Leaking Hot Water Tank

Hi everyone.
last summer the Carver Water heater on our 1995 Symphony sprang a strange leak.
The inside of the van remained dry, but once the pump had pushed the system up to pressure, a small continuous trickle of water could be seen running from the outer flue, down the exterior bodywork. Fearing the worst, and just having forked out a fortune on mechanical repairs, we got by for the rest of the touring season.
But with the prospect of a summer? in front of us, it became time to do be brave, and do something about it.
On recommendation we took "Alice" to a small independent repairer, expecting the worst, and that after initial investigation and no doubt a lot of low whistles and pencil sucking, to be confronted with the prospect of another large bill to pay!
However, after a few minutes investigation the fitter diagnosed a perished 'O' ring on the pressure release valve. A cup of coffee later it was all fixed, and I was presented with a bill for less than £50. Now I know Fifty quid is fifty quid, and someone with more mechanical ability than I have could have probably done it themselves for 2P, but for us it was a result, and I pass on the info. that this valve, situated just behind the external flue, is easy to get at and cheap to replace. We've also found a very friendly and reasonably independent repairer that we'll use again, and if you'd like the details, let us know.

To be honest, I am surprised you didn't fix it yourself last July. You had established that the heater wasn't leaking on the inside, so it must have been leaking from somewhere on the outside. There are only three places on the outside where it would leak from: the drain plug, the wax safety plug and the pressure release valve.
Did the guy replace the whole valve or just the O ring? The valves get brittle and can snap off when disturbed.

Frank