Filling the fresh water tank

I recently took my van away for the first time,  I had some issues with the fresh water tank level, the waste too actually. I filled the tank from the on site service point, as I was only there for a couple of nights I stopped filling when the monitor showed it to be 75%, believing that it would be sufficient. By mid morning next day I had no water despite being frugal with the amount of water I used. I should add that even before I set off, the waste level indicated it was full despite having opened the tap on my drive to check, but no water came out. I'm going away again tomorrow for a couple of nights. How can I be certain my fresh tank will be full?  I will watch the indicator again but I imagine there must be an overflow so that I could tell when it was full to the gunnels when water begins to run out?  The waste water tank level indicator now says it is 25% full but nothing is coming out of the drain tap. Are these level indicators reliable/accurate to any degree? 
Many thanks

Plenty of threads regarding the inaccuracies of the gauges so basically ignore them and trust your instincts!
Many on here have tried to rectify the issue but the problem generally comes back.

Just fill till it overflows uderneath, or comes out of the filler hole

FreelanderUK wrote:Just fill till it overflows uderneath, or comes out of the filler hole

Completely agree, it’s what I’ve always done.

Correct.
A tank can only overflow if it's full

FreelanderUK wrote:Just fill till it overflows uderneath, or comes out of the filler hole

Yup, this is what I've been doing forever too 

When you say the filler hole, this is where the hose plugs onto. So where does the water overflow from? Sorry for not getting it

Yes where the hose goes and there is also an overflow on top of the tank underneath

Either or both, either way the thing's full

DaveyA wrote:When you say the filler hole, this is where the hose plugs onto. So where does the water overflow from? Sorry for not getting it

Just a thought, vans from around your era didn’t have a ‘hole in the wall’ where a hosepipe/watering can could be used.
Do you just have the Whale filler socket or both?

Just a hole on that one Dave, my Warwick was that age too.....

2014 WXL has Whale filler on drivers side and hole in wall on nearside.

Re overflow when fresh tank is full if you look under the van you will see two black tanks forward if rear axle. Front one which is smaller is waste tank, rear one is fresh. When fresh tank is full you will see water running off this tank. Note it may continue to run for some time after tap is turned off, I think the tank heating blankets on mine seam to hold water and release. Don't worry if van looks incontinent and leaves a puddle after filling

Mines just got the Whale filler socket, there's no other fill point on the n/s? 
Thanks all for the help. I'll just keep an eye on it when I fill it up until I see it coming out somewhere

As for the waste tank, it is often the case that the discharge  tap  gets clogged up and doesn't let the tank drain properly.   I suggest you remove the tap at the end of the pipe  and  tip some water down the sink and see if any  waste water comes out.

Thanks, yes that's a good idea. I did think there might be something blocking it, best to check.

If using the whale filler it will automatically turn of when the tank is full, if you are using a aqua roll barrel for the water keep an eye on the water level so the pump does not run dry

Dbvwt wrote:

FreelanderUK wrote:Just fill till it overflows uderneath, or comes out of the filler hole

Completely agree, it’s what I’ve always done.

Me also.

DaveyA - as the van is an old one and new to you, you really should give the complete water system - pipes, taps, hot water tank, fresh water tank, waste water tank, toilet cassette and flush tank - a very thorough cleaning/sterilisation and descaling before it is used.  You may find this improves the accuracy and reliability of the fresh and waste water tank sensors.

Caraman wrote:DaveyA - as the van is an old one and new to you, you really should give the complete water system - pipes, taps, hot water tank, fresh water tank, waste water tank, toilet cassette and flush tank - a very thorough cleaning/sterilisation and descaling before it is used.  You may find this improves the accuracy and reliability of the fresh and waste water tank sensors.

Never worked for me. Sensors that is, just ignore them, you soon get to know your usage.

rgermain wrote:

Caraman wrote:DaveyA - as the van is an old one and new to you, you really should give the complete water system - pipes, taps, hot water tank, fresh water tank, waste water tank, toilet cassette and flush tank - a very thorough cleaning/sterilisation and descaling before it is used.  You may find this improves the accuracy and reliability of the fresh and waste water tank sensors.

Never worked for me. Sensors that is, just ignore them, you soon get to know your usage.

So far I haven't had any trouble with my fresh water tank sensors but the tank is bone dry for most of the time and every year I have descaled at least the lower 25% sensor and perhaps the middle 50% sensor and in use the 75% and especially the 100% sensors will be above the water level for much of the time.   This doesn't prove that descaling helps with the sensors and at least one member recently descaled her fresh water tank and it made no difference.  However, I have had trouble with my waste water tank sensors and proved that cleaning and descaling the waste water tank helps with this.  Judging by the amount of muck I got out of the tank earlier this year with citric acid and a propriety tank cleaner, I had allowed it to get quite dirty.

I have removed the mesh filter just above the solenoid valve on the whale filling system, this has made the pumping a lot quieter and filling by this method a lot faster

Make sure the air in the tank can escape as the water goes in (and more Importantantly: the water if the filler pipe gets full) . This year on a site with a water tap that gave high flow from high pressure I managed to blow out one of the level sensors in the fresh water tank. Fortunately it pushed back in without much trouble.

Baggiecamper wrote:Make sure the air in the tank can escape as the water goes in (and more Importantantly: the water if the filler pipe gets full) . This year on a site with a water tap that gave high flow from high pressure I managed to blow out one of the level sensors in the fresh water tank. Fortunately it pushed back in without much trouble.

I've never heard that before.  If the solenoid valve below the Whale inlet socket is working properly it should shut off the mains water flow as soon as the tank is full.  I've removed the solenoid valve and so fill it until it overflows from the breather at the top of the fresh water tank.

This was filling with a hose. I was using the conical hose end that's designed to go on a tap. It was back to front to stop the hose blowing out of the van water inlet for hose. 
Trouble was it was too effective and pressure built up in the tank. 

I would imagine using one of these could have the same result if the supply is high flow and high pressure. 

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Caraman wrote:

Baggiecamper wrote:Make sure the air in the tank can escape as the water goes in (and more Importantantly: the water if the filler pipe gets full) . This year on a site with a water tap that gave high flow from high pressure I managed to blow out one of the level sensors in the fresh water tank. Fortunately it pushed back in without much trouble.

I've never heard that before.  If the solenoid valve below the Whale inlet socket is working properly it should shut off the mains water flow as soon as the tank is full.  I've removed the solenoid valve and so fill it until it overflows from the breather at the top of the fresh water tank.

I was going to post a question related to this - our new Warwick XL I tend to use our aquaroll with the whale sub pump. I have to turn on the power to the socket via our panel in the van. Works great and auto shuts off when the gauge says 100%…

My worry though is these levels never stay accurate for long - our Swift Escape was never accurate ever and looking at posts on here seems AS go the same way. Never bothered me on the swift, as people state you get to know your water usage and when to fill up. With the Warwick though if it auto shuts off at 100% and the levels are inaccurate is there a way to force it to fill? (i think thats what you meant in your post and if so could you provide more details?). 

Our swift just used the 2 pin 12v external socket so didn’t stop from filling to max. 

Thanks for any help.