraid I glued the pipe back together, there is enough movement in the whole pipe for it not to be a problem. If flexing were an issue, then I would have thought a flexible pipe properly secured would be a better solution than a push fit drain pipe that moves about.
Allan

So, we had our second leaking waste pipe this morning, day one of a 6 week trip to France.  This time it was the joint at the top of the vertical pipe behind the cooker that came adrift.
Took me most of the morning to mop up all the water that seeped onto all the carpets, under the leisure batteries and into the bottom of the side sofa where all the electrics are located.
The carpets were sodden and took all day to dry out, leaving water stains from the grey water that had been deposited from the sink.
To say I was annoyed would be an understatement.
These joints really need to be either glued or redesigned to be proper push fittings instead of the shoddy way they are assembled at the factory, I will be glueing all the ones I can get to when I get home.
On a good note, I drove the van yesterday non stop from Calais to Brittany, just under 400 miles, and it ran perfectly.

Have to agree on shoddy assembly at factory, as I mentioned in another thread I had a bad leak due to some idiot at the factory fitting a 38mm pipe on to a 32mm tank inlet and expecting it to be watertight, do they not have any quality control? On one visit to the factory when my wife asked if ours was a Friday afternoon van she was simply told "if you want trouble buy a swift", on every a/s we have had the only problems were issues that should have been picked up by quality control.
Don

There is no excuse for poor design, as for movement when travelling of various parts as Motor homes have to Flex,  you would not expect your radiator to come adrift and lose your coolant the engine unit twists and shudders I  when you accelerate and deaccelerate. We have just got rid of a 3 year caravan because of poor quality design and assembly, trouble is the Motor Home and Caravan Industry is supported be various Web sites and Magazines as they receive income from the said Industries through their advertising. and I cannot see these websites and Magazines telling us what they really think of a product, we find spending a couple of days talking to users at NEC shows helpful although I must admit we got it wrong on the quality of that so and so caravan.