Diesel in the freshwater tank

Guys,

Has anyone successfully ever got diesel out of a freshwater tank (Topaz 2006), or am I wasting my effort. The diesel has not been pumped around the system but Im struggling to get rid of it. Ive tried detergents and two helpings of BioMagic but there are still small bits of diesel coming out and you can still smell it if you draw off a "fresh glass" of water.

Should I cut my losses and just get it replaced?

Elvereater

It's covered in one of the forum "stickies":

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Hi, I have tried the same things and am going to bite the bullet and get a new tank and pipes and tap.I have flushed several times and have had enough now.
Really an annoying as I have not put does in myself, it must have been I there from before I collected it new in December but the dealer would not accept that they could possibly have done it.

I would get a new tank.  All fuels contain carcinogens and as thorough as you may be you will never eliminate everything and ingesting this over a prolonged period could have side effects later in life.
Rich..

I would have a pump and pipe as well, as they have been immersed in Diesel. Mine unfortunately was pumped through to the kitchen because I didn't know it was in the tank. That is why I am replacing tap and pipes.
Hope you get it sorted ok.

Thanks to all your responses. they were very helpful. having put 8 tanks of water and detergent through the tank I still have water coming out with a diesel glaze on the surface and the last dribble is severely contaminated. I will replace the tank and everything around it. Thanks Mike, you were right. A/S have quoted me £800 = VAT. WONT BE DOING THAT AGAIN.

ELVEREATER

So is the conclusion that Biomagic doesn't work? I'm a bit surprised, because in the past others have says that it does. However, it does not surprise me that some items - such as the pump - will probably need a ~lot~ of flushing through. I would be tempted to run a recirculation system which pumps a strong detergent solution through the system and back (via a temporary hose) into the tank, and run it for perhaps ten minutes in every hour for a couple of days...

I doubt that the tank is going to be the biggest part of the problem, because if you drive around for a few weeks with it half-full of a detergent mix I would expect it to be pretty well purged.

I can't add anything to my account which is referred to in the sticky quoted by Mojo in the 2nd post above. The combination of tank washouts with lots of washing up liquid, and then Biomagic left to soak for 24 hours or more, did the trick.  My son-in-law had apparently added about 20 litres of diesel to the fresh water. The contaminated water / diesel layer on top had not entered the pipes or the pump.  There was a smell of diesel outside for a few weeks, because the diesel had overflowed through the holes on the top of the tank, and so there was diesel around the outside of the tank. But the water at the tap was untainted and as enjoyable as our extra-soft water ever is.

It worked for us.
Cymro

It could be trapped in the low parts of the pipes (shower etc) before you spend your money, try filling the tank, leave it for 10 minuets and then drain it out through the drain tap, have a look and see if there is diesel in it. If there is, you have wasted a bit of water, if not, you only need to change the pipes, pump and the taps.
Also on a symbol it takes about 30 minuets to remove the tank and refit, I don't know about a Trooper but I would remove it and give it a good clean out, they usually have an access cover on the top.

Paul

I think the Biomagic and flushes have helped a lot, the only diesel smell now is through the hot tap if you wet a cleaning cloth, but we still want to replace things, when we wild camp next year we will need to use water from the tank for drinking.

You can buy a lot of bottled water for £800

I am not replacing the level sensor probes, I am going to clean them with solvent such as brake spray and then with Milton solution, that saves nearly £100.00.

MIKE L wrote:I think the Biomagic and flushes have helped a lot, the only diesel smell now is through the hot tap if you wet a cleaning cloth, but we still want to replace things, when we wild camp next year we will need to use water from the tank for drinking.

Wise choice I think Mike.

Diesel lingers for ever, and if nothing else it will ruin a cup of tea for months if not years to come, and although it's not everyone's choice we can't be bothered with bottled water so we always drink from the tank.

We refuse to be conned anyway, as several very erudite studies have shown that tap water is as safe, if not safer than some bottled water. Remember the huge fuss a few years ago when Coca Cola (I think) were caught out filling their bottles straight from a Scottish tap - and charging a quid a bottle for it!!! 

Wonderful marketing ploy, eh? First generate a completely unwarranted anxiety, then sell something to dispel the concern . . . . and rake in the cash!! 

We usually buy 2 of the 2L bottles from Asda (19p each) then refill them whenever a tap become available, they fit nicely in the bottle holders in the front doors

Paul 300358 wrote:We usually buy 2 of the 2L bottles from Asda (19p each) then refill them whenever a tap become available, they fit nicely in the bottle holders in the front doors

That's interesting. Someone else who has fitted bottle holders in the door pockets, and aren't they useful!

19p I could stand. That's 17p for the bottle and 2p for the water! 

I think that you are over estimating the cost of water Mr. Gromit!!! We normally treat ourselves to new bottles every now and then.

paul

I am aghast from reading these posts. It seems that at least three people have put diesel into their fresh water system or somebody else has done it for them. Also on the other earlier post about this topic at least two more. It beggars belief that someone could actually do this to their pride and joy and put diesel into the fresh water system. I would be very interested to find out the actual method they used to get the diesel into the fresh water tank as this should be nigh on impossible, unless you were using a white stick.

