Hi all i took our caravan on its madian trip last weekend up to Mildura stayed at Buronga caravan park great place. Now i set the van up first trouble i had was the awning the clip was stuck fix that. My question is when in a power site to run the hws you just turn the switch to on that red light comes on now i tryed that but i herd clicking from water service but no go i had to turn the gas on for it to work now i have been told at a powered site you don't need to use gas. what have i done wrong. As i said it was our first trip with the caravan.
You should have 2 controls for the hot water, one has a light that when switched on glows for a few seconds - this is the gas operation. The other is an electrical power switch that doesn't have an indicator when switched on. If you are in a CP with power you should be using the electrical switch on the HWS (you're paying for the use of electricity anyway). See what you can find on your power board.
Dave thanks for that i said that to a guy the other day about the pump switch and he said no that ones for free camping and the one with the red light is for power mmmmm so its the other way round thanks.
what have i done wrong. As i said it was our first trip with the caravan.
Well you may now gather that the first thing you did wrongly was to not tell us all the details. Is this a new van? If so where are the handbooks for all the PC items? You should really read these before you go venturing. It's also hard to diagnose problems unless we know what we are talking about. If you have a second hand van then you are probably missing the handbooks. Let us know the make and model of all the PC items you have that are missing their handbooks, we can possibly source handbooks you can download from the net. Over to you, let us assist you when we know what model we are talking about.
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
Going from your earlier posts I assume it is a new van.
Looks like you didn't get get much of a handover session when you picked the van up. All these types of things should have been thoroughly explained at that time.
No Chris, you're not a pain, please continue to ask questions as there are usually others out there with a similar problem.
Our 2004 Jayco had an electric switch in the actual HWS accessed by removing the cover on the outside of the van (we left this switch on all the time) It then also had a switch in the van that we left on except when running off the generator when free camping.
To heat using gas ours had a red light beside the gas switch which only stayed on for about 10 seconds as an indicator that it had ignited. You can actually hear the flame roaring when its first turned on.
We only use gas HWS heating for showers then turn it off (boil the kettle on the gas stove or a billy on the campfire when free camping)
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Jenny and Barry
2009 Roma Elegance / 2013 Colorado. Permanent travellers 2011-2015 now just travel for 4-6 mths
Hi Chris, we've only just bought a 2nd hand van ourselves, and haven't had a chance to test everything yet but when we picked it up they ran thru most things. Ours is a Jayco Stirling and there is a switch on the hot water service to turn it on for 240v plus another one hidden behind a drawer in the kitchen. We have to pull it right out to get to the switch. Hope this helps,
Cutting through all the above, Im assuming you have a suburban HWS, if so turn OFF the switch with the red light near it, go out to the HWS box, open it up and locate a small black switch under a pipe on the lower left (as you face the van side) hand side. Thats the 240V switch, click it down and all should be well. Part of our packing up checklist is making sure these switches are both off and the gas bottles are off.
Please let the forum know what happened. Circlec that will most certainly be the case with your Jayco Stirling.
Cheers
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P B Crockart EX RAAF Electrician,
Aircraft Avionics tech. Senior high school teacher.
Thanks for all the kind words my van is 21ft Blue Sky Fairhaven. When we went to pick it up the guy showed me most of the stuff im having fun going over it all playing around with it all it wont take me long to get to know it all just wont to go away again lol
PS i have suburban water system
Cheers
Chris
-- Edited by GXL4X4 on Saturday 6th of December 2014 05:37:41 PM
Hi again i bought the van second hand and i dident get a good run down on it iv learning myself and sorry asking questions been a pain sorry guys
Chris, you are not being a pain. There are many members here willing and waiting to assist you. We have all been through your learning curve. There are a few manufacturers and types of water. All we need is a make and model number and you will get the correct information. Someone will probably be able to source an instruction manual for you to download for future reference. Whilst you are getting that information find the make and model number of anything else you don't have a handbook for. Please supply the info, we are awaiting your response so we can assist you.
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
We too have a switch on the HWS accessed by the outside door but we also have a 230v power point in the ensuite close to the HWS which is the one we use.
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Neil & Lynne
Pinjarra
Western Australia
MY23.5 Ford Wildtrak V6 Dual Cab / 21' Silverline 21-65.3
We have recently purchased a Coromal and their HWS has another quirk. On the outside, there is a cover over the HWS heat/exhaust outlet. Now if you want to run the HWS on Gas, then this cover has to be removed. Like most of the other responders above, we leave the 240v switch on, as there is a central switch which you turn on if you want the HWS to heat up. If there is no 240v then it tries to ignite the Gas (if the cover is off).
Glen
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Glen
A diesel Nissan Pathfinder towing a Coromal Element 542.
Hi.We have suburban hws.We leave the switch in unit on all the time as well as the one inside the van.Checked the anode yesterday after only 4 months.Deep corrosion was about 25 mm from the outer end so i replaced it.Maybe it would have lasted longer but better to be safe than sorry.Recommendation is to check every 6 months.I buy 2 anodes at a time online for the price of one at a camping store.Safe travels.Peter.
Like Chris, we bought a 2nd hand Jayco Discovery Pop-top recently from a dealer (New Age). We were "fortunate" that we paid $200 for them to do a check-over service to ensure everything worked ok & then we go a very quick explanation of some of the details. They did replace the anode in the HWS.
So we're on our first major trip & we're "discovering" how to operate the van. We found the internal HWS switch & cord this morning & on turning it on, we heard a noise similar to an electric kettle coming from the HWS.
Questions - reference has been made to checking the tank has water in it - how does one check this?
- there is still no hot water coming out of the system - has the element blown?
- operating manual covers models SW4DA, SW6DA, SW4DEA & SW6DEA - the wording on inside of the outside cabinet door is faded & worn - is there something similar on the net?
Cheers,
Warren
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Warren
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If you don't get it done today, there's always tomorrow!
On the suburban units, look inside the EXTERNAL door on the side of the van.
This is the "back" of the HWS, and there should be a rocker style on/off switch, at the bottom left hand corner. Turn this one on, then check that the internal power lead switch is on, and the hot water should flow after about 30 minutes. This is for 240v operation only, not gas.
If not the unit may need attention.
As far as checking if the unit is full of water, I find it automatically fills up first, if it has been emptied, and the water is either reconnected to the mains inlet, or the 12v pump is put on. If it is empty, when the water is turned on, and the how water tap is turned on, nothing comes out, but you can hear the water running into the unit. After a minute or two, the unit fills and the water flows from the tap. After about 30 minutes from turning power or gas on, the water should be heating right up.
GXL4x4, as explained by others, the white button with the light beside it, is for gas operation, and should turn on if the gas bottle and the line to the HWS is turned on. You will certainly hear it when the gas lights.
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Regards Ian
Chaos, mayhem, confusion. Good my job here is done
Thanks Ian for your response. It's not a major issue at the moment but we'll get it checked out on the way home either at Canberra or Toowoomba. The dealer did point out the rocker switch but not the internal cable.
Warren
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Warren
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If you don't get it done today, there's always tomorrow!
