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we toom our 1992-3 abi monza outr for the first timw this weekend, but have been a bit puzzled on how to work the water heater.

There is a contriol panel with three lights ion it and also a normal switch next to it.

Does anyone know if the normal switch works as an immersion heater or exactly what we should be doing with it?

help!

Hi Whippy

welcome to the website

I dont know if this is of any help to you .

_______________________________________________

First comment has to be, what model Carver heater?

There is a mk1 and 2 both sometime have three lights but more often the mk1 has only one. The mk1 vents though the floor while the mk2 vents though the side of the caravan, if it is a mk2 then this should help.

The Carver Cascade 2 is a 9 litre storage water heater, which when running on gas will heat the water to 65deg c in about 45 minutes. On 240V mains assuming it has this facility, the time can be somewhat longer or shorter depending on the wattage (630w 3amp to 950w 5amp) of the element fitted, you can use both gas and electric together for faster times.
To operate the gas there is a wall switch with three lights, green amber and red. When switched on the green lights, (water tank must be full, i.e. water coming from hot taps), if it stays on after about 8 seconds then the gas has lit and all is well. If the green is joined by the red then you may have a problem, but if the gas bottle has just been changed then air in the pipes will have to be bled through by repeating the above 2 or 3 times. Once lit, and it should light without any pops and bangs, (this would indicate it needs a service), the heater looks after itself and gives constant hot water, any problems will cause it to shut down safely and show the red light, indicating a fault. Forget the amber light, it’s to show low voltage and won’t light unless the voltage is so low the heater and everything else packed up long since, though you may notice it ‘flash’ as the switch is turned on or off.

  The 240v emersion heater if fitted is totally separate, and lies behind a white plastic box on the inboard end of the water tank. It is controlled by a switch, often close by and at floor level, but sometimes as part of a remote control panel. The switch has a red light to show it’s “on”, not that it’s working, this will be determined by the water getting hot. If it does not then it may have “tripped” Two types exist, early circa 1990 are non-re-settable, but are repairable. Later models have a Red button on the end of the plastic box, sometimes behind a flap. Switch off mains, and press to reset.

  Other faults concerning the gas side very often come down to the “Burner Module”. This handy little unit contains the burner, gas valve and all the electronics which control it, and is accessible from behind the cover outside of the van. In the event things go wrong it’s a 5 minute job to replace it, either with a new or serviced exchange unit. One other safety device is a wax filled plug, this again is behind the outer cover and shows itself as a 13 mm nut set in the fins above the burner. The wax will melt if things get too hot allowing hot water from the tank to spray over the burner putting the flame out, this will render things safe, but will probably require a new module because it’s control circuitry will be faulty,. A point to note here is that over time the wax degrades or the threads leak, allowing water to seep onto the burner causing it to rust prematurely, eventually this will require replacement of the whole burner module.
That in a nut shell as they say, is all there is to it.

thanks for that.

we bought the caravan and were told they had a problem once with the system overheating.  The wax plug melted so they suggested we only use the hot water as and when we need it.

Anyway Saturday I think we may have let it get too hot as steam was coming from the vent on the side of the caravan then the water came out, would this be from the systems tripoping and putting the flanme out?

We tried it again sunday and the red light kept coming on after 10 seconds.  Do we need to reset anything?

On the wood panel next to the 3 light display is a swuitch whioch muast be for the immersion heater, it gave us some hotb water, but againt diont know if we left that on too long as again water came out of the vent on the side of the caravan.

Is this bad?.................

This should help http://www.arcsystems.biz/

atb

Wizard

Good idea to check out the issue with the waxed safety plug, esp if you plan to use gas, but also check the pressure relief valve in the top left hand corner of the vent panel is closed. It is a white nylon plug and requires a quarter clockwise turn (I think) to close.

We recently got our first van with a carver and on our first trip each time we ran the taps hot water/steam spewed out of the vent housing. The dealer quickly sorted it with a turn of a flat bladed screwdriver. 

I am certainly no expert though!

I've answered this question somewhere today? but thanks to ALS for posting my early overview on the Cascade 2.

