Fresh water gauge in new mh (1 Viewer)

wingman

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Hi All,
I'm new and as soon as I've finished this, my first post, I promise to go to the 'Introductions' thread! Anyway; on with the plot......

I have recently part-ex'd the previous MH and bought a brand new Elddis 155 out of the Majestic stable. As it was (sort-of) winter and I was only doing 'shakedown' trips, I have avoided filling up the fresh water tank. Last weekend, I filled up with water and drew-through some Milton before spending a proper weekend away. After putting in a few litres, the gauge showed FULL! The needle whacked over to end-stop. It's supposed to be a 90 litre tank!

As this is my first post, I'm sorry if this has been mentioned before, but I couldn't find anything recent. In my naivety, I had thought that the gauge would be similar to a fuel gauge with a float? Apparently, this may not be the case? An 'old sweat' told me that gauges are hit n'miss with odd lengths of wire in the tanks that transmits the water level by electrical conductivity. My gauge does show empty and half etc when it feels like it, but it's so unreliable.

My question is; am I missing something here? Will it clear itself? Don't really want a lengthy drive back to the dealership, but it's a real pain.

Advice please!
Regards
James
 

GJH

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We previously had an Elddis Autoquest 100. The fresh water gauge was never accurate. I think it's what's called a "feature" ::bigsmile:.

I used to take the access cap off to watch how full it was getting - or, if I forgot, turn off the water when it started running under the van out of the overflow.

You will soon get used to how much water you use and, so, how often you need to top it up.
 

Wildman

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not heard of one that is a few years old and still reliable, its only a gadget, if water comes out of the tap you have water when it stops fill up, hee hee.

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pappajohn

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an unreliable gimmick.

Do as Graham said.....fill to overflowing then you know it full.

And as Roger said....water at the tap...you have water
No water at the tap...you just ran out
 

TheHat

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Hi wingman i also have a 155 and as been said the water gauge is for show i just fill to water comes out from overflow
Bill

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jonandshell

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I thought the Autoquests only had a 45 litre tank.

Anyway, our water guages have always worked on our vans, why accept they shouldn't?:Angry:

Edit, just looked, it is 90 litre.
 
Last edited:

Scout

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And don’t forget your grey waist indicator won’t work either, when you run out of fresh water your grey waist will probably be full

Motor home water level indicators are a bit like pirate code rules (more of a guideline )


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6kgS_AwuH0"]Pirate Code - YouTube[/ame]
 

Spenders

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Milton????

..........Last weekend, I filled up with water and drew-through some Milton before spending a proper weekend away.......

A poster has previously mentioned that they had been informed by Truma that under no circumstances should they ever use Milton in water systems as the exact make-up of Milton causes the seals in the boiler to break down, leading to expensive repair or even full boiler replacement!!!!

Other boiler-seals safe sterilising solutions are available if you wanna go down that route.... check out some of the previous posts (using the 'Search' option) for a range of suggestions that will work better than Milton.

Simon
:thumb:

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wingman

wingman

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Gauges continued!....

Thanks for all the replies guys.

Never had this problem with the old 'van (what my wife now refers to as "That nice Motorhome"!). That water gauge was correct; spot-on, all the time - every time. When you lay out fortunes, you expect the gizmos to work, especially something as fundamentally important as a gauge!

OK, so I don't expect it to be precise to the last millilitre, but it would be nice to let me know when it was nearly time to remove the hose!

I wouldn't travel with it full to the brim anyway, but would fill it up once on site. Wife says, if I work out how much time it takes to run 1 Litre, I can times it by 90. Mmmmm. That reminds me of school exam questions about two men digging holes!

True, I can fill it until the overflow gives me damp feet, but that's hardly professional or satisfactory :Angry:. I can't 'dip' the tank either because it's under the floor.

Thanks again anyway for the replies.
Regards
James
 

Allanm

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Ours is pretty reliable, when filling, it shuts itself off when it is full and the gauge shows full. It goes down in 25% increments till empty and an alarm sounds when it is very low.
However, sometimes when I fill up, travel a few miles then turn the gauge on, it shows only 75% full.
The waste tank though, is another thing altogether. It can show full when I have just emptied it or empty, or anything in between. I have now disconnected it and empty every time I fill the fresh water tank.

Allan
 

maz

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Wife says, if I work out how much time it takes to run 1 Litre, I can times it by 90. Mmmmm. That reminds me of school exam questions about two men digging holes!

