BROADWAY ENTRANCE STEP FILLS WITH WATER

Hello All

We took delivery of our new 67 plate Broadway EK a few weeks ago and it was used for one day prior to last week. Then we found the kitchen sink would not drain away, sort of fixed by the dealer.

 We have just come back from a week away and returned home through a huge rainstorm. 

When we opened the habitation door at home water flooded out.

I could not find any leaks from under the sink area or thereabouts, I wonder if the step is not sealed and water ingress has entered from under the vehicle.

Has any one else encountered this problem??????

Not a good start for a 60k investment.

I cannot help here sorry, but Im curious as to what the issue with the sink was?
Mine takes forever to drain....

Thanks for your reply, The sink would not drain at all on our first night away, After a few plunges with the palm of my hand it sort of worked. As we were only a short way from the dealers we returned the next morning.

SMC service dept were very good and took it into the workshop straight away. They claimed the drain pipe did not drop enough. They improved the flow rate but it is still not very fast. I think that the inline u bend fitting ID slows the flow. I will look into this and maybe list my findings.

FT

OK, that backs up what my service man told me today....Thank you

We had the same problem with our Bourton whilst on a trip to a very damp Scotland. The water was coming in via the two vents - mainly the one to the front - by the step. Initially I put tape over the holes after removing the vents. When we got home I contacted the dealer and they contacted AS who suggested that mesh would cure it but it didn't. AS then said that mudflaps should be fitted at the rear to stop water splashing up and entering through the vents. The flaps were fitted and so far so good and we have done some driving on very wet roads. Our dealer had never seen the problem before.

On a recent trip met a couple with a Broadway who appeared to be bailing out the step and it turned out that they had just been to their dealer and were finishing clearing out water they had got in on their way there. It turned out that they had just returned from having mudflaps fitted and were hoping that they would cure the problem.

We have never had the problem as our Broadway was fitted as standard with rear mud flaps when we bought it new in 2014. Surely its common sense to fit mud flaps behind rear wheels if ventilated door footwells are positioned right behind the these wheels! 

This issue has been aired on this forum, on and off for at least a couple of years that I know of, what on earth are AS thinking off, cost cutting yet again!

Pete

Yes, a very silly move.

The vents in the step are an essential safety feature. Its a good idea to fit a hood over them on the outside to minimise the ingress of water when driving on very wet roads.

I realise why the vents are there but they should not let any water in to saturate the step area in the first place. Auto-Sleeper know that this happens and should automatically fit a baffle or something to stop it happening in the first place.

A hood or whatever would be a good idea but it should not let in ANY water let alone minimise it. It should also be a permanent fixture and not need you to fiddle around under the van if you are going to be driving on wet roads.

This is a bit of poor design that only causes agro to owners.

The dealer responded yesterday and wrote that A.S. advised that the current flap design was not coping well with heavy rainfall with water ingress into the vent, However it is being looked at.

It was suggested that the older style rubber mudflaps be fitted under warranty. A.S. has confirmed they will cover the supply & fitting costs as well.

We had visited several shows/dealers before deciding whom we would order from, The response/resolution from them on this issue was as expected, 100% positive, from viewing to purchase to this problem I would recommend SMC to one and all.

big'nuf wrote:I cannot help here sorry, but Im curious as to what the issue with the sink was?
Mine takes forever to drain....

We had the same sink draining problem with our Broadway EB and it was partially resolved by raising the drain pipe under the sink which was hanging in a loop rather than sloping gently down.  So silly that AS don't sort stuff like this as a standard installation.

Regarding G&T's problem with the slow sink drainage, We experienced this in our two year old Broadway and we found the only cure was to remove the filter underneath the sink. This worked but we do therefore make sure the fresh water tank is clean and well maintained. The footwell does not flood at all but flaps are fitted.

ScribesWtr wrote:

big'nuf wrote:I cannot help here sorry, but Im curious as to what the issue with the sink was?
Mine takes forever to drain....

We had the same sink draining problem with our Broadway EB and it was partially resolved by raising the drain pipe under the sink which was hanging in a loop rather than sloping gently down.  So silly that AS don't sort stuff like this as a standard installation.

Initially didn't realise that in our endeavour to pitch the van level (by means of blocks and spirit level) was exacerbating the problem of slow sink drain. On closer inspection of the plumbing immediately below the plug hole was what I can only describe as the obstructive 90% elbow that continues with the waste pipe running horizontal to the floor if not slightly running uphill. So now tend to pitch the front wheels higher so gravity helps for a more efficient drain.

We've just returned from our very first weekend away in our new (well...2015) Broadway.
Amongst the many minor issues we found, we had an awful smell in the van for best part of two days before I realised it could be coming from the very slow draining sink. "Paramedic" is spot on...we noticed the drain pipe does not have any fall at all and as we didn't use the levelers it was probably running the wrong way too. We flushed the pipe with water and dilute bleach and put the plug in....the smell disappeared.
We have also checked the trap, which was clean.
I will be endeavouring to adapt it a little to increase the angle of flow..and use the levelers more often I guess.

Van was generally great really, I will discuss the minor issues in another thread.

I think that it is the trap that causes the slow flow. I added CAK tanks trap to our bathroom sink and took it off because it drained so slowly that soap scum was left in sink. We just have to empty waste at least every 2 days to avoid smells.

Up to now I haven`t noticed any smells from waste pipe or sink, 

Dirty plates I wipe with kitchen paper towels same as dirty pans etc, therefore no bits goes down the sink and then wash as normal, I have always done it this way for over 30 years of caravanning and tenting. 
Makes for a cleaner waste tank and no problem to do, takes a minute at the most. 

Thought this may help others.