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hello all

we had just cracked tenting - after years and years we eventually thought we had all we needed, we had all the cooking and bedding sorted out, we had a four seater fold away table we had a tent we could stand up in - no more getting dressed bent double and our latest buy was a halogen heater.

then, four and a half years ago we had our first kid and two and a half years ago we had our second, tenting became a bit of a hassle for us and so we have joined the ranks of the caravanners!

feel like we're betraying the tenters - never thought we would become caravanners.

so anyhoo we now have an elddis wisp 450 eb 5 berth 1990 which we got for £1000.

seems dry and all seems reasonable for the age with regards to fittings etc but the first time we used kitchen sink the pressure was excellent but then it dropped for no apparent reason and a fine grit was coming through with the water - turns out the water filter had failed and the grit inside was going into the water pipes. removed (eventually!!) the water filter and removed all the grit from inside disconnected the tap and inadvertantly turned the water on (when u turn on the bathroom tap the kitchen one comes on too! but not a problem cos when the tap is connected u have to press a bell switch that the previous owner fitted to turn on the water lol) so that flushed out the grit in the pipe. but the pressure was still very low - turns out the pipe was full of this grit and it took a lot of blowing and flushing to finally clear it!!! all sorted now though and the gas seems ok.

running the water system now with an 'empty' water filter - i dont feel that its immediately necessary to get another new one - what do you think? and how much are they? we've spent near to £400 so far....

we are leaving wednesday for 4 days at shell bay caravan park in fife so we'll see how we get on with the awning........though we recently had the opportunity to use a friends caravan and the awning wasnt bad at all - time will tell, maybe I'll eat my words.........

cheers all

ok thanks for that - my water filter was also stuck hard in the housing - I called the seller to see if he could give me any advice and he said he had never replaced it in 3 years..... the water carriers are new so I reckon it should be ok this time.

I removed the water filter eventually with a pair of vice grips, gripped as far in as possible to lower the risk of it breaking and it was fairly easy - good luck!

Well thats our first trip complete without any major dramas - the three vertical poles for the awning leaked a little when we had a MAJOR downpour (of course!) we could do with a cap or a cover maybe to stop the water getting in through the hole for the pole in the awning. But other than that (and getting an inside toilet!) all was good.

A bit of advice to any new caravanners which I don't think I have read anywhere - buy an old crash helmet to wear inside the caravan, its harder than canvas........

.......my poor head......

Re water filters.............many vans do not have them.  Ours does not.  We use the water for drinking and have suffered no ill effects.  We always flush out the system with Puriclean at the start of the season.  Some people that do have a filter just remove the inside stuff and leave the casing in place.

Quote: Originally posted by extenter on 04/8/2009

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well it's been a while since I posted but ....

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 Your not joking...... 3 years between posts!!!

Welcome back.