Waste Water empty but control panel beeping for full (1 Viewer)

[RustyRuss]

Hi gang!

We have an Autotrail 632 Apache and we’ve been living in it on the drive for around 4 weeks whilst the builders fettled our new bedroom at home. We have gradually filled the waste tank until it was nearly full. I let all the grey water go down the drain using our colapz pipes, no worries. The water was REALLY stinking so I put some drain unblocker down each sink and the shower, left for 30 mins, then washed through with about a third of a tank (20 litres?) of fresh from the taps. We drove from Runcorn to Whitby yesterday so the grey tank should be nice and clean now, but the control panel is beeping and saying 100% full. How do I fix this?

TIA!!

Cheers!

Russ

 

[Badknee]

Suspect the indicator float for want of a better word is stuck. Various types but I thing getting into the tank and having a looksee might be the only answer. Ours has a five inch screw cap to facilitate access.
Good luck.

Edit:- proper colour fiver, shame about the dent

 

[WillH]

Turn the alarm off.

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[RustyRuss]

Cheers Paul, where’s the screw cap?

 

[BillandHelen]

We had this on our previous van which was fitted with a CBE control panel, what brand is yours? On the CBE you could turn on or off the audible alarm, it still left a flashing red light but at least it stopped annoying you! Ours was an intermittent issue that we never bothered to fix. Good luck on switching off the alarm!

 

[Polar bear]

There are 3 sensors in waste tank remove cover off bottom of tank reach inside with nail brush and clean sensors takes about 5 minutes to do. I do mine twice a year.or switch alarm off in the settings menu in the panel above habitation door. If you cannot find the setting email autotrail and they will email you how to do it.

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[ChrisL]

I dissolved a bio washing capsule in hot water and put that down the plug hole with a load more water and went for a drive, over a few hours the tank level went back down to where it should have been and has been working correctly ever since.

 

[RM_Marine]

Cheers Paul, where’s the screw cap?

Underneath the van on the grey water tank it's about the size of a open hand

You can't miss it

 

[pappajohn]

Disconnect the sensor. Job sorted permenantly.
Clean them now and the alarm will only start again a while later when they get covered in crud.
When grey water appears up the shower tray plughole the tank is full.

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[TerryL]

There are 3 sensors in waste tank remove cover off bottom of tank reach inside with nail brush and clean sensors takes about 5 minutes to do.

Errmm - make sure you empty the tank first. Guess how I know.......................!

 

[RM_Marine]

Errmm - make sure you empty the tank first. Guess how I know.......................!

 

[Badknee]

Cheers Paul, where’s the screw cap?

Ah, can’t help you with that. RustyRuss but ours has a hatch (this is the fresh water one)

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[Gellyneck]

The sensors in AT waste water tanks are notoriously fickle because they get gunged up with crud! Yes, you can clean them, ignore the warning by resetting the panel (but it will come back again after a while) or disable the alarm but the most effective way is to fit different sensors. From memory, Dane Diabalo has done this on his 2013 Mohawk. I think he told me where he got them from (US?) and how he did it but that was longer ago than half an hour so eh.............?

 

[Diabalo]

Yes Gellyneck I fitted Horst miracle probes Broken Link Removed and don't have anymore problems. I got mine sent over from the USA at half the price I could get them in the UK.

 

[DaveFromBarrow]

Apache 634 grey water was bleating about being full even when empty. Cleaning the float sensor didn't work, fitting a new one (cost circa £20) did and it's very easy to fit. Ping me if you still have the issue

d

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[DaveFromBarrow]

Here's the thread from when I had the issue.

d

 

[RustyRuss]

Fixed it!

I have to have the MoHo on a set of ramps on the drive at home for it to be level. With the rear end around 2.5 feet off the drive it’s reasonably easy to get under it. I found the waste drain, a 4” threaded blank. I had to use a set of G clamps to loosen it. I found the sensor at arm’s length just above this access point and cleaned it with a cloth and some washing up liquid. Robert’s your Mother’s Brother all working beautifully again!

Thanks for your help people!

I think it’s important to end a thread like this with a solution to the problem so others can benefit.


Cheers!

Russ

 

[Diabalo]

I admire your optimism, I give it 3-4 weeks before it plays up again.

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[Gellyneck]

I admire your optimism, I give it 3-4 weeks before it plays up again.

You're a bad man!

 

[Diabalo]

You're a bad man!

Sorry it's the heat here in Shrewsbury, been 27+ in the shade today.

 

[RustyRuss]

I can't figure out how it measures the volume of water in the tank. The sensor appears to be a horizontal brass rod screwed/pushed into one of the vertical sides of the tank with two wires attached to it. It's about 2/3 of the way up the wall of the tank. The other thing that distressed me was that there are no vertical baffles in the tank to prevent water sloshing from one side to the other as you turn a corner, this could badly imbalance the MoHo if you had to take violent evasive action?

So how does the sensor work, and why the pessimism that it will fail again soon Diabalo?

Cheers!

Russ

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[Diabalo]

RustyRuss On my 2013 Auto-trail Mohawk the sensors are just 3 stainless steel studs in the side of the tank and I found that after cleaning them it wasn't long before the crud built up again giving false readings. Hence my pessimism. Yours may be completely different to mine and maybe ok.

 

[Gellyneck]

I can't figure out how it measures the volume of water in the tank. The sensor appears to be a horizontal brass rod screwed/pushed into one of the vertical sides of the tank with two wires attached to it. It's about 2/3 of the way up the wall of the tank. The other thing that distressed me was that there are no vertical baffles in the tank to prevent water sloshing from one side to the other as you turn a corner, this could badly imbalance the MoHo if you had to take violent evasive action?

So how does the sensor work, and why the pessimism that it will fail again soon Diabalo?

Cheers!

Russ

I believe the sensors work on some kind of "current \ resistance" measuring. No water covering the sensors equals no current so no display on the control panel. So, sensor 1 covered and sensor 2 above the water level equals a display on the control panel of first level.

As Dane says Diabalo (and particularly in the waste water) some residual moisture \ crud can get left on the sensor which can then give a false reading, either low or high.

 

[RustyRuss]

But the sensor in our tank is HORIZONTAL not vertical.....

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