I watched a You Tube caravanning video the other day and a caravan had lost the water connection point to the water tank. 

In the middle of nowhere  of course!

The connector had pulled out of the tank leaving a hole that drained all of the water out of one tank.

This was not just a simple "replace the hose job" as there was a hole in the side of the tank where the fitting had been torn out.

This made me start wondering if there were some "bits and pieces" that caravanners could buy to address a range of tank leaking issues.

Has anyone put together a selection of tank and pipe repair bits and pieces that can fix most types of water tank and pipe leaks?

Tank repair kits would be a good start.

Just wondering if someone may have some advice on this issue to save me buying tons of spares!!!!

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

David

Make sure the tank, outlets, pipework  are PROTECTED PROPERLY to start with......... (this includes gas pipes, electrical wiring ,air lines , brake lines  as well....)   easier, cheaper and more convenient  to do this at home than trying to repair damage on the side of the road somewhere.. Stones etc. can destroy unprotected items underneath a caravan  - some caravanners are unaware of what goes on under there on a gravel road!

Thanks

 There is a product called Dynasteel Plastic tank repair.  It is good for all tanks potable and non potable as well as fuel tanks. I suggest you google it then read the instructions. I have found it very useful on a couple of occasions.

Onedodger wrote:

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 There is a product called Dynasteel Plastic tank repair.  It is good for all tanks potable and non potable as well as fuel tanks. I suggest you google it then read the instructions. I have found it very useful on a couple of occasions.

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 Good to know.

Technology must have moved on since I last tried various epoxy products to repair a split black blow moulded rv water tank on our bus 13 years ago. I wasted as much on products purported to be suitable as it cost for the eventual solution - a replacement tank. 

Do you know what type of plastic you used it on (HDPE, PE or  PP?)

Yep you're right of course.

After a trip to Bunnings for some insulation pipe (rubber) and cable ties I am ready for action!

I will dig my "Monkey Trolley" out of the shed and get stuck into it.

Thanks.

David

Yep have now bought some from Supa Cheap for plastic and metal tanks.

Cheers.

David

Pradokakadudavid wrote:

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Yep have now bought some from Supa Cheap for plastic and metal tanks.

Cheers.

David

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 After you've had a day or two to evaluate your repair please let us know whether or not successful. 

KJB wrote:

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Make sure the tank, outlets, pipework  are PROTECTED PROPERLY to start with......... (this includes gas pipes, electrical wiring ,air lines , brake lines  as well....)   easier, cheaper and more convenient  to do this at home than trying to repair damage on the side of the road somewhere.. Stones etc. can destroy unprotected items underneath a caravan  - some caravanners are unaware of what goes on under there on a gravel road!

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 Each of my water tanks has a tap on both its inlet line and its outlet line, allowing me to effectively control water level in each, so that towball weight always stays the same, whatever level of water is in each tank.

The tanks each have a gauge inside the van so that I can control flow as needed when filling tanks. The front fresh water tank has its own inlet if I wish to keep 'suspect' water out if  I'm filling 'in the bush', and a tap on the main fill line so that that tank can be isolated if needed.

Although I isolate every tank when travelling on bush roads I did manage to break a lot of fittings and lines on the Dawson Development Road, so at Tambo I fitted 3 mudflaps ( green lines) on each side to protect the repaired lines etc, as well as protecting other stuff, such as wiring for diesel heater, fridge etc.

The outlet plumbing, to the various taps and the diesel heater etc, is exactly the same as the inlet system, but too complicated to be drawn by an unskilled draughtsman, as I am.

Hope this is of some help, but if managing towball weight is of importance,it is imperative that tanks be plumbed separately. Cheers

P.S Each tank has an individual tin cover around 3 sides to prevent damage from sticks, stones etc. Cheers

Yes, best to ensure tanks and fittings have protection.  When I bought my van both tanks were connected so water was taken from both tanks at once. I considered this a potential problem, so I separated tanks to draw from one at a time.

I carry a few spare connectors with me, but anything major, Id probably leave until home or a suitable location for a few days to work on it.

