Water Tanks not taking water.

Gday Greig and Mish have u tried filling with the taps open to let air out of tanks as they fill we had trouble with our boat which held 200 ltrs until we opened the taps then no trouble
BJ

More than likely your breathers are blocked, I would assume that there are breathers.

My under tray tanks had breathers that blocked with mud from the Simpson, they just would not take water until I took the tanks off and extended the breathers so that would not happen again.

Best of luck with it

Cheers Tony

hello G&M.

The first thing to check is, if any hose has sagged , sagged hoses can cause an airlock and prevent water to flow freely.

Also check if any breather hose has sagged with water trapped in the low part of the hose, this can prevent air to escape thus not allowing water to enter the tank.
You dont say how many tanks you have, the same thing goes for connecting tanks.

Sometimes the fitters at the factory might not route the hoses cleverly and you might have a sag or two in the hoses. from when the van was built

Any chance of wasp nest blocking your breather?

regards Alpero

Poor installation can mean that filling will always be a snag. If you still have issues after clearing the breathers, you can add a snap on hose fitting to the outlets and back fill the tanks. I have 3 tanks and back filling is the only practical method for one of them.

I have owned two Jayco campers and both tanks had kinked filler hoses. It appears to be cheap hose with no braiding to support the hose from kinking.. A good place to start looking and also the breather hose!! Michael

Hi Greg & Mish, as already stated by others, the breather hoses would be the first place to look. We had an 04 Jayco freedom with two tanks & like you we purchased it second hand & initially had the same problem as you are experiencing in trying to get both tanks full.

The problem turned out to be a kink in both breather hoses & both kinks were located very close to the fitting connecting them to the tank and was easy to rectify.

Good luck in rectifying the problem & cheers

Hi G&M,
I have a Jayco Sterling, my mate has a Jayco Sterling, previously I had a Gazal Champion van.

All of them have trouble filling the water tanks.

I have a connector on the end of my hose with a 150mm length of 1/2 copper tube which fits into the filler and I turn the water on slowly till it overflows. Takes about 6 times longer than it should to fill each tank but I set it up and go do something else. My mate does the same and I used my setup on the previous van.

The mate went to the trouble of fixing all the breather lines so that there were no sags in them, otherwise they hold water and will not breath, and he had some success but did not remove the problem entirely.

They still gurgle madly when filling and overflow if it is running too fast.

The Jaycos have filters on the breather lines, well the mates and mine do, so it is unlikely that wasps can get in to make a nest. Ours are both 2006 models. That may make a difference re filters on the breathers.

Check all your filler lines and breather lines and make sure there are no sags in them and that they are not kinked.

You could also use a larger diameter breather to alleviate the problem but that will take some fitting and you need to have a fair idea of what you are doing or you may run into problems. You could always take the breather hose to a plumber supply store and see if they can sort something out for you which may only require a hose clamp connection.

It is best to use flexible hose on the filler lines as anything too rigid will fracture the spigots on the tanks.

Don't know if this lot helps but that is the best I can offer without seeing the setup you have.

Cheers, Bruce.

Lot of answers here but some don't read the OP when he replied that the breathers were cleaned out. More likely to be the filling line.

we have a Stirling and find that we have to turn the 12v pump off and open all taps including the outside one on the draw bar

I have come across this problem in other forums and all seem to come up with the same result as what other replies are saying ie kinks, water laying in pipes. Also the water tanks that have their inlets half way down the end wall of the tank can be the cause of some problems if not set-up correctly. I have never had problems with my Boroma but they were a bit slow filling , so I have fitted bottom fillers to all 3 tanks which allows much faster filling from mains supplies. I can still fill from original van wall filler when bush camping with a Whale in-line pump from a bucket for top-up.

Cheers Kev.

Hi Greg and Mish.

We also have a jayco Outback sterling.

You can buy a Pope? tap fitting that has a rubber plug with a snap on hose fitting from Home hardware or Bunnings. It costs around $8.
If you remove the pipe clamp and wing nut from the rubber end it fits neatly into the tank filler (inlet) and when used will force the air out the breather and allow the tank to fill quickly.
You may need someone to turn the tap on while you hold the rubber plug in position while the tanks fill.

