No water in France

[Mr lestat]

We have just arrived in France at a town called Troyes north of Dijon And have discovered that for some reason our water is not working. It was working fine yesterday but now it’s buggered

There is plenty of water in the system as I have filled it up. The pump constantly runs but doesn’t give out any water. You can hear the pump cycling all the time. All the taps do is splutter a little bit every now and then the thing is it’s has been working absolutely fine so it’s not an airlock or anything in the system it was working yesterday. Does anybody have any advice or know of anywhere to possibly take it to be looked at. Any advice appreciated

[Simes205]

No real advice I’m afraid, are you at camping municipal?
Can someone help there?

Lovely town though.

[gmasterfunk]

Caravan or motor home?

Is the pump definitely running?

Could the drain have been opened by accident?

[Mr lestat]

It’s a motorhome. Filled with water. Yeah pump just keeps cycling. Going’s to ask chap on reception in the morning. Bit of a prob as we are out here a few weeks touring round

[Spydaman]

If the pump runs then stops it means the pressure switch is switching off as it's reached the set pressure. Either you've got a blockage or the switch needs adjusting. Probably a blockage. Try disconnecting the pump outlet and see if it pumps and keeps pumping.

[Mr lestat]

Going to have a look underneath tomz morn. See if a pipe has come off somewhere. Otherwise is off to find a caravan repair place and see what happens

[agent006]

Make sure the frost protection switch on the boiler hasn't tripped. On ours it will pump water out through the boiler drain whenever you run a tap (hot or cold) if it has tripped.

[aero250]

Had something similar recently.the plastic bowl on the filter housing before the pump had cracked and was allowing it to draw in air. On mine I could remove the filter housing and plumb direct keeping me going until I could replace the filter

[Thurbs]

Sounds like there is a broken seal somewhere in the system. I would find the pump, trace the pipes back to the tank and check each connection is tight and secure. If they all look good then open up the water tank and make sure the draw pipw is submerged. If that looks good then I would try a new pump.

[Mr lestat]

I have spoken to our motorhome repair place today and they seem to think that a pipe has come off somewhere in the water tank as the pump is running okay. We will have to take it to somewhere out here and see what happens. I have had a look underneath and can’t see any pipes loose but there is no room really to see without the van up on ramps. Thanks for all the pointers

[Mr lestat]

Just a quick update on this thread from the other day. The van is now working okay with a bit of a bodge. Looking underneath the van I saw water dripping from the pipe that connects the water tank to the pump inside the van. I figured there must be a hole in this somewhere as the shouldn’t be water on the outside of it. So with basic French I went to a camping car place and bought 2 m of flexible water pipe and bypassed the leaking part with some connectors and jubilee clips. So for now it’s all working fine thanks for all the pointers.

[Spuffington]

Sorry - only just seen this.

I found with my Immersion pump in my Hymer that sometimes the hose could slip off the top of the pump. I use to have to open the top of the fresh water tank, pull the cable up to fish out the pump and reconnect the hose. I ended up cable tying it tightly, which held it well.

Symptoms would be exactly as you describe - pump running but no water coming out.

[Mr lestat]

Spuffington said:

Sorry - only just seen this.

I found with my Immersion pump in my Hymer that sometimes the hose could slip off the top of the pump. I use to have to open the top of the fresh water tank, pull the cable up to fish out the pump and reconnect the hose. I ended up cable tying it tightly, which held it well.

Symptoms would be exactly as you describe - pump running but no water coming out.

There was a split in the pipe where it comes into the inside, obviously it has weakened and worn through, prob should be through a grommet but it was just pushed through the bodywork. Only cost 6 euros for the bits, a bargain for what its achieved.