Water Heater

Does any one have a view on the possible replacement of our dead and bypassed waterheater? It could be replaced by a small mains only water heater, which would work out cheaper than a Truma like for like one, but would still cost several hundreds of pounds as we cannot do it for ourselves. We have managed with no hot water for several months and could easily go on like this, but it was very luxurious to have hot water on tap for the first time in our camping lives... What do you think? Gran

I assume it is a Carver heater. There are plenty always for sale on Ebay. Prices range for gas/electric ones from £50 to £150 . Fitting should be simple for a caravan engineer so shouldn't be too costly. You can even get your own heater refurbished. See [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
To me if it had hot water when built I would have to have hot water now.

Hi Gran.

I agree with Paul. Cheapest repairs would be at ARC SYSTEMS. Believe me if Gary can't fiix it, No one can.

Whisky.

Hi there,

There is no doubt that hot water on tap is very addictive but when we are wild camping we very seldom bother to fire up the gas heater and quite often forget to put the electric heater on when we are on EHU.

We never us the shower, tend to rely on "baby wipes" soaked in cologne for personal hygiene and when we need hot water boiling up a pan full on the stove is easy.

If cash was tight I would therefore probably just leave it for this year on the basis that we can live without it.

Hope this helps.

Best regards,

Hello all,
I have now studied all I could find about the Carver Cascade within this forum, which is lots! In fact, apart from developing a massive leak from the broken hotwater outlet, it was working fine. I know it is a bit of a gamble, but I have ordered a new hotwater outlet,coldwater inlet and safety valve, which together cost about £25. We are having a visit from some approved motorvan engineers soon so are hoping that just maybe they will be able to get our old heater going again.
PS Due to the extremely cold winter, they have been extra busy with water system problems, because even a small drop of water left in a joint can freeze and fracture it. Regards, Gran

I'd get a drain cap too! the head can snap off when they get brittle. Not a major problem but if it goes, it'll dump all the water in the heater.

Frank

Hi, Everyone,
Just a note to say that following all the advice on this Forum re our Carver water heater has paid off big time, as the new parts have been fitted and we are back in our luxury (for us) state, with hot water on tap. As we cannot do these things ourselves it has saved us both time, and money, by having the parts here all ready for the engineers to fit. Thank you to all for such good advice. All good wishes, Gran
PS Thanks for the tip about the drain plug, Frank. Will get one when my next pocket money comes through!