Problems with Hymer water system (1 Viewer)

OP
OP
peterc10
Jul 5, 2013
11,713
13,681
Tunbridge Wells, Tunbridge Wells, UK
Funster No
26,797
MH
A class
Exp
Since 2013
I miss read it.
I clicked on specification it said no specification for this product a good website not.

Does say fits their own 12mm Quick Connect & ½" flexible so it looks like a short length of ½" pipe & adaptor.
Also says 10mm flexible. Is 1/2" flexible the same as 10mm flexible? One measuring OD and the other ID?

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Jun 23, 2017
242
209
Shipley, West Yorkshire
Funster No
49,142
MH
Hymer Exsis T - 588
Exp
Since 2004
On our latest outing the microswitch on my Hymer basin tap failed for the second time and a few days later so did the one on the kitchen tap. I am getting fed up with this especially as they are very awkward to fix. At the moment I have rigged a simple on off switch using the basin's wiring. So I just switch it on and the pump starts to run and then just open the tap you want to use. The problem is that if you forget to switch it off the pump will probably burn out, so this can only be a temporary fix.

It seems to me that I have three options.

Option 1. Just keep replacing them each time they break. The problem with that is that it will be time consuming for me to do or expensive to employ somebody to do it for me.

Option 2. Do what Lenny HB did and replace the Hymer's submersible pump with with a pressure switched Sureflow pump I have discussed this with him, but my problem is that the noise of that pump running to flush the toilet in the middle of the night would wake up y wife. And also my double floor is only 125mm or so high so it would be very difficult to fit anywhere convenient.

Option 3. Replace the micro switched method of turning on and off the pump with a pressure switch system. This would have the advantage of keeping the quiet submersible pump and also would seem to me to be simpler to do, so . Has anybody done this on a Hymer and if so how did they make it work please. I am not sure how I could make this work with the toilet and also what I do with the existing microswitch wiring. The internal and external shower still work on the microswitch so should I disconnect them too?

Has anybody successfully carried out Option 3, and if so can they explain how please?

Many thanks for any help you can give
I have done this - not by removing the microswitch but adding a Whale pressure switch into the system, along with a Whale accumulator. Reason for doing it was not a microswitch issue (although that was in the back of my mind), more to smooth the flow to the shower head which I fitted with a restrictor valve.

I did try to find out whether fitting microswitches and a pressure switched system together would cause issues but never found an answer. So just did it and four years on have had no problems.

I was a bit concerned initially that the Whale voltage adjustment might cause problems when on and off grid with voltage variations but in practice, once its set up it hasn't needed to be changed.

It so long ago I can't recall the wiring approach but I assume the Reich submersible is now activated by the pressure switch as well as (or instead of?) the microswitches.

Still keep a spare Reich pump though!
 
Jun 23, 2017
242
209
Shipley, West Yorkshire
Funster No
49,142
MH
Hymer Exsis T - 588
Exp
Since 2004
Finally, do you know if there are better alternatives to the Whale unit? I understand that they are fiddly to set up because they are sensitive to different voltages on the system when charging. Seems to be strange that they do not fit a voltage stabiliser.
I think my Whale accumulator is probably doing the job of voltage stabilisation. Fitted on this and a previous van and has worked well on both. No clicking, just on/off but hearing not as good as it used to be!
 
OP
OP
peterc10
Jul 5, 2013
11,713
13,681
Tunbridge Wells, Tunbridge Wells, UK
Funster No
26,797
MH
A class
Exp
Since 2013
Just to let you all know the outcome of this thread.

I have just successfully fitted the Option 3 in my OP. So my Hymer water system is now pressure activated and it no longer relies on the poorly designed microswitches in the taps that keep breaking (3 times now in 6 years for me). I fitted a Whale pressure switch using their fittings to attach it to the 10mm ID flexible pipes Hymer uses.

Once I had decided exactly how I was going to do it and assembled all the bits and pieces needed it only took me an hour or so to fit it and it worked out of the box without any adjustments needed. I am still using the existing quiet submersible Reich pump but just changed the way that it switched on. And when that pump fails I already have a spare waiting. Slight clicking on the pressure switch when switching on and off but it only lasts for a second or two.

Thanks to all of you who offered your help to me.
 
Jan 28, 2008
10,104
18,259
Dovercourt, Harwich, UK
Funster No
1,353
MH
Renalt burstner
Exp
7 years campers before that
So that means the small wires take the full current? That might explain why the switch I installed felt warm in use! And it could explain why the microswitches fail so often?

As I understand it that kills the enzymes in the bio laundry detergent we put in the cassette.
use the same bio liquid diluted in the bottle

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Apr 27, 2016
6,800
7,837
Manchester
Funster No
42,762
MH
A class Hymer
Exp
Since the 80s
So that means the small wires take the full current? That might explain why the switch I installed felt warm in use! And it could explain why the microswitches fail so often?
Originally there was no relay on my water system, full current goes through the microswitches. I fitted a relay, so only a small trigger current goes through the tap microswitches, and the pump gets the full voltage. I also fitted a voltage stabiliser, just on the pump supply. I thought it would reduce the wide variations in flow rate, when flushing the toilet for example. Didn't make much difference, unfortunately. But the pump and microswitches have lasted well so far.
 

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