I have a Carver Compact water inlet on my old Avondale Dart. It came as a fitted item. The connection has always been fiddly using the two securing clips to maintain a good water connection. I’ve changed the O ring, both clips and cleaned the electrics but making a good connection continues to be awkward. Plumbing and I are not best friends, I can and have made anything leak. I have often admired the pistol type fitting on the Carver Ultraflows and am considering if my present water inlet should or could be changed. Can anyone advise what I can replace the Carver Compact with and what problems I may come up against. (The Compact Carver doesn’t have a filter I just mention this in case it’s relevant to your reply). Thanks in anticipation of your helpful replies.
The Carver Compact you have (no filter) is exactly the same as mine and had an identical problem recently but it may not be the securing clips that are the problem as it could be back pressure that is causing it to leak which is restricting the flow of water. If that is the case then changing the inlet housing won't make any difference as the source of the problem could be a defective non return valve. The cold water non return valve is directly behind the water inlet where the cold water pipe connects to and the hot water non return valve is located on the hot water tank at the bottom right looking on the inside.
When the pump is active is it taking longer for the hot water to replenish in comparison to the cold water?
If so then this is an indication that the hot water non return valve needs replacing. On mine the cold water was taking around 5 seconds and the hot water around 15 - 18 seconds.
Thanks will replace both non return valves and see if this helps. The clips are award and the bottom one always difficult to engage /release. Would still consider an ultraflow if possible to connect.
If you are going to replace the hot water non return valve you will need the right tools for the job because it's not an easy task. The hot water non return valve has a 16.0 x 2.0 thread with a 20mm. hexagon which is not a standard size. Because of the shape of the spigot you can't get a socket on unless it's a long reach one and a box spanner just slips off. Due to the non return valve being plastic it does age harden over time so it snaps when you try to unscrew it so you have to use a junior hacksaw blade to cut out the remaining screw which the hole then has to be tapped out with a 16mm. taper hand tap to clear out the thread otherwise it will just chew up the new non return valve. However, even though the cost of the spanner, the taper tap, other tools required plus the new non return valve was still cheaper than having the work undertaken in a workshop.
The picture of the non return valve is for illustration purposes only.