Bourton water tank under bench seat.

I have a 2012 Bourton, its been nothing but trouble since we got it.

Anyway the latest problem. I found a water tank under the drivers side bench seat with a large screw top, i thought this would be ideal to fill the van with water when pitched for a long time. Having to move the van to fill up with the plug in hose is not ideal.

Anyway i added 10lt of water while on site and it started pouring out from underneath, i decided to leave this until i got home. 
On investigation i found that the water pipe connection under van was leaking. Easy fix you would think. Unfortunately the LPG tank is fitted below this, so access is impossible.

It means the LPG tank coming out just to fix the connection and its just been filled so will be very heavy!

I'm getting too old for this sort of thing but am loath to pay for a gas fitter to remove the tank and someone else to fix the leak.

I was a CORGI registered gas fitter before i retired.

Anyone else had this type of problem and have you used this tank for top up?

The fresh water in the Bourton is stored in two interconnected tanks, one below the floor and the other above under the bench seat. All water tanks fitted by AS have an access hatch in the top so that the tank can be cleaned but as the majority are under the floor, the tank has to be dropped to do this.

The Whale tank filler system can be used either by connecting to a tap or by dropping a pump into a water container - to me, much easier than lifting the bench seat and bringing the water container in the van.

Either way you have to take water in a container to the van.

I thought about a pump, its not the Whale system but the Truma ultraflow this has the terminals at the connector but they are not powered, i have tried every setting.
We always have drinking water in a container, so not a major problem to fill from the underseat screw off cap.

Thanks for the info that it uses 2 interconnected tanks. The book is useless.

Thanks for that, any idea where the fuses are so i can check them.

On the control panel you can select which pumps to power, into, ext or both. The Truma fill point is the ext pump. There is also an option called (I think) fill. If you select that it powers the ext pump for one minute.

Another extra gadget/system that does little to improve on the 'hole I the sidewall where you can shove a hosepipe (to fill directly at MHSP or pitch tap) or a guttering 'elbow' which allows pouring in water from any simple 'top up' container.
Additionally, it's nice to have an inspection/cleaning hatch on the top of the tank for any maintenance.

As the pump was missing when we bought our van I decided that if I purchased a pump I would have to purchase a container to carry the water to the tank so it was decided to use a watering can and fill though offside filler hole, I normally fill tank before leaving home so I don't find this method a big problem. To fill through the screwed hatch on the tank under the seat means moving everything off the bench seat to gain access, much easier to fill from outside. If filling at MHSP on site fill direct from tap with hose.

Lucyc1937 wrote:As the pump was missing when we bought our van I decided that if I purchased a pump I would have to purchase a container to carry the water to the tank so it was decided to use a watering can and fill though offside filler hole, I normally fill tank before leaving home so I don't find this method a big problem. To fill through the screwed hatch on the tank under the seat means moving everything off the bench seat to gain access, much easier to fill from outside. If filling at MHSP on site fill direct from tap with hose.

You can't fill from the filler hole it only accepts the filler from the Truma ultraflo propriety system. A watering can would be no use.
On our previous van, which we had 6 years, it had the lockable filler, this worked perfectly, it was easy to clean, easy to use and you knew exactly  when it was full. We have used hoses, watering cans and a 10lt water container.
Sometimes progress isn't.
Why do i want to fill without moving the Van?, well every year we go to Spain for a month or so, that's excluding the 10 days or so journey each way there and back. When its all set up moving it is much worse than shifting 2 cushions, lifting the bed frame and filling into the tank.

As you can see from my Avatar there are two fill points adjacent to drivers door one for pump connection and one for hose, I assume this is because ours is 2015 model, our previous van could only be filled by an external pump which could prove difficult at time.

It appears the water filling systems on the Bourton were changed from 2015 onwards. 

Here’s the text from a 2013 Bourton handbook :

“ The freshwater tank is filled through the Whale socket on the side of the vehicle using the special hose supplied.”

The text from a 2017 Bourton handbook :

“ The freshwater tank is filled through either the Whale socket or the lockable cap on the side of the vehicle. A special filler hose is supplied for use with the Whale socket.”

AFAIK, the Whale filler was unpopular with owners after AS began to fit it and a few years later they added a manual (hosepipe) type filler too. 

Binged, I know what you mean about a long term stay without a tap on your pitch. When we had the Whale only filling system on a previous van we used a submersible pump to fill the tank from a 10 litre water carrier. It plugs into the Whale socket in exactly the same way.

harrysp wrote:AFAIK, the Whale filler was unpopular with owners after AS began to fit it and a few years later they added a manual (hosepipe) type filler too. 

Binged, I know what you mean about a long term stay without a tap on your pitch. When we had the Whale only filling system on a previous van we used a submersible pump to fill the tank from a 10 litre water carrier. It plugs into the Whale socket in exactly the same way.

Mine hasn't got the whale system Its the truma ultraflo, same type of thing though. Will check the fuses if i get chance.

If the weather improves any i will see what i can do to cure the leak. What's really poor to me as an ex plumber is the 12mm pipe connection between the tanks, that will just dribble back, ordinary domestic 15mm would have been much better (and cheaper)

You haven't mentioned whether you've switched the ext pump on at the control panel? I need to clean the contacts at the fuller point a couple of times a year.

Peter Brown wrote:You haven't mentioned whether you've switched the ext pump on at the control panel? I need to clean the contacts at the fuller point a couple of times a year.

Yes i have turned on internal pump, external pump, both and fill. I have cleaned both contacts but there is no voltage at the terminals. It has been suggested that i check the fuses, i will do this as soon as the weather improves, it's been raining a bit here

It's probably a stupid question but is power switched on at the EC328? Also, will water go in via the Trims fitting from the mains? I have a Whale system and potential issues are 
1: I've started the engine to drive to the tap and not switched habitation electrics back on
2:. The filter on the solenoid valve is blocked by debris or scale.
3:. The solenoid valve is faulty.

If using the external pump you would hear it pumping with 2 or 3 but not with 1.

Well that's the tank sorted.
I could see the leak with a mirror and a lead light but it was impossible to reach.
It was dry this morning so i set about it. I put the drivers side up on ramps to give me room to work, turned of the gas at the tank and disconnected pipe. I figured i could get above the tank by dropping one side, i loosened the bolts at one end, placed a jack under the tank and removed the bolts at the other end. I slowly lowered the tank making sure nothing was snagging.
Anyway to cut this long story short i removed the 12mm elbow which was leaking and replaced it with a new one this was the easy bit.
Reinstated the tank, bolts and gas pipe, checking for any leaks. Purged gas system and checked everything fired up.
Job done, 2 happy campers.

Same system on my Northants,removed bench tank due to I believe the extra head pressure caused the under slung tank access cap which is underneath to split the threaded boss.when on a slight downward slope, water ran out at 25% full,the suction out let was 70 mm up the side of the tank.By placing a 12mm copper tube into the bulkhead fitting (it’ s push fit inside the tank as well as outside)I was able to form the end of the tube into the well of the access cap thus being able to use all the tank contents

Biged, glad you got it sorted. Shame you have had so much trouble; our 2012 Nothants (Bourton on an Auto Merc) has been fine since we bought it 2 years ago. Anyway, same as you, I wanted a way to top up without moving. I bought a Truma plug complete with hose and stuck a funnel on it. Simple and inelegant, but it works fine.