hi folks, our Swift HWS is not working. I have tried to find the problem by looking under the van to no avail. cant see anything except tubes. how does one go about checking it before taking the van off to an 'expert' and shelling out when it might be something I can fix?
Not enough information Shane ,a few here have swift hot water systems there being fitted into a lot of the new vans now ,we had a problem with ours but easily fixed,a lot of people ask for info here and dont repost the results once fixed,its a simple thing to do and very helpfull,so lets hnow how it pans out...
hi Joe, both gas and 240v.
hi Ron, easily fixed? how? I'm not a techie in these respects - just climb under the van and look to see if there's some way of finding a problem, but no luck. can't see these valves folk talk about or anything I van push or pull or turn - so, what do I do before getting some 'expert' to charge me?
Simple /stupid I know, but a few simple things to check before crawling under the van. These things catch people out often. Yesterday my neighbour come over for help as his fridge wasn't getting cold. Hmm, he was out of gas.
Joe.
PS Don't turn on the HWS without it being full of water, It will burnout.
-- Edited by Farmhat on Saturday 2nd of March 2019 02:18:49 PM
hi joe,
thanks so much for your queries
yes water at cold water tap.
no water at the hot water tap.
no water at all from hot water tap.
water pump works, but we did not need it because we were at a caravan park plugged into their water.
tap hose was attached, turned on, and we were getting cold water.
yes HWS 240v plugged in and switched on.
yes gas turned on.
gas bottle not empty.
so I think we were not in the simple category, but who knows?
PS how do we know whether it is full or empty? that is, when we are using the park water? our tank gauge show the tanks over half full, but we don't use that anyway at the park. our instructions booklet doesn't give adequate instructions and diagrams to show us exactly how to assess the situation. And I have been reluctant to unscrew and pull out the unit from the side of the caravan - should I bravely go ahead and do that to check for the valves etc (assuming those are there somewhere)?
We always use our tank water & pump & just fill our tank from the park site tap - Just a thought - Have you tried just using your tank water & pump again as maybe the mains outlet bypasses the hot water unit ?
Shane, there would be a gas **** near the HWS that should be turned on, to allow gas to the unit, separate to the bottle tap. All gas appliances on the van should have their own gas ****. As well there would be an on/off switch in the van to fire up the unit. You should be able to hear the gas burning.
If you open up the outside cover, (2 screws) you will see a pressure relief valve. Water dripping out of here will be hot. Be careful if lifting lever to relive pressure if water is hot and under pressure.
Can't imagine it, but I guess it could be possible that the unit is completely gunked up. You can buy a rod $20.00 that attaches to a hose to flush out HWS's These work well.
Shane when on 240 all you need is to have your hose water connected,gas turned off ,hot water switch turned on there should be a light on the switch when its turned on after about twenty minutes you should have hot water,now with gas you only need this when your not on 240 ,the 240 switch should be in the off position,the gas bottle should be open,the gas switch should be turned on a little red light on the gas switch should come on and off about three times then stay on , you will hear the gas ignite,from inside the van ,you will have hot water in about twenty minutes ,if this is not happening phone swift they will help you ...Ps you will obviously need water in your caravan tank when on gas free camping.
hey guys,
thanks for that info.
Joe, i'll unscrew and look with a tad confidence now that you mention it. also, thanks for the $20 rod advice - a little knowledge goes a long way. I guess the rod can be bought from BCF or somewhere similar?
thanks again
shane
How old is the unit how much use has it had ,mines three years old had a lot of use ,never heard of a swift hot water tank needing rodding out ,they have a stainless tank,there not like others that need the anode,phone swift thats the sensible option...
A lot of gunk settles out of the water over 3 years, and in a swift this is a bit below the drain hole so it tends to stay there and build up.
It is only after using one of these pressure cleaning rods that you will know just how much muck is in the tank. If you get to use one, you will be amazed, and glad that you did.
Have you a swift hot water system Joe thats the first I have heard of that with a swift system,its mostly changing anodes on ones without a stainless tank that have need of regular maintenance now that makes sense big time...
again many thanks for all the info - I begin to feel like I might know something technical. anyhow, I detached the cover to find the relief valve and pressed it to discover clear water coming from the outlet under the van. I am assuming this means no gunk? also contrary to what I stated earlier, there is water (cold) coming from the hot water tap (which didn't happen when we at the caravan park. We connected up to our 15amp house power, turned it on and it tripped the safety switch. I still don't understand about the anodes or where to locate them or how to do anything about them. so I am thinking it is an electrical problem and time to get in the experts? i'll await any further comments before doing so - we are out until Thursday anyway. again, many thanks.shane.
Have you a swift hot water system Joe thats the first I have heard of that with a swift system,its mostly changing anodes on ones without a stainless tank that have need of regular maintenance now that makes sense big time...
Yes Ron I do have a Swift HWS.
I get clear water at the tap but it is still surprising how much settled muck comes out when I use the flush tool every year when I replace the inlet aluminium anode which corrodes substantially in a year.
the tech guy came and it proved to be a bung element - having oxidised or whatever. he commented during our chat that often when a new caravan is built and the HWS installed the guys installing, turn it on to test without water in it. that damages the HWS element and with use it eventually it gives up. like me. I think the lesson is to become as familiar as possible with all of one's van's implements etc from the word go. I remember that the handover was an information overload event. so I reckon the idea is to go to the caravan folk several times to get info about everything before waltzing off into the never-never with one's lovely new van. and don't just rely on the little bits of written info that come with the purchase. Btw, I researched the HWS on the internet in the process of trying to work out the problem, downloaded a lot of info plus images of the HWS showing the position of the element and anode and how to extract them, only to discover that ours looks entirely different in design and somewhat more complicated to extract - the tech guy made short work of it but I was at a loss as to what to unscrew and what to do. so there you go, if in doubt get the expert in ...
cheers,
shane
