General Qestion

Good (late) evening everyone.
I've just  bought (last week) a 1998 Duetto which unfortunately had no manuals with it at all I am away in it at the moment for a bit of a test.
Just have a few questions.
1) what is the size of the fresh and waste water tanks?
2) The carver hot water heater has been replaced by a Henry one, is that the same as the carver?
3) The heater is a carver P4 system, with a rotary knob on it and what looks like 2 flame positions, and near the floor is t outlet vents, bottom one has a butterfly opening and closing tab, the one above doesn't.
It's very difficult to start the heating, sounds like the fan is trying to start up then it stops, after several attempts it does start and blows cold air out and I can adjust the speed on the rotary knob.
I can then push the on button and eventually hot air comes out from the open/close vent, but nothing from the top vent apart from a faint cooler air.
What the purpose of the two outlets if only one blows hot air out, does it work on some sort of thermostat cycling on and off depending on temperature, and the rotary knob for the speed of the fan only seems to work when on the first setting for cold air??
Am I doing something wrong??
I hope I haven't bored anyone with my first long post
Plus I have the usual rusty wheel arches and rear doors, but I did only pay £6,000 so hopefully a bargain
Thanks everyone.
Mike

mike4m wrote:
1) what is the size of the fresh and waste water tanks?

How accurately do you need to know? Typically they fit 80l fresh and somewhere between 40-60l waste. If you had a manual that told you, I wouldn't believe it - A/S manuals (particularly of that age) are notorious for being inaccurate. If you need to know for sure, I would get a 10l watering can and measure it yourself.

Regarding the heater - what state is the leisure battery in? If it's in poor condition the Carver will probably have trouble staring up.

There has to be one open outlet so the system cannot become 'blocked', & therefore always allow air-flow.
The one with the flap can be regulated, spun around to direct the flow or closed.
The gas-knob is pushed at the first 'flame' & turned towards the second to regulate the heat as per any other gas device, if it keeps cutting-out, then the system may require holding the knob down for longer to expel air, or the thermocouple may need cleaning/adjusting & as already stated, if the power supply is low, the system will shut down.  
Mine starts off blowing cold for a few min, then becomes very hot & needs to be lowered within 1/2 hour or so.

Welcome to the forum, may I suggest you read up before posting.

1. There is a part manual for the same model of van as yours in the Factsheet Section
    It maybe not complete but stuff like the water heaters, Fridges  &etc may well be covered 
    in their own right along with other general advice on vans.
2. We ask for an intro before a new member ask a question

I believe the open vent is the inlet vent, air sucked in, and the one with flap is the outlet, blows the air out .If you haven't got the heater manual you can find it in the 'factsheet' section of the forum ,(home page). It is listed as Carver C4 instead of P4.
Water tanks on the van conversions tend to be 13 gallon fresh and 9 gallon waste.

I thought you should let the heater warm up first before switching the blower on, otherwise you are just going to get cold air, same as a cab heater in a vehicle.

Hi Everyone and thanks for getting back to me.
I'm not that bothered about the fresh and waste tank capacity, I guessed it was around 60 litres.
Sorry if I didn't introduce myself first, I wasn't aware you had to and it was late last night I signed up.
Hi modelman, when you say "holding the knob down for longer to expel air" which knob do you mean, the rotary knob? apart from turning back and forth, mine doesn't push in.
Hi daisymae, do you mean let the water heater heat up first before switching the heater on?
My leisure battery is a new one, so hopefully not that.
Many thanks.
Mike

Hi mike4m,
Welcome to the forum.
I have a 1999 Duetto so very similar controls for the heating.
If you switch the heating on by pushing the button it will cycle through three options, fan only, heat setting 1 and heat setting 2.
The fan only is for a cooling effect in hot weather.
Position 1 & 2 give heat, and the rotary switch while working as a speed control of the fan on fan only setting, acts as a thermostat on heat settings.
If you select heat, the heater first warms up before starting to blow warmed air, in this way you don't get cold air first. Once the heater gets warm enough the fan will speed up automatically. You can then set the rotary switch to a comfortable temperature, and the heater will cut in and out as needed.
Hope that helps, and enjoy you new home 

The purging of the system referred to in the instructions can take several minutes before the heat comes through and the fan speeds up accordingly..

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Thanks very much jollywalker, all makes sense now, that's the trouble with not having any manuals!!
Thanks for posting the instructions paulmold (love the name!) I had a a Swift Mondial on a Ducato a few years back and the heating was a propex one, I'm sure that was quite basic compared with the P4.
Just got to get the good old transit typical rust done!!
Thanks everyone
Mike

It is such a shame that Ford used such poor steel making the Smiley transit. Mine is due some major rust repairs soon too, it's difficult to keep on top of it all.
I'm hoping mine will last for a few more years yet.

jollywalker wrote:It is such a shame that Ford used such poor steel making the Smiley transit.

I'm pretty sure it's not the quality of the steel. My previous Mk.5 (1999 model) was completely rust-free underneath - it was the wheel arches that went badly. The problem seems to have been mainly poor use of sealants and protective coatings. My wheel arches rusted from the seams and edges inwards - never from the centre of the panels. Ford also made a very bad decision to fit the soundproofing "blanket" on the engine side of the bulkhead - which trapped water against the metalwork - and the plastic panel at the bottom of the windscreen, which causes the drainage channel at the bottom of the screen to fill with wet leaves and other crud.

On mine, the only panel that rusted from the middle outward was the one around the Cascade water heater - and that was because of very poor installation by Autosleeper - nothing to do with Ford.

It's underneath mine that is worst, and welding the floor is not easy, with a layer of wood above.
I'm hoping the work planned will give her a new lease of life.

-mojo- wrote:

mike4m wrote:
1) what is the size of the fresh and waste water tanks?

How accurately do you need to know? Typically they fit 80l fresh and somewhere between 40-60l waste. If you had a manual that told you, I wouldn't believe it  - A/S manuals (particularly of that age) are notorious for being inaccurate. If you need to know for sure, I would get a 10l watering can and measure it yourself.

Regarding the heater - what state is the leisure battery in? If it's in poor condition the Carver will probably have trouble staring up.

I'll second that about the manual, we were lucky enough to get a complete manual plus all the manuals off the fitted appliances, the aut sleeper manual despite saying it is for our 98 symphony is completely innacurate claiming the heater is next to the shower amongst other things!

Ive learnt tons about our van, and all it from this forum!