Replacing Carver Cascade Rapide with Henry water heater (1 Viewer)

[barrywi]

My Carver Cascade Rapide has a small leak between the tank and burner dripping onto the van floor and will not work on gas. To save messing about fitting parts and then finding other problems( unit is on a 1998 Autotrail) I have decided to buy a Henry direct replacement so that everything is new. Has anyone done this job or can give me reasons not to go down this route? The only thing I can find out that may be a problem is that the Henry cable between the control unit and the main unit is only 3 metres which is not long enough. The pipes are push fit that can be re used. I will then sell the old heater for parts or repair.

 

[dave newell]

Yes, a couple of times now and it couldn't be easier. Henry is actually a chinese copy of the Cascade so is a very easy direct replacement. you do have to replace the wiring harness and control panel as the instructions say that the Henry unit is not compatible with the Cascade control panel and vice versa (sp?) but this is not generally that difficult. Figure on a couple of hours to sort it but do replace the gas connection nut and olive as the thread is very slightly different old to new.

D.

 

[xjrchris]

Had mine done ,and they used the same wiring loom, you need to use the henry control panel and split the wires on the carver loom to fit the new heater , only took about 1 hour , hope this helps,chris

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[paulmold]

I understand that the Propex Malaga is also a direct replacement with just an adaptor plate for the flue which is included on this one below. The tank capacity is 13.5 litres which is much better for showering etc....

 

[barrywi]

Thanks everyone

Does the Henry need any support in the locker at the end. My Carver has a block of wood under the end but I am not sure if this is an original fitting.
Not really interested in any more water capacity as we don't shower in the van so that would rule out the other option as well as the extra cost. The importers are advertising the Henry at about £325 including delivery .
Does anyone have a circuit diagram to follow?
The importers are going to ring me tomorrow to answer other questions which should boost my confidence at DIY.
What sort of sealant did you use, was it the "stays soft and sticky" type or the stuff that goes hard but stays flexible?
Too many questions I know but I want to keep my 1998 van going as it is in good general condition but old enough not to worry about driving down narrow streets!

 

[barrywi]

Progress

I have got the old Carver heater out, the hardest bit was to release the seal around the opening. I have taken the Carver control panel out of its location and the opening will be fitted with a blank. New heater comes tomorrow, and am planning to locate the new Henry control unit next to the heater mains switch on the wall above the heater as the new cable will not reach the previous location I will have to use the two pin original volts connector to feed 12 volts down to the locker with twin core cable and then supply the new control unit with 12 volts.
To ease installation I think I will fit a short copper pipe to the heater before offering it up to the hole and then join up with the original gas supply pipe with a joining fitting, probably compression. I can reach the push fit hot and cold pipes to connect up when the unit is installed. The polystyrene insulation has a foot at the inner end to support the unit and take the weight.
Will give an update when I have the bits needed to complete the job.

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[barrywi]

Jobs a good un

Despite a few curses and setbacks Henry is in his hole in my van.
Had a real struggle to find red and blue hose for the job. The ones on the van are 15mm outside diameter and all I could find locally and on the net was 12mm hose. Eventually found 15 mm grey pipe at a plumbers and DIY store which is used in households for hot and cold piping.
Fitted short gas pipe to the Henry and used jubilee clips to connect short hot and cold feeds so that I could feed all the connections into the van after fitting sealant around the Henry. The gas connection had no problems but even though I had checked the water hoses and push fit connections on a test fit we had one leak from the cold feed at an elbow. I think the problem was the angle the pipes went into the elbows and just removing and re inserting into the push fit connections sealed it all up. The electrical connections for the gas burner control unit and overheat sensor( an extra safety feature on the Henry) were all tested prior to final sealing and were just fed through the hole in the van with the pipes.
The control unit for the gas had to be fitted closer to the heater as the 3 metre length supplied would not reach the hole where the Carver control unit was originally fitted. I could have cut the wires and inserted a four way cable and a 12 volt supply to lengthen it but was advised by the Henry importers not to cut .
The final snag was the double sided tape I used to fit the control unit back box and a short length of cable ducting . Basically sold to have enough strength to fit pictures to a wall but just peeled off the caravan wall . A couple of short screws sorted that out
So what seemed like a simple job on paper turned out to be a bit of a sod but successful in the end.
Went to get a couple of bits from our Local caravan dealer and yesterday saw a very nice Autocruise Gleneagle . It is four feet longer than our Autotrail but am very tempted. I am sure the future owner of our Autotrail will appreciate the effort I put into giving Henry a home, if we buy the Autocruise. Sod's law again!
The very good news to finish off was that I was able to sit down after all the effort and watch Lewis Hamilton get on pole for the German Grand Prix and even better watch the Lions beat the Aussies at rugby....."swing low sweet chariot etc"
The end.

 

[nikkilocke]

Yes, a couple of times now and it couldn't be easier. Henry is actually a chinese copy of the Cascade so is a very easy direct replacement. you do have to replace the wiring harness and control panel as the instructions say that the Henry unit is not compatible with the Cascade control panel and vice versa (sp?) but this is not generally that difficult. Figure on a couple of hours to sort it but do replace the gas connection nut and olive as the thread is very slightly different old to new.

D.

I replaced my Carver Cascade 2 with a Henry yesterday.

The Cascade used 8 mm gas pipe, and the Henry came with 2 olives - a copper one for 5 mm pipe and a brass one for 8 mm. After reading your advice, I cut the old olive off the gas pipe, and tried to fit the pipe to the Henry with the new olive. I was not confident because the olive was asymmetrical (tapered one end, square the other), and whichever way I tried to fit it, it would not go in to place in the heater using finger pressure.

I phoned Swansea Imports (the UK importer), and spoke to a very helpful gentleman who advised me the olive goes in with the tapered side towards the heater, and to pull the nut and olive 2" back down the pipe, ensure the pipe is fully inserted centrally into the heater, then push the olive into place with a screwdriver or similar. He also said the old olive would have worked fine, and I shouldn't have taken it off! And that there was no need to put any sealing compound on the joint.

Unfortunately, due to a bend in the pipe, I couldn't get the nut back far enough out of the way. In the end, I used an adjustable spanner adjusted to 8 mm, so the pipe fit through it and the olive didn't, then tapped it gently with a hammer until the olive went home. Once the olive had partly gone inside the heater connection, the nut could be put on and tightened up. Afterwards I tested the heater, and coated the joint in soapy water to ensure there were no bubbles of gas escaping.

I guess the thread on the nut may depend on which model of Carver you are replacing, but I recommend carefully checking if the old nut and olive will fit before going to the trouble of getting the old olive off. If it is accessible, perhaps remove the whole pipe and try it out on the bench where you have good access to see if it fits cleanly.

 

[barrywi]

Its gone!

After all that work I have part exchanged for a 2008 Autocruise Gleneagle 3 litre.

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