Leaking lowboy folding tap in Avan Aliner - fixed now

pjwilco · Veteran Member

Leaking lowboy folding tap in Avan Aliner - fixed now

hako · Guru

G'Day Pamela, we are on our 3rd mixer tap in our Avan Cruiser - 2 factory plastic non repairables leaked and leaked (@$70 ea) and now we have a brass unit which seems to be OK.
Our leaks were different to yours as our taps just dribbled all the time but I'll remember your tip if it ever leaks into the cupboard below.

Regards

ShortNorth · Senior Member

We've had two different types of water leaks in our Aliner

1 - There is one fault with all Avans - when built Avan only fit plastic hose connectors to the mains water inlet - the problem is the plastic connector is Australian metric and the brass inlet it is screwed into is American imperial thread - Avan overcome the difference by wrapping heaps of white plumbers tape around the plastic thread. The problem is that over time the mains water pressure will find 'paths' through the white tape and then your water connection starts leaking, getting progressively worse over time. Ours reached the point where we could not connect the mains water as the leakage was so severe. Solution - we got a 1 and 1/16^th inch American threaded brass connector (funnily enough, our local Avan agent had them in stock - maybe they knew all along the plastic connecters were garbage !) - no more leaks - problem solved. I don't know why Avan simply don't fit the proper brass ones direct from the factory - for the sake of a couple of dollars, they are causing Avan owners a problem, which generally only rears its ugly head after the van warranty runs out !!!

2 - At Kingscliff North we had a severe water leak under the HW Unit - unknown to us, Avan had mounted the hot water unit with the inlet/outlet elbows resting directly on the van floor - over the last several years, the shock effects of the water heater 'bouncing' over less than perfect bitumen roads, caused the water inlet elbow to crack, and as soon as mains water pressure was applied, we had a serious leak inside the van. Unfortunately we discovered this on the first day of our two-week trip - the nearest repairer was too far away and too costly, so we persevered with minimal water connection by turning the water on and off each time we wanted to use it, until we got home. Our local independent service Contractor, Sam, was able to replace both cracked elbows, and he then re-mounted the water heater about 50mm higher, so the elbows could never hit the floor and crack again.

pjwilco · Veteran Member

ShortNorth wrote:
We've had two different types of water leaks in our Aliner
1 - There is one fault with all Avans - when built Avan only fit plastic hose connectors to the mains water inlet - the problem is the plastic connector is Australian metric and the brass inlet it is screwed into is American imperial thread - Avan overcome the difference by wrapping heaps of white plumbers tape around the plastic thread. The problem is that over time the mains water pressure will find 'paths' through the white tape and then your water connection starts leaking, getting progressively worse over time. Ours reached the point where we could not connect the mains water as the leakage was so severe. Solution - we got a 1 and 1/16^th inch American threaded brass connector (funnily enough, our local Avan agent had them in stock - maybe they knew all along the plastic connecters were garbage !) - no more leaks - problem solved. I don't know why Avan simply don't fit the proper brass ones direct from the factory - for the sake of a couple of dollars, they are causing Avan owners a problem, which generally only rears its ugly head after the van warranty runs out !!!
2 - At Kingscliff North we had a severe water leak under the HW Unit - unknown to us, Avan had mounted the hot water unit with the inlet/outlet elbows resting directly on the van floor - over the last several years, the shock effects of the water heater 'bouncing' over less than perfect bitumen roads, caused the water inlet elbow to crack, and as soon as mains water pressure was applied, we had a serious leak inside the van. Unfortunately we discovered this on the first day of our two-week trip - the nearest repairer was too far away and too costly, so we persevered with minimal water connection by turning the water on and off each time we wanted to use it, until we got home. Our local independent service Contractor, Sam, was able to replace both cracked elbows, and he then re-mounted the water heater about 50mm higher, so the elbows could never hit the floor and crack again.

Hi

I havent used mains pressure water yet.

I dont have a hot water system in my Aliner either.

I have bought a separate external stand alone gas HWS that i havent used yet.

However i have taken a screenshot of these replies for further reference.

Thanks for taking time to reply.

Cheers

Pamela

pjwilco · Veteran Member

hako wrote:
G'Day Pamela, we are on our 3rd mixer tap in our Avan Cruiser - 2 factory plastic non repairables leaked and leaked (@$70 ea) and now we have a brass unit which seems to be OK.
Our leaks were different to yours as our taps just dribbled all the time but I'll remember your tip if it ever leaks into the cupboard below.

Regards

Hi

Can you please give more information about which brass unit you bought as the replacement tap for your Cruiser?

Thanks

Pamela

hako · Guru

G'Day Pamela, this is the tap in the link below. The first 2 which were Dometic Cramer I think - both leaked and the plastic body split.
How did your Dad go building the lifter?

https://www.caravansplus.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=13719

Regards