18' Series Water Tank Issue

Scorpion

New Member
Oct 9, 2018
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Melbourne
Hi Guys,
Having trouble with getting water out of 2nd tank. On the weekend no problem with 1st tank of water but when that was empty could not get any or very little water out of 2nd( full tank).Could hear motor working, tried switching inlet tap in all positions but still nothing.
Any advice would be really appreciated.
Thanks
 

poor but proud

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Aug 25, 2018
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Hi not sure of your set up but is you in line tap turned on at the tank outlet if it is unscrew the hose clamp where the pipe exits the tank and see if water runs out.? It could also be that your pump is pumping faster than the flow trying to get out of the second tank ,leave for a awhile and see if they balance the water level. Next start looking for a crimped or blocked plastic pipe it's lots of fun and good time to look at all the plastic fittings and pipes
 

Drover

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Nov 7, 2013
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Physicaly check that it actually has water....................3 way tap may be sucking air.................swap lines around to check...............pull lines off a section at a time to make sure water flows as could be swirl blocking things up.
 

GJMitchell

New Member
Oct 31, 2017
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Brisbane
Also check you don't have an airlock in your breather pipe. On my 17.56-2 Expanda I often get issues on the rear tank when I get down to about half full. Water tends to sit in the breather pipe in the low spots as it is such a long pipe going from the filler point near the front through all the crossmembers and around the suspension to the rear. When this happens it tends to suck air down the filler pipe straight into the pump pickup (both tee into the same bung in the bottom of the tank) because of the negative pressure in the tank due to the airlock in the breather. A quick blow down the breather outlet to clear the water and she's all good no more issues.
 
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Drover

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Also check you don't have an airlock in your breather pipe. On my 17.56-2 Expanda I often get issues on the rear tank when I get down to about half full. Water tends to sit in the breather pipe in the low spots as it is such a long pipe going from the filler point near the front through all the crossmembers and around the suspension to the rear. When this happens it tends to suck air down the filler pipe straight into the pump pickup (both tee into the same bung in the bottom of the tank) because of the negative pressure in the tank due to the airlock in the breather. A quick blow down the breather outlet to clear the water and she's all good no more issues.

That is truly a bodgy set up, water is getting into the breather when your tank is full, I would try to re route your breather or even run it to the rear, if you have a spare mounted on the bar run the line behind it and fit a small filter on the end...........I have run mine so that any water that gets into the breather it flows back to tank, well most times anyway............not a lot of care or attention is paid to running those lines so improvements can often be made.
 

GJMitchell

New Member
Oct 31, 2017
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That is truly a bodgy set up

It is a Jayco after all ;).

I did redo all the low pressure pipes last year with black ones (so I couldn't see the algae growing in them) and looked at improving the breather so it wouldn't airlock, but after much pondering while lying on my back underneath the van I just routed the new one pretty much the same as the old. There was no easy way around the suspension and crossmembers. I did think about the filter and shorter line but in the end a quick blow on the breather outlet when using the rear tank isn't too hard to do. Once it's clear, it's clear.
 
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Drover

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You sound like me, lay under van, contemplate problem then think, nah not really a problem........I have found 2 tanks, 2 fill points but the tanks cross feed so when ones empty they be all empty....
 
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mikerezny

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Sep 11, 2016
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Also check you don't have an airlock in your breather pipe. On my 17.56-2 Expanda I often get issues on the rear tank when I get down to about half full. Water tends to sit in the breather pipe in the low spots as it is such a long pipe going from the filler point near the front through all the crossmembers and around the suspension to the rear. When this happens it tends to suck air down the filler pipe straight into the pump pickup (both tee into the same bung in the bottom of the tank) because of the negative pressure in the tank due to the airlock in the breather. A quick blow down the breather outlet to clear the water and she's all good no more issues.
Had exactly the same problem on our second trip out in the Penguin. Couldn't understand how we could have used 80l of water on the first 3 day trip. The clear refill hose going into the bottom of the tank was empty. WTF!
No other water on board. Borrowed a couple of litres from another camper and then hiked for two hours to bring back 5l of water. I could have driven, but the hike was punishment for not checking and filling the tank. Later that night I tried the manual pump and lo and behold we had water again. Checked the water level on the refill hose and we were almost full.
Problem was that some generous installer at Jayco had routed the breather hose from the top of the tank all the way down under the chassis cross member with plenty to spare. The dealer had filled the tank until water came out of the breather, thus ensuring the breather hose was full of water. The vacuum in the tank was enough to prevent any water coming out of the tank, thus the hand pump just sucked the refill tube dry.
When we got home, I managed to rerun the hose through a cutout in the cross member. It now has only a slight dip which clears easily. I also have a small piece of garden hose to put over the breather outlet to the water out of the breather hose, but after two years we have never needed to use it. We always carry a 10l container of emergency water.
Inspected every new Jayco trailer in the dealer's yard. It was hit or miss as to how the breather hose was run. Some had long loops dangling down, others ran with almost no drop.

It really is a design issue. The inlet and outlet hoses should not come out of a single three-way outlet on the tank.

cheers
Mike
 
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poor but proud

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Just an observation the heritage range mr jayco did not even fit the breather pipes so when you parked on a slope or went up a hill you lost a good percentage of your stored water.. So much was running out following drivers and trucks were telling us of the leak,,, looked under a few vans of the same model and no breather pipes were ever fitted to the tanks,,,cost cutting
..??????..
 

Drover

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I remember those days, the tanks had a little bump on top which had 2 or 3 holes drilled in it, not good if stopped on a slope.............of course the mud wasps would stop that meaning you had to crawl under to knock a huge mud ball off......
 

poor but proud

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I remember those days, the tanks had a little bump on top which had 2 or 3 holes drilled in it, not good if stopped on a slope.............of course the mud wasps would stop that meaning you had to crawl under to knock a huge mud ball off......
my tanks actually had breather spigots that were never connected ,, you are right the wasps and ants both found those open holes
 
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