We often rely on having our own tank water and have to fill them quite frequently.

Hope this helps you.

regards,

Heather

Your problem isn't the fact you can't get the water in. You can't get the water in because the air can't get out.
We also have a new Jayco (17.55-4) and right from the very first time I tried to fill the tanks I ran into problems. As the water was going in I could hear the breathers gurgling.
Close inspection under the van showed both vent lines had low points in them that were full of water - this meant the air could not escape, and thus I was having trouble filling the tanks.
I have overcome it by cutting the vent pipes at the low point. This of course allowed the trapped water to escape. I then fitted a 12mm black poly 'T' from the garden hose section at Bunnings to the spot where I had cut the breather low point. I connected a short section of 12mm black poly to the bottom of the 'T' and ran it down through an automotive fuel filter. This should stop dust or insects.
There is no real reason for the vent line to have to go up to the filler other than convenience. It works fine that way provided there is an uninterupted continual uphill run. Any deviation will cause a low spot where water will accumulate and stop the effective venting of the tank. The vent line comes out of the top of the tank, so you will not ever have a syphoning effect taking place.

You can only ever get the same amount of water in as the amount of air that comes out.
Tanks don't have to be filled from the top - they can be filled from the bottom, providing the top vent is working unobstructed.

hi greg n mish , i too have a sterling ob ,and had the same problems filling the tanks.
what i did after making sure the vents were clear was to buy a rubber foot off a walking stick at clarks. take a piece of hose with you as there is a few sizes.
the foot is tappered . and i start by cutting the bottom off , a thin piece at a time until i expose the hole..then slip this onto a piece of hose,about 2/300 ml up the hose blunt end first,it should be a nice fit,
the hose should be about 1 m .llong and be able to be joined to your normal hose with a click fitting ,, now insert the hose so as the tapper seals off the entrance of the fiiller pipe and turn on the water,,, not to fast at first.
you should hear all sorts of noises comming from the tank as the air in the line is pushed back into the tank,,,,,,when the water starts comming out of the vent you know you have a FULL tank
travel safe

Hi Greg and Mish
Have a look at my archived thread 395890 20/12/2009. If you do that you will have no more problems.
Tony

This is why i read this forum. Didnt i get into trouble for not filling the tanks caused a riot at shower time. The van is only 8 months old, its been driving me nuts. Only just got back from a two week trip. On the last couple fills (there were many) i turned the front tap on and held the hose tight onto the fillers. Went motorbike riding did the dishes tried the shower and no water. Had enough by this time. Lucky we had a 20lt jerry can handy. I will try some of the above suggestions.
Sharon

Hi G & M

As mentioned POOR installation is always a problem
I had 3 tanks fitted to the van from new.
to get water into the tanks is simply Hydrology 101

But do van manufacturers know this No Way
They think water will flow up hill.

I had a common fill tube and a common breather fitted to all 3 tanks.

water in, Air out. Sounds easy but if the first tank from the filler fills first and it does as water takes the easiest path then the breather tube fills with water and the next two tanks will not breath.
I was told the common outlet to the pump will overcome this as the water will eventually find its own level,
Yea, great if you are on a level bit of road etc. what if the van is tilting to the front or the rear or even sideways.
Van builders have no eye deer.

Solution is to have all tanks plumbed separately. each with its own breather and outlet to the pump. Drain to the pump has its own isolating valve.
A common fill point to separate filling hoses via a manifold solves the issue.

Separate breathers will make a big difference on their own. Just run then up the front and install them into a small PVC enclosure with some SS mesh and pvc foam to keep out the dirt and pests

Let me tell you it works a lot better than the original installation I was given.
and the ability to empty each tank ensures I know what I have left. Water level indicator is only on the last tank.

Remember Hydrology 101 for Dummies

A good read for ALL van manufacturers

Thank you all for the replies and follow-ups. Heaps of advise and different techniques to help us out.
We tried the TURNING THE TAPS ON inside and also on the draw bar.... and it worked this time.
Definately not the breathers as that was looked at only 3-4 weeks back.

Thanks All.

G & M