I have tried to search for this on the forum but think my search terms must be off! I waited for our first trip this weekend to recommission the hot water system as we store on a site and I wanted to be hooked up and not run down the leisure battery. The water had been drained down completely for the winter. I followed the instructions in the Eriba instruction booklet, filled the onboard tank with water, closed the two taps just after the hot water tank and turned on the kitchen/bathroom taps - nothing. I then screwed up, and down the various taps throughout the system in case I had misunderstood the booklet but still nothing - no water running through the system. I checked the fuses were in and we had power. It suggests there may be a water bubble in the pump so I did as they say and agitated it whilst in the water. Still nothing! This is our first time with an onboard tank/hot water and Im sure its a simple rooky mistake on my part but any advice on recommissioning the system after its been completely drained down for winter would be really welcome as I don't want to take it into our dealer that is a fair distance away .

The trials of caravan recommissioning.

It would be useful to know what model and year van is involved as water systems fitted vary tremendously.

You don't say whether you can hear the pump running when you open a tap?

Have you tried the van's internal lights as they work via the battery like the pump/s?

If the van has a washroom and isn't a 2010 to 2013 model it will have a toilet with a separate pump. Is that working?

If the van has a standard spec. water system it will have a water container under the sink with a hose that has the pump on the end. The pumps can sometimes 'stick' if they're left dry for a long period. Try twizzling the pump's spindle and it may overcome the 'stiction' and work fine.

Sorry to ask so many questions but we need to cut down the possibilities

No problem - really pleased of the help.
2021 Troll 540 GT
Pump not running when we open the tap
Van lights etc all working and fusebox checked to make sure none of the switched had been tripped. We were hooked up to electricity on a site (although the leisure battery is also fully charged)
Toilet flush is working
There is an onboard water tank which is under the front seat, there are various taps through out the system which I tried fully up and fully down (I can't recall what I did exactly when we drained the system but we left them open as instructed) . The drain taps are after the hot water tank which I closed. The onboard tank was 3/4 full as shown on the indicator by the door..
Its all factory spec as bought from Broadlane.Everything fully functioning when I drained the it down in November.

OK

So you have 12V power and everything else is running.

Do modern Touring range vans have a pump switch, like most recent UK built vans do?

The pump would run even if there was no water in the tank, though it's not recommended as it can burn out.

Check any electrical connections to pump and from taps.

There are basically two types of caravan water systems and I'm not sure which is factory fitted these days.

If you have a microswitch system, one tap switch can fail, but the other will work and the pump will pressurise the whole system. As it's a model with washroom you'll have two taps (sink & basin) have you tried both?

If you have a pressure based system the pressure regulator should sense the drop in pressure when a tap is opened and send power to the pump. When the tap is closed the pressure builds and the regulator senses the increase and shuts off power to the pump. There's a possibility that the regulator might need adjusting.

HTH

The pump usually comes on as soon a we lift a tap. We took great care not to run the system when we were decommissioning it (we followed the instructions). I have tried it with both taps separately. I think I need to check the electrical connections and if that doesn't work have a word with Kool Classics that have recently become our nearest maindealer and have been helpful in the past. Thanks for your help. Very much appreciated.

Quote: Raconteur wrote in post #3

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...fusebox checked to make sure none of the switched had been tripped.

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Hi,
Just for reference, the drainage taps should be turned clockwise to close. There are usually 1 near the tank, 2 near the water heater, 2 near the battery and2 next to the fridge under the seat, (as I know to my cost as I emptied a full tank when filling up after our service last week!)

It’s always worth buying a small voltmeter or a test lamp to check across terminals- a lamp with 2 leads is easier to use if you’re not familiar with meters.

Once the pump is running, it seems to take an age to fill the hot water tank and get water through the tap before switching to cold. (Especially when you forget a valve!)

Needless to say, the fresh water tap on the site was a really slow fill , so recommissioning was a leisurely affair. 🙂