Hi and welcome to the Fun! :welcomefunster:

Thing is, the time it takes to run 1 litre will depend on the water pressure where you are filling up ............ :Smile:

There was a fairly recent thread that explained how to make a gauge with plastic pipe and a bead - but of course I can't find it now. :RollEyes:

True, I can fill it until the overflow gives me damp feet, but that's hardly professional or satisfactory :Angry:

That's what I do - tho' I stand well back so the 'damp feet' issue is avoided. ::bigsmile:

The fresh water gauge in my van is surprisingly accurate but I largely ignore it anyway - I know how much water I'm getting through. However, like Allan's van, the waste water gauge has a mind of its own and was soon disconnected as it would announce the tank was full at random moments - even when the valve was left open. :RollEyes:

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Apr 27, 2008
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My guage is reasonably accurate, in steps of 25% and a low water alarm around 5%. The waste only has a waste full warning, and I don't know whether it works as I've never let it get full.
I often travel with a full water tank, as there sometimes isn't water where I stop, but I don't see any point in carrying waste water so dump it whenever the opportunity presents itself, likewise the toilet cassette.
I usually use aires, which usually have dumping facilities, however the water often requires an odd 'jeton' only available from a shop that's closed.
 
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What happens when the waste tank is full ? has that got a overfill leak off pipe like fresh?
 

funflair

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Believe it or not I believe that the type of water can affect how the fresh water gauge works. When we bought our van second hand the previous owners said that the gauge never worked at home on Scottish water but if they went away it would usually work.

To be fair it usually works OK for us but the first fill of Spanish water did not work so well, there again the electricity is not as good as English stuff either as sometimes it takes 3 minutes to warm up milk for the Mrs's latte, only takes 2 minutes on the inverter.

Martin

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A poster has previously mentioned that they had been informed by Truma that under no circumstances should they ever use Milton in water systems as the exact make-up of Milton causes the seals in the boiler to break down, leading to expensive repair or even full boiler replacement!!!!

Other boiler-seals safe sterilising solutions are available if you wanna go down that route.... check out some of the previous posts (using the 'Search' option) for a range of suggestions that will work better than Milton.

Simon
:thumb:

I had drained down our water over winter. Last weekend I did the whole Truma AquaStar treatments; 1,2 and 3 - Only to find the breather valve kaput on the how water outlet and a crack in the grey waste pipe under the boiler.

Next year I'm going to just add a bit of Milton and not worry about the bloody Truma :cry:
 
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wingman

wingman

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Gauge continued 2

Once again, thanks for all the replies.
I take on board the comment about the Milton. Will definitely look up an alternative.

Don't start me off on the waste tank. At least I've got no gauge for that! I guess there's a light somewhere when it's full? (Had red warning light on the old 'van). However, never let the waste build up anyway.

As a parting shot, I haven't actually filled the fresh tank to overflowing yet. Is it worth doing?

Reg's
James
 

cmcardle75

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Hi All,
I'm new and as soon as I've finished this, my first post, I promise to go to the 'Introductions' thread! Anyway; on with the plot......

I have recently part-ex'd the previous MH and bought a brand new Elddis 155 out of the Majestic stable. As it was (sort-of) winter and I was only doing 'shakedown' trips, I have avoided filling up the fresh water tank. Last weekend, I filled up with water and drew-through some Milton before spending a proper weekend away. After putting in a few litres, the gauge showed FULL! The needle whacked over to end-stop. It's supposed to be a 90 litre tank!

As this is my first post, I'm sorry if this has been mentioned before, but I couldn't find anything recent. In my naivety, I had thought that the gauge would be similar to a fuel gauge with a float? Apparently, this may not be the case? An 'old sweat' told me that gauges are hit n'miss with odd lengths of wire in the tanks that transmits the water level by electrical conductivity. My gauge does show empty and half etc when it feels like it, but it's so unreliable.

My question is; am I missing something here? Will it clear itself? Don't really want a lengthy drive back to the dealership, but it's a real pain.

Advice please!
Regards
James

Gauges are hit and miss. Mine seem not too bad, with occasional mishaps, although only measures in quarters and can spend a while not registering. However, I also go with the empty the waste when the water runs out idea.

When filling, I shine a torch against the tank, so I can see the water level sloshing about directly. The tank is 250 litres, so it can take a while to fill.

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