Whale water filling system on Nuevo

geoff brooke wrote:Why on earth are we talking about buckets and water containers in 2014 to use a £50k plus product !
Idea of motorhoming / campervan is to move on from caravans.
What happens if your pump fails, possibly abroad  ? stick to a fail safe hosepipe....like all the premiium continental vans do.
K I S S
Keep it simple stupid  !!

Well I suppose we could all just shove a sleeping bag in the back of an old van and wash in a stream. How simple would you like to go? (Don't take offence, yes I am being facetious )

More support for Geoff Brooke - and yes, I do have the Whale system so I'm not speaking from ignorance!

Apart from any other consideration it's completely unnecessary, and something else to go wrong as he says.

That, and all the extra faff involved is enough to put me off it. I'm an idle git at the best of times, and on holiday I like to be so laid back as to be almost horizontal!!

Keep taking the tablets Geoff.

Dave

I love the wale system fitted to my 2014 Broadway, at the moment sat on a pitch in Benidorm with a water tap close by, just connect supplied hose to tap and van and Gromit's your uncle.

John.

Benidorm Eh?

You can go off people John. It's freezing cold here and dismal with it. I suppose you have wall-to-wall blue skies!!

Hope you don't get too fat due to lack of exercise with the watering can!

Dave

Having emptied the tank for the winter a few months ago I today tried to refill with the whale system but it does not want to work. Checked the fuse - had one fail last year - but O.K.  Anyone got any ideas?
May try and check the solenoid valve filter following above posts but would this actually stop it working?

Have you remembered to switch the power on on the Sargent control panel? If the solenoid has failed it will prevent water from going in.
I assume you are trying to fill with the Whale hose.
If you need a new solenoid get one of these. I have one as a spare.

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Thanks Moggy,

Yes, filling with whale hose.
Power is on - mains connected too at the moment. How do I check if the solenoid has failed? At the moment the valve just stays shut.

Graham

yottieman wrote:Thanks Moggy,

Yes, filling with whale hose.
Power is on - mains connected too at the moment. How do I check if the solenoid has failed? At the moment the valve just stays shut.

Graham

Hi Graham 
Welcome to the forum from Bridlington 
Boaby

yottieman wrote:Thanks Moggy,

Yes, filling with whale hose.
Power is on - mains connected too at the moment. How do I check if the solenoid has failed? At the moment the valve just stays shut.

Graham

If you remove the valve bit fiddly but not difficult then connect it direct to a battery. It will make a clicking sound but you cannot actually see anything move. Mine dod that but still works so assume if it does not make any noise it is dead. You will see the filter when you take it off, it will not actually come out but you can run it under a tap to clean it.

May be simpler to check contacts in plug and socket are clean and making contact?

Having another go this morning. Fuses all OK but seems the current is not getting to the solenoid. Don't know the wiring diagram to check where they all go. Wish I had a direct filler.
Graham

Worth trying...

Are you sure that you have lifted the flap over the inlet right up and back so that it is flat against the wall of the van before you insert the hose ?

I,ve got he same system and briefly had a similar problem until I realised that on the control panel you select the pumps you wish to operate. Mine is either, internal (so the whale  fill pump wont operate) External (so the internal pump wont operate but the whale will) or both when  both will operate
I leave mine permanently on both so that the internal pump and the whale filler pump will both operate.

Thanks Chudders,

I also leave control panel to both as you do but juice does not seem to be getting to the whale fitting including the solenoid.
I connected a battery direct to the solenoid which then clicked a bit so that would indicate that it works.
I wonder what would happen if I cut out the solenoid valve and had a hose fitting direct to the pipe to the tank. Is there an overflow so I would know when the tank was full, although the guage on mine seems to work O.K. following a vinegar treatment to the tank to remove some limescale.

All good fun!!

Graham

Hi Graham

No immediate help to you, but several members have had direct fillers fitted and I don't think the cost was prohibitive. It's not rocket science after all, and any competent motorhome fitter should be able to do it.

One has to ask oneself why Messrs Autosleepers are now fitting both filling systems. Could it be that they finally realised the Whale system is a caravan fitment, and neither necessary nor desirable on a motorhome?

Why do they continue fitting the Whale system anyway. My watering can never blows a fuse or needs switching on, doesn't need a battery or plugging in anywhere, nor any other needless faff and fluster!!

All my humble opinion of course!

Dave

Simple reason, money. Obviously cheaper than the previous Truma fill system and an external water pump (ie not in tank).

Hi Peter

Sorry, I meant "Why do they continue fitting the Whale system - as well as the direct fill?"

The logic (assuming there is some!) escapes me. Surely the direct fill is perfectly adequate on its own - it has been for decades after all!

Dave

What they save by not fitting the Whale fill system they could spend on efficient sprung hinges for the overhead locker doors which I believe have been replaced by cheap piano hinge on newer models.
Al

When I bought my motorhome it only had the whale filler system.
It was no problem but I felt I needed a second conventional hole in the wall filler where I could use a hose or watering can etc etc.
I went to Autosleepers to have it done as I was going to stay at Broadway caravan club site anyway.
Took it to them in the morning and they installed the  system and in fairness made a very neat job inside and outside.
I now have a choice. The cost as far as recall was about £160. I was reasonably happy to pay for the convenience . and choice. I do still use the whale system particularly on a fully serviced pitch with mains water where I can leave the hose connected and the tap on so it just draws water as need to keep the tank full.

Well, I don't really understand how the whale filling system works except mine doesn't at the moment!  I asked A/S and they said they would put in another direct filler alongside but cost about £200.

So, what would happen if I disconnected all electrics from filler system, removed the filling unit and solenoid and ran a connected a hose via a direct skin fitting direct to the tank using the pipe tank side of the solenoid?

Somebody must have done this or similar. Just needs a skin fitting to replace whale one - I can incorporate a filter in the hose fittings.

Help!!

Graham

I have removed the solenoid valve and fitted a pipe to enable the tank to be filled using the supplied Whale hose and skin fitting. No problem, tank filled and over flowed as expected.

Thanks Roger
I assume this does not affect the pressure system. Did you disconnect all the electric bits?

Graham

Just pulled out the solenoid valve connections and protected the bare ends with insulation tape.
On my van the filling system is not connected in any way with the pressure system so no problems at all

roger7webster wrote:I have removed the solenoid valve and fitted a pipe to enable the tank to be filled using the supplied Whale hose and skin fitting. No problem, tank filled and over flowed as expected.

I am a satisfied Whale user, so biased BUT I do have a slight concern over your solution. The Whale connection is pressure tjght where the hose plugs onto the van. I am not sure that the overflow is big enough to allow mains pressure water to escape fast enough - it is designec to let air out as the tank fills.  The Whale system has a float valve that makes the solenoid valve close when the tank is full. Unless you watch the filling cadefully you could pressurise the tank and possibly blow off the input pipe if that breather hole does not allow water to escape quickly enough. You might need to drop the tank to re attachthat pipe!

Ron, the clue and solution to your concerns are in the "use the supplied whale hose & skin fitting"
The fitting has a flow restricter to prevent the tank pressurisation.
If this was not fitted there could be a similar problem if the solenoid valve failed in the open position.
When it works the Whale filling system is only an added convenience.
When it fails you need to to over come the problems. This is one tried and proven solution.