VW T4 Trident 2003 - Water Tanks.

Good evening,
I’m a new owner of a 2003 VW T4 Trident and new to campervaning.
Having read the original owners manual I have some Q’s regarding the use of the water tanks:
1. Freshwater tank - 
a. What’s the best way to disinfect the system? Manual states to use dilute bleach but I have read that this is not advisable?
b. Is there a filter and if so how do I access it for cleaning (and for winter drainage)?
c. How do people on this forum fill their tank - hose and jerrycan?
c. Do people use the freshwater tank for just cooking?
d. How do I drain the tank?

2. Wastewater tank -
a. There appears to be an underslung tank near-side with a tap on it, is this the wastewater drain tank?
b. What’s the capacity of the drain tank?

The dealer we bought from didn’t fully explain how to use the water system and advised that I’d have to work it out by using it and reading the manuals but unfortunately the manual doesn’t explain where the drain taps, filters (if any) are located.

Apologies for such a long post, any help would be greatly appreciated and once I gain a bit more experience perhaps one day I’ll be able to help someone on this forum

Welcome to the forum! A few of your questions are specific to the Trident, but most are common to all models - they tend to get asked fairly frequently.

Rather than trying to answer all of your questions, I'll just pick one, and hopefully others can pick off a few themselves.

The typical arrangement for draining tanks on the Trooper, Trident and Topaz tends to be the same. Each tank has an outlet on it (you can see this just by looking around the tank) and these are brought to the sill of the van by a flexible hose, where there is plastic drain tap, often badly fixed in place with a Terry clip. It's very very common for these to rust away, causing the hose and tap to drop to the ground where they get worn away or ripped off on a speed bump.

This may be what has happened to yours, or a previous owner may have modified it in some way to make it more usable. You'll only really know by getting under and looking.

An easy way to distinguish which tank/tap is which is just to open the tap, pour a gallon of water down the sink and see where the water comes out!

Thank you Roopert for taking the time to reply which was very helpful, I can see one tap but will get under the van to have a look for the other.
Thank you.

One way to work out which tank is which... The fresh tank is usually the larger of the two.

Cleaning, I use chempro. Kind of like Milton, for baby bottles, but stronger and cheaper. Once a year, after winter.

Filling the fresh tank... I have a cap with a hose connection and a hose with a push fit connection on both ends. Clip on to tap, clip on to tank cap, away you go. When filled, unscrew the filler cap, and replace the locking one. I got a solid hose... Kind of wish I'd got one of those expanding ones, may have been lighter and easier to store. Before that I have used a watering can...

We don't use the onboard for cooking or drinking. Just for washing up and hands etc. Have a 5ltr water bottle for drinking, just refill from site tap.

Filters.... Usually on the water pump, depending on which pump it is. Ours is a shurflo pump, out of the tank, in behind a rear cupboard. Just a gauze filter. You can work out where the pump is by switching it on and having a listen!



This is a handy site...

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Brochures and info on T4 Autosleepers, bound to find some info of interest there.

I will add my comments regarding the fresh water tank. You can buy specific tank cleaner for both the fresh and grey water tanks. Don’t be tempted use Milton fluid. I have been told it can cause corrosion in the water heater. 
We fill ours with a hose and a Jerry can depending were we are staying. If we are on site it can be a pain having to pack up  to reach a tap. If you use a hose run water through it for a bit before you put it in the tank to get rid of any stale water. I ask management to test the water, she has a better sense of taste. Don’t trust hoses already fitted to taps on sites. We then use the water for teas, washing up or showering. If we need drinking water for tablets we keep a bottle of water in the fridge either bought or from our tap at home. 
The only filter on most water systems is on the inlet side of the water pump unless a filter has been retro fitted. You’re generation of Autosleeper will have the pump hidden away somewhere so getting to the filter will be a pain. Our Duetto had the pump fitted behind a panel under the cooker. The current Rienza has the pump under the wardrobe. 
I made the mistake of not draining the system fully on our Duetto during the first winter causing the filter to split when it froze. 
As Roopert said the drain taps are prone to damage with the hose clipped underneath. Wen I repaired and modified the drain on our Duetto trying to find spring clips, terry clips, locally was fun. The staff at B&Q didn’t even know what they were. 
Any further questions just keep asking. We are here to help or confuse.

Handy to know re the Milton type cleaner. I'll stop using that.

Think I used puriclean (?) last time.

Terry/spring clips... I got a big bag of assorted ones off ebay.

