Burst pipe under floor (1 Viewer)

[birdwoman]

I have a Rapido V55 PVC van. Took it to the Alpes last week. Drained the water and boiler because it was going to sit unused for a week. Drove it today and filled up with water but it appears there is leak under the floor as every time the water pump is turned on, water gushes out from between the floor and sub floor. I suspect a compression joint has blown given the flow of water.
Question. Any ideas as to where the water pipes run in this van?
Question. Any idea how to access the void where the pipes run
Question. Details of how to contact Rapido in the UK.
Now in France without any water. Thankfully the heating doesn't require the boiler to have water!
Any answers gratefully received.

 

[tonka]

Are you on facebook ?
there is an owners group, maybe some on there have same model.
My understanding is there a limited number of dealers in UK and they are just that, dealers that may only have an interest in vans they have sold.

© RAPIDO Motorhomes

414 rue des Perrouins
CS 20019 - 53101 MAYENNE Cedex
Tél. : - Fax : 02 43 30 10 71
R.C.S LAVAL 302 279 229 00025

 

[grahammay2]

Sounds like the boiler is fitted with an automatic dump valve. If so push in the blue button.

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[birdwoman]

Hi Grahammay2. Thanks. Tried that. The dump pipe for boiler runs out below the sub floor. The water is coming out between floor and sub floor so Im pretty sure it's not the boiler frost protection.

 

[Mikeco]

If the pipes run in a void above the original van floor then the only way to acess them will be from the floor inside the van. If there are no visible access covers screwed down then it’s possible that they laid the pipes and then just put the floor on top. Fixed a leak in a Rapido last week for a friend on site which was simply a push fit connection on a waste pipe that had come undone.

 

[birdwoman]

Tx for info. Not what I wanted to hear. There are no visible access hatches to the void. This is a right pain in the back side.

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[pappajohn]

Chances are the leak will be easily accessible but hard to find.
It could quite easily be leaking at one end of the floor and running internally along the lower floor until it finds an exit point somewhere else.
For a converter to install pipes between floors with no future access is extremely unlikely and extremely thoughtless if that we're the case.

 

[Mikeco]

I doubt if there are any joints under the floor as they will have used plastic pipe such as John Guest type so the only joints will probably be under any sinks or similar places.

 

[birdwoman]

Thanks for your thoughts and suggestions. Will start looking again in day light tomorrow.

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[CazPaul]

Wow I hope it's an easy fix, it will be a nightmare situation if the leak is below the top floor and they have just laid a floor on top of the original van floor, without access.
Let us know how it is fixed please.

 

[Barclaybasher]

Had a similar problem, it was a tiny split in the plastic pipe to the boiler, blue stripe pipe

 

[Landy Andy]

You may find it easier to feed new pipe along side the old and just bypass the old pipe. You won’t find how or why it leaked but it would save pulling vehicle apart. Obviously won’t work if system has T’d off other pipes in the run.

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[birdwoman]

Due to the burst pipe and an ear infection we cut our trip short and headed home. At home I have discovered the source of the problem - a pipe leading to the tap in the bathroom has come loose. There is a John Guest joint which has a copper/brass connector on the tap side and a plastic joint of the other side to take the 12mm water pipe. This joint has failed. There should be a white locking nut that secures the 12mm water pipe - this is missing. Over time, it looks like the joint has just parted company from the water pipe. It was probably never fitted at manufacture. Sadly the van is just out of warranty so I have no come back on Rapido.
Fortunately it didn't take too long to locate the problem, but makes me wonder what other issues might be lurking hidden behind panels!
This isn't the first piece of poor quality build I've come across. The cupboards above the bed are held in place by a large bolt screwed in the roof framework. There is a metal "C" washer that prevents the bolt from going straight through the top of the cupboard. On our first trip, this washer fell out, leaving the cupboard attached by a single bolt. Fortunately we noticed this and fashioned a replacement washer from an expired credit card, until we got home.
Whilst I love the design of our van, I'm disappointed with the build quality provided by Rapido.

 

[Minxy]

I'm pleased you found the cause of your issue and it was easily sorted, we had a 'water feature' in a previous camper with one of the large red inspection hatch covers not seating correctly and allowing water to seep out, down the back of the water tank, along the edge of the floor, under the kitchen unit and out onto the hab floor as well as running outside through a gas drop vent ... as I'd just replaced the existing kitchen tap with a different one I thought that a joint had not sealed correctly etc ... 'fortunately' this wasn't the case otherwise I wouldn't have heard the last of it from hubby!

It was only discovered due to us using a Heoswater hosepipe filler 'connector' which fits in place of the filler cap and to which you attach the hosepipe so you don't need to hold the hose in the filler yourself, however, due to the camper not having an independent overflow vent it relied on the excess water being able to come out via the filler point and even using the Heoswater connector correctly set so that it allowed venting the 'gaps' were way too small so when you turned the mains pressure water on and it was full they didn't allow excess water to come out so it found another escape route through the badly sealing hatch ... if the hatch hadn't let it out though I hate to think what would have 'given' instead! After this I didn't want to risk using the Heoswater connector again and made my own 'pipe holding' hook' to keep the end of the hosepipe in place but not block the filler inlet as much so that water can come out easily when it's full. The camper didn't suffer any lasting damage from it's internal 'bath' fortunately.

 

[rb62]

Glad you got it sorted,
10/10 for reporting back ......so many don't

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