Re: whalemaster system and whale external pump

by Guest Mon Aug 31, 2020 8:35 pm

all hoses, short and long, will develop this sort of issue over time....
like others, i run my tap for a bit before filling and i also 'clean' it periodically....ill treat myself to a new one when we get back on the road....
even Gromits 'watering can method' starts with first filling the tank with a hose...

by IanH Mon Aug 31, 2020 9:29 pm

Ours is simple
When at home, tank is always empty with drain cock open and hot tank empty too, both sets of taps open. Therefore there is very little actual water and all is open to air ventilation
Before every trip we run out the garden hose and run it till it passes an air "gurgle" showing that any existing water in the hose is now displaced. Both fresh, then when poss, hot tanks are then filled to capacity (overflowing at the filler point and water from both hot and cold taps. Therefore the fresh tank is full as is the hot tank, both with reasonably clean water.
However, this doesn't matter too much as we never drink water from either tap, all drinking water used on our trips is bottled, the MH tanks are purely for washing.

As an aside, and by preference, we also only take carbonated bottled water (LIDL's usually, but any will do), much nicer to drink, and when boiled miraculously transmogrifies into normal water!!! ( I know the gas boils off!)

So, when en route or stopped at site or Aire, it really doesn't matter what the water quality added to the tank is as it never gets drunk!

by Caraman Mon Sep 07, 2020 8:54 pm

Caraman wrote:Thanks Alan. I did check mine and there was a bit of stuff in it. I've actually taken mine out to try and increase the flow. I can put it back if I need to. If a bit of grit gets into the valve I think the worst it will do stop it closing fully which won't be the end of the world. Picking up on bolero boys points, I have recently bought a longer fresh water hose and cassette. I haven't used it yet but I think I will in preference to the Watermaster hose and connector that came with the Nuevo by putting the water directly into the tank through the lockable filler cap. I reckon it will be quicker and also easier & quicker to wind in the hose. Obviously the autofill won't function but a bit of water coming out the overflow shouldn't be a problem. This means that the Watermaster socket will only be used by the Watermaster pump that came with the Nuevo (I'm not joining the watering can club yet!) in which case the solenoid valve will serve no purpose because the contacts on the Watermaster socket are live when the autofill is on and only go off when the float switch indicates the fresh water tank is full. This being so, my solenoid valve might soon be a thing of the past and be replaced with a 5 inch piece of pipe which will reduce power consumption (0.8A) and will help to improve the flow rate. All I will lose is the ability to have a permanently connected mains water supply that keeps the freshwater tank topped up. I won't miss this as I don't use it now. If I have a tap on the pitch I use it to refill the freshwater tank when I need to which is about once every couple of days.

Although my system was working OK having removed the pressure switch adjustment screw, I have now removed the solenoid valve and replaced it with a section of pipe. I've refashioned the gauze debris filter to cover the Whale socket inlet when its out of use. The external Watermaster pump works fine and continues to cutout when the fresh water tank is full. Filling the tank with a longer food grade cassette hose through the lockable filler cap probably results in more water in the tank because I let it overflow but I haven't noticed any increase in fill speed yet. The cassette makes recovering the hose quicker.

by R50MTW Fri Aug 09, 2024 11:43 am

Peter Brown wrote:The 'black thing' is an electrically operated tap (solenoid). For that tap to open and let water pass to the tank the 12v has to be switched on and a ball valve switch in the tank be made (tank not full). There is also a filter in the 'tap' casing that readily blocks, remove the tap from the pipe work to get at the filter.

When I remove the solenoid I can see some gauze in the water inlet - is this the filter or do I need to dismantle the solenoid further to get to the filter (I can see several screws on the casing?)

by Peter Brown Fri Aug 09, 2024 12:49 pm

The gauze is the filter

by R50MTW Fri Aug 09, 2024 1:06 pm

Peter Brown wrote:The gauze is the filter

Thank you for the quick reply. The filter seems clear to me. I tried blowing air through the solenoid but the tap must be shut as no air could get through. I connected to a 12v source and could hear a click but still could not blow air through. I’m thinking the solenoid I must be seized shut?

by Caraman Fri Aug 09, 2024 5:57 pm

That sounds right. The valve is normally shut, It needs 12V to open it. If it isn't opening with 12V, its kaput.