The issue of miltons fluid came from a forum user. It has a corosive reaction to the stainless steel in the water heaters. It may be just Truma selling there products but we have used miltons as an emergency flush out after filling up from a tap on a large  site. We didnt need to taste the water it actually smelt bad when we ran the water afterwards. The site gave us the miltons to flush out the tank. It took four full tanks to get rid of the smelly water and two to get rid of the miltons taste. Management has got a very good sense  of taste and smell. I think I have been breathing too much diesel fumes working on smoky diesels since 71. 
B&Q staff frustrate me sometimes. I asked for Junior Hacksaw Blades. Blank look meant no idea. When I found them and showed the kid he said" You should have said small hacksaw blades". 
I found an old style iron mongers and asked for spring clips to fit the pipe I had taken with me.  He said you mean Terry Clips. 

I don't think that the Trident will have a water heater - Milton (or the cheaper alternative from Boots) should be Ok if not. But if the fresh tank vent arrangement on your Trident is typical for A/S, I wouldn't bother too much about trying to get it sterile - it won't stay clean for long!

The Terry clips that you can buy on Ebay seem very variable in quality - the first lot I bought there were plastic-coated, but only lasted a year or so (very thin steel under the coating). It may be worth getting the stainless version, though they are a bit more expensive.

Roopert wrote:But if the fresh tank vent arrangement on your Trident is typical for A/S, I wouldn't bother too much about trying to get it sterile - it won't stay clean for long!

Being the main reason we don't use it for drinking.... If it can vent out, it can get in too. 

I don't have much sense of smell either. That's 50+ years of old smelly Land Rovers for you!

Thanks to everyone for taking the time and effort to respond to my post, it’s greatly appreciated.
I have managed to locate both drain taps for the waste and freshwater tanks and have a better idea of the practicalities of using the campervan water system.
Thank you, Dean.

I just checked, I did use puriclean last time. It says it’s safe on all water systems, including stainless steel boilers.

Not sure if it’s appropriate to post another Q here or start a new topic?
Just used Puriclean to disinfect the freshwater system and a separate drain pipe and waste tank cleaner. 

When draining the tanks the freshwater tap (no hose attached) started leaking badly, it’s been previously repaired (using external sealant by the looks of it).
The van is new to us and has just had a Hab check which passed the water tanks and pipes: I would have thought that an imminent failure should have been highlighted on the Hab check?

The van has a 12 month warranty and initial enquiries reveal that the warranty may cover a repair: the van’s booked in for a “fault diagnosis” (with a garage nearer to where I live belonging to the same group that did the Hab check) and the garage will then have to ring the warranty company to see if they’ll cover it.

If the warranty company say no I’m wondering what my options are?

1. Would a new tank be required? I see they are available online for £186 with all new brackets etc.
2. Is it possible to drop the tank and make a permanent repair to it?
3. I obviously need to be able to drain the system and was wondering if external sealant repairs are pointless? There is some movement on the tap which appears to be secured by the remaining external sealant.

Any advice greatly appreciated and apologies in advance if I should have started a new topic.

T4Nellie,

Welcome to the site. The T4 in my humble opinion is one of the best AutoSleeper took on as a challenge in 1990. The breed still fetch good money today, even besides COVID and the last two years of a pandemic.
I repainted all the cupboards after sanding as they too had water stains all over them, so it was the lesser of two evils. Pics on here somewhere under my name.

I have had issues with the water, and have currently got an annoying leak under the floor dripping out of the nearside door even after a habitiation check where the engineer did replace a clip, probably loose.
I started a thread on here of how I got it in the state it was, so not surprising, with a broken roof vent, left outside for two years..................after a thorough steam clean of all the cloth and replaced the curtains, its now home when we are on the move, having put OUR stamp on it.

The water tank is merely for washing up. We fill collapsible containers with fresh site water for tea. We don't use the onboard water for anything else, albeit we do put steri-tabs in regularly.
If you saw the inside when we bought it, you would fully understand why we don't drink it even though its boiled.
Why take a chance.
I have the front interior stick on reflector blinds for the windscreen and side doors if you need a set advertised on here. They are brand new, just that I managed to get a full set elsewhere.
All the best.........any other questions don't hesitate to ask...................enjoy.

Meant to say, you can simply drain the system by leaving the tap on. Mine doesn't appear to have a tap so thats what we do into a bucket!
Unless the tank is obviously bad when they inspect it, I wouldn't waste your pennies, dump the water by the bucket method or on grass!