Ive used a product similar to JB Plasticweld in the past with great success

myautosupplies.com.au/products/jb-weld-plasticweld-plastic-repair-epoxy-putty-stick-fast-setting-8237

Good luck with repair

Well you may be pleased to know (or maybe couldn't really care less) but I will give you a report of my under caravan tank lines etc insulating experience.

Firstly, for people who may not have done this before I recommend:

1.  Buy at least three times as much insulation piping and cable ties as you think you need as after three separate trips to Bunning's, I only just had enough materials. Keep the receipts to return unused supplies or keep them as spares.

2. A Monkey Trolley makes the job soooooooooooooooooooooooooo  much easier.

3. Make sure you take every tool you need under the caravan at the start as climbing under and then out and then under etc etc gets a bit tedious.

4. Buy insulation tubes of various thicknesses as I found many cases where water hoses were already cable tied together with other pipes and this caused a need for thicker tubing to go around the circumference of the combined pipes.

So, about five hours later, with many bruises, cuts, sore muscles and back pain, I finished most of it. 

It is amazing how new hoses keep appearing so when you think you are finished, more hoses seem to appear out of no where.

Fortunately many of the brake lines and electrical cables etc were already protected inside rubber tubes so that saved me doing those pipes.

Thank god I have an offroad caravan with high under ground clearance otherwise it would have been far more difficult. 

As my caravan is up against a wall on one side, easy access is only possible from one side so I had to slide under the entire van to get to various places.

So as the sun went down and my wife was getting angry as I had disappeared for so long, I rolled out from underneath the caravan and VOILA (how my wife thinks you spell it and she does speak some French so who am I to judge), it was done. Actually I mistyped it as VIOLA the first time and then wife got angry as she worked in a French Canadian school for 12 months and matriculated with French language and insisted I tell you guys it was me that was the idiot and not her.  Easy for me to admit the truth!!!

I have spent Sunday recovering from the many aches and pains I endured from this task but very happy with what I achieved.

Thanks to everyone for your advice.

Now on to my next topic of conversation so I think I need Yobarr for this one.

Cheers.

David

Thanks for the effort you have put into this information Yobarr)  Gee you certainly have many water tanks.  I would be interested to know the capacity of each as my van only have two tanks of 110 litres each.  They are filled separately and I do notice that when they are both filled (which is very rarely) it does lower my tow ball weight.

Thanks David

-- Edited by Pradokakadudavid on Sunday 16th of July 2023 06:18:54 PM

Pradokakadudavid wrote:

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Thanks for the effort you have put into this information KJB (or was it from Yobarr??)  Gee you certainly have many water tanks.  I would be interested to know the capacity of each as my van only have two tanks of 110 litres each.  They are filled separately and I do notice that when they are both filled (which is very rarely) it does lower my tow ball weight.

Thanks David

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 Hi David. The tanks are each at least 70 litres, but as I can carry another 190 litres in the car if needed I actually converted the tank that is between the axles in to a grey water tank to keep any pedantic people  happy! Cheers

P.S If the filled tanks lower towball weight they are not in the right places. You have said that your TBW is 300kg on a 3200kg van, which is within limits, but increasing van weight while also lowering TBW is not wise. Cheers

Thanks for the effort you have put into this information  Yobarr. Gee you certainly have many water tanks.  I would be interested to know the capacity of each as my van only have two tanks of 110 litres each.  They are filled separately and I do notice that when they are both filled (which is very rarely) it does lower my tow ball weight.

Thanks David

 PS: My wife was right with VOILA but I can't even re spell what she spelled correctly for me.  She said, "VOILA" but I spelled it as "Viola".

The full water tanks tend to smooth out the TBW to around 280 kgs but then I just fill my front wardrobes with clothes which I normally place on the centre (above the axles) club lounge).

The caravan manufacturer engineered the caravan to place the two axles slightly forward with the two water tanks in the middle with one slightly back as they were concerned the TBW might be too heavy for my Patrol.

The whole rig seems to run much more smoothly with  full water tanks but I guess this is just the added weight smoothing things out.

The rig tows beautifully and very smoothly with no wobble so I guess this means things are okay!!!

Seems the more I know, the more I don't know.

Cheers.

David.