Excited Newbie (1 Viewer)

[siobhaneugene]

Hello everyone

Wow the last few days have been a whirlwind! Its always been my dream to own a campervan/motorhome and this week after alot of looking, my partner made the dream come true and bought us a beautiful benimar europe 99 reg.

Its amazing and seems to have all we need and a ton more but as newbies were like the blind leading the blind haha we spent a good few hours in it yest trying to figure stuff out and kinda did...

the things im not sure about are:
the control panel - how to use it what do the numbers displayed mean?
the water tanks...im under the impression that there is a fresh water tank and a waste tank..im wondering does the water from kitchen and bathroom sinks go in the waste tank or just out the bottom of the MH?
Where do you put the blue fluid for the toilet? directly into the waste tank or into the hose nozzle thing?
how to use the solar power
how to use boiler

sorry about all the Q's ive probably many more but that will do for now haha

nice to meet you all in advance, from reading your posts you all seem lovely

 

[f6c]

Welcome aboard

 

[wigster]

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[Boringfrog]

 

[jockaneezer]

Hi and welcome excited newbie !
Most motorhome toilets get their rinse water from the drinking water onboard tank and therefore you're not able to put the pink flush fluid into it, the blue stuff goes in the toilet cassette as normal.

 

[WynandJean]

Hello and welcome from West Midlands.

The blue stuff for the toilet goes into what is called the cassette. This is usually in a trapdoor accessed from outside in a position where it sits beneath the toilet. When flushed, the toilet's contents drop into the cassette. When full (or before if you wish) you remove the cassette, take it to the emptying point on your site, pull the spout outwards then unscrew the cap (being careful not to put it where it could fall into the waste dump!) Then tip the contents into the dump. Give the cassette a good but careful rinse. This is the point where you add the blue stuff into the cassette with a litre of water approx. Replace in position and ready to go. Make sure no one uses the toilet while the cassette is out!



Wyn

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[siobhaneugene]

Thanku guys, i figured as much

any advice on the other queries?

 

[buttons]

Hi and Welcome...

 

[WynandJean]

All the water from the sink, shower etc. goes into the waste tank. This needs emptying as it fills up. The site will have a 'grey water' disposal point. Drive to it and position the outlet over the drain then open the valve. The contents will run into the drain (try not to smell it!). When finished, close the valve.

Wyn

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[Four of us]

And be aware that waste tanks usually hold less than your freshwater tank so will need emptying before the water runs out!

Re the boiler it will depend on what type it is. With ours you need to run the hot tap for a short time. Ensure the gas vent cover is off. And then turn it on.

Have fun with your new toy. It all seems so confusing at first but you'll be surprised how soon it gets sorted.

 

[f6c]

Welcome aboard

 

[WynandJean]

@siobhaneugene you state in your message that you intend to be making further posts on the site. If so can I suggest you view my post here:

https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/calling-all-newbies.147622/

Wyn

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[WynandJean]

Before this gets confusing anyone intending to reply might be better doing so under @siobhaneugene 's other thread with the same title.

Wyn

 

[Riverbankannie]

 

[Kingham]

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[Baycott]

Hi from us in East Sussex and

 

[Ralph-n-Bev]

Hiya ,

I don't know anything about your make/model. But didn't you get a handover done with the sellers or a hand book ? I think maybe if you put your make , model and Year into google , you might get all the info you want. Hopefully someone will come along and help you with your Q's.

 

[The Dudess]

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[Madeinengland]

Hello

 

[Anthea M]

Hello and welcome
Toilet blue goes into the cassette part of the toilet ( it stains so don't pour it into the bowl and not in the tank.)
We found this book very useful did your MH come with the manuals as these will tell you everything.
It's a massive learning curve but well worth it enjoy your new lifestyle.

 

[davidbaldam]

Hi and welcome to FUN.

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[ymfb]

Welcome.

You can buy the Haynes second edition of Motorcaravanning for less than a tenner from Amazon, as opposed to £22 for the latest third edition.

 

[Mickey1]

Mickey.

 

[Hollyberry]

Hi and Welcome.
I had a Benimar for a few years. Really enjoyed my travels in it.

The toilet blue fluid stains like mad. Also, I think some sites that have septic tanks aren't keen on you using it. Save yourself some money by buying the cheapest laundry liquid or powder ( I used the cheapest Sainsburys powder) Put one cup ( a baking measure cup, not a tea cup) into the cassette after you've rinsed it. Works perfectly, no nasty smells.

The hot water probably works on gas and electric. Don't do as I did and have the gas and electric both on to heat it! Thought the water was really hot...... For heating on electric you'll connect to EHU and then find the hot water switch on control panel. For gas, remove the grill on the outside of the vehicle ( yes, I forgot this too first time and couldn't work out why I got a red fault light) Sorry I can't remember exactly how the gas works for water.
Your Truma heater will look just like a regular gas fire I think ( without flames!)
Check in the storage area for heating pipe work. I found with shoving stuff in I dislodged one of the pipe joints. It wasn't dangerous, just meant I'd have been heating the storage locker instead of the van.

It takes a while to get used to all the different things but give it a week and you'll be fine.

Enjoy your new adventures .

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[siobhaneugene]

Thanku everyone you're all so helpful

 

[Viv Danks]

So from one newbe to another

1 - the control panel - how to use it what do the numbers displayed mean - That is likely to be model specific - Try Here http://www.benimarownersclub.co.uk/instruction-manual/

2 - the water tanks...im under the impression that there is a fresh water tank and a waste tank..im wondering does the water from kitchen and bathroom sinks go in the waste tank or just out the bottom of the MH? - Waste water is collected and you need to empty it - known as Grey Waste.

3 - Where do you put the blue fluid for the toilet? directly into the waste tank or into the hose nozzle thing? Covered by many already - this goes in the pan (open the trap and add required dose then 3-4 flushes to dilute. Personally I use the sachet - less mess.

4 - how to use the solar power - If you have a solar panel already this will have a controller unit that will feed power to your batteries. You should need to do nothing else for the solar. Remember that you may need to switch between Cab and leisure battery on your control panel (see 1) to ensure both your batteries stay charged.

5 - how to use boiler - See 1

Hope this of some help?

 

[siobhaneugene]

Thank you...i actually have a copy of that manual and have read it a few times..most of it is making sense now and hopefully we will figure the rest as we go...there are 2 things that concern me though...

when we filled the fresh water tank and ran the taps to see if they worked the water from the sinks came out directly under the places where the sinks are on to the ground which is why i was asking because i assumed they should empty into the waste tank...

secondly the trumatic heater didnt seem to work..it was making a clicking noise but no heat then it continued clicking even after turning of gas at the mains so we had to disconnect the wires

also now that i think of it the blinds are baffling me haha i pulled them up and cant seem to get them down now

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[Viv Danks]

So the clicking is the boiler trying to light the gas - does the boiler work on electric aswell - if yes does it work when you hook it up?

As to the Blinds - if they are like mine you need to tilt the metal strip as this acts as a friction lock.

did you buy this from a dealer?

 

[Beacons]

Hi welcome to fun happy and safe travels
Exciting times.

 

[siobhaneugene]

ahhh i thought the boiler was under the seat?? hmm so whats that i wonder...

we havnt hooked up anywhere yet planning to go away next week so...

great so when you say tilt do you mean like back towards the window or other way?

no we bought it at an auction so totally blind and its our 1st so very clueless haha we got given a ton of paperwork like manuals for everything and ive read most of them but just not computing into practical sense yet

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