I also see that from the earlier post/s link 'stickies' Mike L says he took delivery of a new 2016 Warwick Duo and noticed that he had diesel in the fresh water tank, and only after a few trips did he notice it, and this was a new van! The whole interior atmosphere of the van would stink of diesel from the wastes, which you would notice on pick up from the outset and from day one. So how I wonder did it get into a new tank? 

I was not going to get involved in this one, but it is so ridiculous, I just had too. As said it is beyond belief.

I was kind of wondering the same as Mindhyg - don't both filler caps have locks and different keys?

If so, why would the water key be kept with the diesel key, on the same keyring, just asking for this very thing to happen.
I would have thought the water key, toilet cassette key, etc would be kept apart from the van key so that you weren't walking about like a jailer with a bunch of keys.

Does anyone know of anybody doing the opposite and putting water into the diesel?

Morning campers. My motorhome keys are all on the same bunch, so I do walk around like a jailer! My wife is in charge of a backup bunch set of keys. Despite this, and my increasing age, I do know the difference between the freshwater hole in the wall (accessed with smallish flat silver key) towards the back of the van in the grey habitation wall and the diesel hole under a flap (accessed with chunky driver's ignition key) in the white metal body part of the vehicle cab section, next to passenger door! (way too long sentence- sorry!) Also with my van they are about 3 - 4 feet apart. Perhaps in the newer vans they are right next to each other? Otherwise I don't know how they could possibly be mixed up. Now a petrol diesel mix up, that's another completely different ball game, and I am always on my guard with that one, even though modern fuel holes are supposedly designed for this not to happen!

If the owner has definitely not contaminated the freshwater tank themselves, then, especially with a brand new van, something strange is going on here. I assume the process of commissioning a new van for the customer also involves filling the vehicle with enough fuel to get him or her to at least the nearest petrol station from the dealer. This, I am guessing this is more likely to be carried out by the dealer than A/S at the factory, as normally it goes on a low loader to the dealer, and normally any small amount of fuel would have been put into the vehicle before the build stage. We definately know that our dealer, the salesman, put the fuel in for us. So my guess is that some young inexperienced technician at the dealers was sent out to put some fuel in the vehicle and inadvertently contaminated the freshwater tank and then tried to clean it up and cover up. Someone and ultimately the dealer is not owning up to the mistake, and why does that not surprise me! - because they can get away with it. It's all about profit margins, rather than honesty and good customer relations. Get the technician to pay for and to replace the tanks and pipes. He will never do it again!

These are only my thoughts of course! Yes I know I would make a good story writer. I think it's because I am so cynical. 

- and I have had a bad night! 

Final thought. Elvereater, if you are definitely not responsible for the contamination, then you should push for the dealers to pay for the repair. 

Pete

I also keep all my keys together, the water key and fuel key are so different, I have put a blue mark on the water key, to difference it from the other small keys.  Must be a nightmare to have diesel in the water tank.

My diesel flap is next to the passenger door, water filler without a flap, is further along the body. definitely very different keys.

We too keep the keys together on single bunches and when appropriate carry one each. As has been said, the key is a completely different type from the one for the ignition and fuel filler flap; on our van it is one key for the fresh water fill, the access flap to the loo flush fill and the habitation door and since we usually access the van via the hab door we need to carry that one anyway.

Also, the locking filler cap on the fresh water is white with a blue insert, whereas all fuel filler caps I have ever seen have been black or dark grey. 

1. I can explain how my son-in-law managed to put 20 litres of diesel into the watertank of the Clubman: he'd never been away in it before, and simply didn't know. The black water cap wasn't labelled, save for the 17-year old faded pictogram beneath it. It was an error.

2. I now keep the water filler key on a cord, secured to the external skirt locker. That prevents loss of cap, and ensures a longwinded procedure before water - or diesel - can be added: enough pfaff to make anyone think!

Ok lets try to put this into real time context. Mike L is referring to a 2016 model Warwick Duo.

The filler hole for diesel is on the passenger side behind the cab and clearly says diesel. The filler points for the water are on the opposite of the van and one has a lockable cap with a tap symbol on it. The other has a flap to cover the other filler point and small bore pipework. It would be, as stated, almost impossible to mix them up bearing in mind their locations on the van. Even a work experience person at the factory could not mix these up!

A dealer would indeed do a system check, fill the system with water and run it off, this is part of the PDI. The boiler would also be primed, filled and tested up to temperature. If there was any diesel in the tank it would show up straight away. 

The only way I can see this as not showing up during your dealer PDI is that diesel is lighter than water and it would have floated on the top of any water in the tank. This could possibly explain why the submersible pump that sits in the tank bottom only showed water being pumped from the system when the taps were opened and water drawn off. But again this is highly unlikely because the drain taps would be opened as well to let the lot out after testing. All this also brings into question your boiler and did diesel get into that - I hope it has not. 

I hope this might have made things a bit clearer.