Whale Inlet Socket Leak
Evening, spent today investigating an internal drip we have from a Whale fresh water socket. After 3 phone calls to Whale and purchasing a new socket I'm hoping the problem is solved but not holding my breath (whilst the adhesive dries).
We have the Whale socket that has the sliding trap door which locks the external water pump fixing in place along with their electronic pressure switch.
Whale's technical help has contradicted themselves on two counts, one said that the socket should be water tight, i.e. that an external water leak should not get into the van - wrong and the other said that the pump (which sits in the 'bucket') has an internal pressure override, t'other said it didn't and would run as long as 12v is applied to it.
Having dismantled both old and new sockets (they are identical) I can confirm that the socket is most definitely not water tight. If your van is resting at a slight angle, any o-ring failure on the outside of the van will cause water to gather within the outer socket and this will happily drip through to the electrical connectors and past the inner cover onto the floor of your 'van.
I have changed the two outer o-rings on our old socket, no joy. I then replaced our old sockets diaphragm and internal o-ring - even worse. I then removed the rear cover to the socket and powered the pump with a direct 12v feed so I could see what was happening. The water level rises in the outer casing and floods through the square cut out where the pressure regulator trigger passes into the van (see photo, dripping falling, coming from the dark, rectangular hole behind the green & black cable).
In the end Whale suggested replacing the socket as it must have a crack in it. So that is what I have done, it was bonded on so was fun to get off. I don't see any crack, but the new socket is on and once the adhesive sets I will test again tomorrow. Fingers crossed!
I have read that the pump plug can loosen from its blue pipes causing an outer leak, but I don't see how this could allow water to enter the socket.
Its as though the o-rings are not sealing (there are 3) but all have been replaced for both aftermarket and genuine Whale.
Does anyone have any experience of this issue, or suggestions relating to it? I am gobsmacked that the socket is not water tight and that an external leak is getting into the caravan so easily.
Comments
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Hello KCRC
I have had both leaks inside and from the outside.
Blue pipe came loose and was squirting water into the house but you would see this. It was quite obvious. I had to glue the pipe back on.
The white diaphragm inside is quite fickle. Have you changed that? If not do so. It becomes quite hard. I changed mine each year.
O-rings. I eventually settled for putting two o-rings, of same diameter but thinner cross section, into each groove for the pump head receptor. Made a world of difference but is tighter to push on. Use silicone grease.
For the large o-ring I used one of same diameter but fatter cross section. I dropped it in cup of boiling water to make it more pliable before fastening housing up. I held everything in place with silicone grease.
Hope that helps.
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Try replacing the two rubber o rings fitted over the socket. We had this problem and Whale were good enough to send them too us. However they were too big. Bought a set of o rings and found ones that fitted tightly and this solved the leak
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Try replacing the rubber o rings fitted over the socket that fur snugly. We found the manufacturers rings were too big for the socket so bought a set of rubber O rings and fitted a air that was a snug fit and this solved the problem
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Many thanks for the excellent suggestions.
I have tried aftermarket o-rings and original Whale ones and also renewed the inner o-ring and the diaphragm. Hence I finally resorted to changing the whole socket and it appears to have worked. The old socket does not appear to have any cracks in its water path, so I am not sure why it has worked.
Whilst waiting for the adhesive to dry on the new socket, I took the opportunity to dismantle the pipe connector to check the pipes there. I now see that should the blue pipe slide off its pipe then water will flood the plug and then drain into the 'vans socket. This would cause water ingress too and MAY be my problem, although the pipe connection appears solid.
One useful thing I have discovered which Whale do not mention in their video guides, is when replacing the inner o-ring and diaphragm its difficult to keep the pressure switch trigger mechanism in place whilst re-fitting the blue cover. Its a lot easier if you remove the pressure adjusting screw or electronic control unit from the rear because this frees the spring tension allowing the mechanism to be positioned correctly for the re-build.
Also, there a lots of people selling aftermarket o-rings but the Whale kit is cheap enough and includes the inner o-ring and diaphragm which are often overlooked.
The new socket feels slightly tighter than the old one, using the same pump plug and o-rings, which I am surprised by. Another tip for making the o-rings slightly tighter is to wrap one or turns of PTFE tape into the spout under the o-rings to pad them a little.
I am disappointed that whilst everything working OK is fine, should there be any leak from one of the 3 o-rings, the diaphragm or the plugs pipe then there is a 50/50 chance that the flood will enter the caravan. I would have expected the socket to be water tight being an interface between outside and inside. Bit of a design fault if you ask me.
Anyway problem solved (fingers crossed). Again, many thanks for the suggestions.
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