I'm a total lone female newbie to caravans, my ex having done everything to do with the caravan. Got the van on Saturday. Son helped me with advice on towing, unhitched me at campsite and then left me to it.
The salesman told me the first thing to do was push the yellow lever down under the berth near the sink. I then filled the aquaroll and heard the pump working when I switched it on on the control panel by the door.
I left time for water to fill the tank and noted it was nearly empty, so water was going somewhere. I opened the sink tap and there was a splutter. I opened the washroom and shower taps, ditto. Then nothing.
I kept the taps open and swivelled them round hot to cold but nothing - no water coming out. I closed the taps and opened them again, no luck. I you tubed, googled and consulted the Bailey manual without luck.
The heating was fine and as it was only an overnight stay, I filled a 5 litre water container for my needs. I kept trying the taps throughout the evening without success.
One thing I didn't do was to put the gas on as I as on electric hook up and didn't plan on doing any cooking. Does the Alde system need to run on gas?
I phoned the dealership when I got home but they seemed puzzled asking me things like is there another water tank somewhere. They suggested I ring them when on site again.
I find this all frustrating and maybe in my mid sixties I shouldn't be taking this on on my own, but I enjoyed my 10 years of caravanning so much I wanted to recreate it.
Is there something I didn't do i.e. put the gas on etc? What am I doing wrong? Any help appreciated.
Hello
When you first connect the water pump it has to fill the hot water tank, usually 10-15 litres so shouldn’t empty your aqua roll but will pull water into the van.
Fill aqua roll, turn on pump. Open one tap on cold until the air stops coming out and you get a flow of water. Now turn to hot and wait, it will take a while and you’ll hear air coming out of the tap until the hot water tank is full. Once the tank is full you’ll get a water flow and then shut the tap. You can now put the water heater on, it will run on gas or electric on your van.
If you are losing the water from the tank you’ve got your drain valve open. Put it in the down position to close and up to drain before you leave.
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Quote: Originally posted by checkley1973 on 15/10/2019
Hello
When you first connect the water pump it has to fill the hot water tank, usually 10-15 litres so shouldn’t empty your aqua roll but will pull water into the van.
Fill aqua roll, turn on pump. Open one tap on cold until the air stops coming out and you get a flow of water. Now turn to hot and wait, it will take a while and you’ll hear air coming out of the tap until the hot water tank is full. Once the tank is full you’ll get a water flow and then shut the tap. You can now put the water heater on, it will run on gas or electric on your van.
If you are losing the water from the tank you’ve got your drain valve open. Put it in the down position to close and up to drain before you leave.
Thanks. I'm sure I did depress the yellow lever fully but I'll check I did next time I'm out. I didn't look for a water heater switch as I had no water coming through at all.
Hi and welcome to the forum.
We often had the yellow drain valve in the drain position when trying to fill it so I placed a reminder label near it to indicate the correct setting for fill, drain is easy, it's the opposite of where it is when it's working. You will see water running out from beneath when it's wrong. Most of us have been there so don't be too hard on yourself
Almost half of the first aquaroll is used in filling the tank and bleeding out the air from the pipes. I usually do the cold side first then the hot, starting with the sink and working back in the van. There will be lots of hissing, gurgling and spitting as the water starts to come through under pressure so be ready for it and don't open the tap fully as it will splash back, you will get the idea after a little bit of experience. ONLY when I'm satisfied that everything is fine do I turn the water heater on.
Similarly, when you put the gas on in the locker the gas pipes will need to bleed the air out of them before you can light any gas appliance. I usually do this with lighting a ring on the gas hob as the flow is pretty good to purge the air out quickly.
Dave.
------------- Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day,
Teach a man to fish and you can get rid of him for a whole weekend.
We used to have a Bailey ( but not only common to Bailey's) at first I used to put the drain tap down too far which opened it again, to close it, the yellow tap needs to be in the horizontal position. Is it Possible you were doing the same as I did.
Quote: Originally posted by Rob and Tina on 15/10/2019
We used to have a Bailey ( but not only common to Bailey's) at first I used to put the drain tap down too far which opened it again, to close it, the yellow tap needs to be in the horizontal position. Is it Possible you were doing the same as I did.
Tina
I may have Tina, I'll gently depress the lever next time!
We have just sold our valencia,big mistake,however the bailey unicorn are a very popular van and you will find them on every site, I am sure someone will give you a hand if you ask them, best of luck
Sometimes caravans have on onboard water tank and I believe this has to be filled first and before you'll get water from the taps, mine hasn't so I don't know how much it takes.
There is one drain tap on Unicorns, we had a U2 vigo, now have a U 4 Cadiz.If the yellow lever is vertical it drains down, just push it to horizontal for use.
I think the Valencia has the on board pump.
There is a filter on the end of pickup which goes in the tank. These can float causing air to get in.
We put a piece of rigid plastic pipe over the flexible part (about a foot long). The filter unscrews, so unscrew put rigid pipe over and refit.
It takes a while to remove air as stated earlier, it will splutter.
------------- DS-There's more to life than football!!!