Help! Direct mains connection to caravan
Help !!! After over 32 years as a Club Member am afraid ill health has now caused my wife and I into considering this new fangle direct water supply to our caravan, instead of the AquaRoll.
All ideas, thoughts and considerations would be greatfully recieved, as wsell as any advice on the use of one.
Many thanks.
Bob. H.
Comments
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Robbie
There are two types of system that can be used, the direct pipe into your caravan water inlet point and the other utilising the aquaroll.
The direct pipe method has to have a pressure restrictor on the end of the hose to reduce the mains pressure. Without this the pipework in the caravan could potentially blow and cause a lot of water damage. The other downside to this method is that the pressure of water in the caravan because of the restrictor is, from experience, less than if using a conventional pump. Not much good for showers.
The second method still uses the aquaroll and the normal pump but has a hose fitted to the side inlet of the aquaroll. This has a float valve which allows the aquaroll to fill up approximately half way and then shuts off the supply. If there is any leak it is outside the caravan. As water is used the valve constantly allows the aquaroll to maintain the 'half full' level. The necessary parts, hose and valve, can be obtained from a caravan parts supplier or, if you are handy, the valve assembly can be made up at home with a float valve from a DIY store which works out substantially cheaper
This second method appears, from comments on this forum, to be the most popular.
Hope this helps.
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The concerns with the direct method is possible flooding, which maybe a myth, but a real consideration is that is the SP pitch tap fails then you have no water and have to resort to getting the aquaroll out, while the float valve method would still have half an aquaroll of 'reserve' water.
This can happen, last November the actual tap on the SP had actually frozen due to a very severe frost (-4C)
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We also use the ballcock into the aquaroll plus with a service pitch you will be able to run a length of waste pipe direct into the drain so no dragging around the wastemaster another tip is to attach a hose splitter on the tap this allows you to run off some water without the need to detatch the hosepipe
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I have tried the Whale version of the pressure regulator which plugs into the socket in the caravan. This worked well enough except that I could not get the unit to seal (even when replaced) and I was getting a constant dribble of water down the outside of the caravan, not much but not acceptable.
The Aquaroll ballcock valve is my preference, this works really well and is a fit and forget system. A little care is needed with all the hose connectors to stop dribbles, you are only dealing with garden hose type connectors after all, and a supply of O rings is useful. Also using your own Y connector on the tap (as mentioned by 0001) means you are in control of all the possible leaks.
You probably would not know that the site tap had dried up until you ran out of water in the Aquaroll.
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one tip get a selection of connectors for the hose to the tap, different sites use different connectors.
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We use the Whale direct feed and regularly use CLs with serviced pitches and in over 8 years we have never had a leak. We would when we started using the system we would turn the tap off when going out or overnight.
We tour all year and had on occassions found the tap frozen which was resolved by a few cups of boiling water.
Now we use pipe insulation and a tap cover which seems to solve the problem.
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I agree! Luckily my Y tap connector included adaptor inserts which have worked on most sites. Just one extremely unusual tap size on a site in Wales, I never did find an adaptor that would fit!
Tip:- Need to be careful when screwing plastic fittings on to a brass tap, it is quite easy to damage the plastic if you get it cross threaded.
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I am pleased to hear of someone using the direct feed successfully, it is perhaps the neatest solution but I tried 2 on my caravan and had to give up in the end. I have to say, the shop didn't seem surprised when I took them back.
It could be a fault on my caravan socket (I even tried changing the O rings(2)) but the standard pump has never dribbled down the caravan.
I don't think you could risk leaving your Aquaroll at home so I am happy with the ballcock version.
Away next Thursday to a serviced pitch in Lancashire so I am looking forward to using it again.
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With regard to using Serviced pitches, we have recently found the company Colapz. If you are interested in connecting to the water supply 'outside the caravan', we have now moved over to one of their units. It is really light and uses the same system as the ball-cock idea that fits into the aquaroll. Instead of the aquaroll, they use a small collapsible bucket - see the picture below.
They also produce telescopic sections of waste water hoses that fit together. You just use as many sections as you need.
See here: https://colapz.co.uk/
David
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Same for us-never had any problems at all with the direct feed. Don't see the point of the one which fits to the aquaroll, as for us its about not having to use the aquaroll if staying on a serviced pitch, making setting up and packing up quicker.
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Not really had experience of the direct feed, but I have heard stories of folk having water leaks inside the caravan, so I've not taken the risk. Whale do put some 'advice' which include ensuring that the water connection is unplugged when not in use or when the van is unattended. Not really sure what 'not in use' means, but hope it doesn't mean plugging it in everytime you want to switch on the tap! Personally, I think I'll stick to my little device from Colapz. It seems like a reasonable compromise.
David
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No it doesn't mean plugging it in every time you want to switch on the tap.......
We do unplug it if we're going out for the day, but it's no great inconvenience as it's just like unplugging an ehu and takes seconds.
As I said never had an issue with leaks.
My point was that when we are on a serviced pitch it's brilliant and convenient. When we're not on a serviced pitch we use our water barrel: horses for courses I guess.
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For Aquaroll*, read, Aquaroll or similar (other makes are available some are only 8 litres).
I have come across a wide range of taps on CL sites, I have even had to tighten the gland on the tap to stop it leaking before I could use it, as mentioned before the Welsh site, never did connect a hose to that tap.
If you end up on a site that you can not connect your hose to, for what ever reason and you haven't got your fall back Aquaroll* then you are up a paddle without a creek.
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We have used the Whale system for years and it has been totally reliable. However an inherent problem is that the flow rate is much reduced due to the action of the pressure reducing valve. For this reason ours was only used to fill the onboard tank our old van which was a useful 80 litres. New van does not have a whale connection point, so I would switch to the Aquaroll method since the flow would remain normal.
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Same here, been using our direct connection for last 4 years on CL's and commercial sites all over the UK and never had a problem connecting: Like DSB we have a few different connection pieces.
In fact we have never experienced any problem with it at all (no leaks etc), so from our point of view a great buy and would recommend.
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When possible I use the direct feed system. TBH as much risk of flooding with the barrel version since, unless you switch the pump off every time you leave, if a leak occurs the pump will just kick in and start pumping till it gets to pressure.
Re connection my "toolbox" has a variety of connections and yet to be caught out
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Bob, I know the feeling. We came to it and dumped the aquaroll long ago.
So now we just park within walking range of the washrooms and showers, fill the kettle from the nearest tap, and put a similar amount of water in the wash basin for my wife to rinse her hands in the night. We scarcely use any more water than that. Just like tent campers.
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In relation to direct feed to the caravan we have a Bailey Unicorn Barcelona. The pipe work is insufficient for the job and the pressure irrespective of how low you have it far exceed what the caravan pipework is capable of.
From the number of comments this appears to be consistent and many individual have opted for the direct feed through the Aqua Roll, this works better in two ways.
1. The pressure is reduced as it is pump fed received through the aqua roll.
2. If the valve in the aqua roll fails the water will just continue to over spill outside rather than flood and cause any extensive damage to the internal of the van.
This issue is extremely annoying and manufacturers have been made fully aware of this through various people but just appear to of not tackled this matter.
We had damp in the front of our Bailey and are absolutely certain that the leakages we had were the cause of this and will be taking this further with bailey as we had to stump up £1000 towards the damp repairs due to their finding excuses and the service was completed until 5 weeks after the date due to various reasons.
We have found the direct feed aqua roll kit on Amazon for £23.50 free delivery. Safe and happy caravanning for 2021 everyone.
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