This I don't mind one bit but, a large company mentioning no names has taken to use my information without giving credit to the source which sadly has led to some confusion when i have had to contradict my own advice due to it being given by this third party in the wrong context.

Not at all having a go at you Als but it gives me a chance to say something and hopefully you can see my point, in the mean time this is the current version.

The Carver Cascade 2 is a 9 litre storage water heater, which when running on gas will heat the water to 65deg c in about 45 minutes. On 240V mains assuming it has this facility, the time can be somewhat longer or shorter depending on the wattage (630w 3amp to 840w 5amp) of the element fitted, you can use both gas and electric together for faster times.

To operate the gas there is a wall switch or a switch within a main control panel, either way both have three lights green, amber and red. When switched on the green lights, (water tank must be full, i.e. water coming from hot taps), if it stays on after about 8 seconds then the gas has lit and all is well. If the green is joined by the red then you may have a problem, but if the gas bottle has just been changed then air in the pipes will have to be bled through by repeating the above 2 or 3 times. Once lit, and it should light without any pops and bangs, (this would indicate it needs a service), the heater looks after itself and gives constant hot water. Any problems will cause it to shut down safely and show the red light. Forget the amber light, it’s to show low voltage and won’t light unless the voltage is so low the heater and everything else packed up long since, though you may notice it ‘flash’ as the switch is turned on or off.

  The 240v emersion heater if fitted is totally separate, and lies behind a white plastic box on the inboard end of the water tank. It is controlled by a switch, often close by and at floor level, but again sometimes as part of a remote control panel. The switch has a red light to show it’s “on”, not that it’s working, this will be determined by the water getting hot. If it does not then it may have “tripped” Two types exist, early circa 1990 are non-re-settable but are repairable. Later models have a Red button on the end of the plastic box which is sometimes behind a little flap. Switch off mains, and press to reset.

Other faults concerning the gas side very often come down to the “Burner Module”. This handy little unit contains the burner, gas valve and all the electronics which control it and is accessible from behind the cover outside of the van. In the event things go wrong it’s a 5 minute job to replace it, with a new or serviced exchange unit. One other safety device is a wax filled ‘fusible’ plug, this again is behind the outer cover and shows itself as a 13 mm nut set in the fins above the burner. The wax will melt if things get too hot allowing hot water from the tank to spray over the burner and put the flame out. This will render things safe but will require a new module because it’s control circuitry is faulty. However given if the fuse 'blows' without the water apparently getting to hot then replacing the plug will be sufficient. The point to note here is that over time the wax in the plug degrades or the threads leak,  at the very least allowing water to seep onto the burner causing it to rust and eventually will still require replacement of the whole burner module.

Further problems that come to light in spring is the discovery of frost damage to the water tank, the non-return valve which is part of the cold water inlet and other plastic fittings. Failing to drain the heater when there is a chance of temperatures dropping below freezing can be very expensive to repair and should be avoided by removing the drain bung and allowing the heater to drain completely. Later models have a valve above the drain hole in the top left corner of the flue cowl, these have a ‘toggle’ showing that when turned a ¼ in any direction will allow air into the tank and assist the draining. Older models still have the valve but the flue cowl needs to be removed and the valve end pulled to open it, in this case opening all taps in the van will do much the same thing. It is most important that the drain bung is then only placed back into the hole and not screwed in, any water left in the system can then drain away.

Frost damage to the tank will be obvious by the leaking water from the damaged seal, the damaged non-return valve quite often will prevent water coming from the hot taps although the cold water flow will be fine. Other fittings are often cracked by the pressure of the frozen water and will leak on refilling the system. Arc Systems

thanks Gary, apologies you have already answered the question earlier!

Just trying to use as many resources as possible to sort the problem.

thanks mate!

no probs gary.

Hope you didnt think i was taking credit for your work ( hehe) you know i would nor could  do that .

ive just draind my carver heater down  for the winter do i need to do anything else apart fromput the water pump back on when i take my van out again

ie do i need to bleed the system or anything like that

regards mark

thank you for that gettinf a bit worried was not to sure weather i done right or not

thank you