14' Series Water works

jed

Active Member
May 16, 2013
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Bing - another question! I have now been told that the toilet must have water in the rear tank to flush and cannot use water from a hose connection or the front tank. What about the HWS. Does it only use water from the front tank, or does it use it from the tank or tanks that I select? Will a hose connection service the HWS? Thanks

Hi beecee we have the same van as yours and it's only the toilet that runs off the tanks ,the hot water works from the hose connection . The ball weight on our van is close to 200 which is close to the max on my tow vec. so I keep the front tank empty so I'm not a 100% sure if the toilet run off the back tank only ,I would be surprised if it only flushed with back tank only ,when connected to mains water we shut the pump off until we need the loo turn it on flush then turn it off again works for us .How good is the 14.44.5 :)
 

jeff

Well-Known Member
Mar 4, 2013
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200km south of Perth
In our 14.44 Expanda with battery installed, if you plug the hose in evrything works from mains pressure except the toilet flush. If we select front or rear tank, it empties the one selected, you then have to select the other tank. With our van the front filling hole fills the back tank, back filling hole fills the front tank.
 

beecee

Member
Feb 10, 2013
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Canberra
Thanks guys, I think I am now starting to understand. I'm still a little bemused why Jayco couldn't just have a piece of paper for each van built that says: this is how the water works in this van, this is how the power works, gas works etc. A quick verbal on delivery day when so much else is going on, just isn't enough in my view.

It will be easy to find out which filling hole fills which tank. I drained the front tank today (and left the rear full) and I still have a ball weight of 200kg. My plate says the maximum ball loading is 180kg. Unless I leave the gas bottles or the spare wheel at home; I'm not sure what I can do. I think that 180kg is just unrealistic. Emptying the front water tank made a bit of difference - not as much as I expected, but some difference. If I empty the rear tank it will actually increase the ball loading. I'm getting a warranty repair on the hose inlet this week so should be sweet for January. Thanks for the all the help on this great forum - and yes I agree that the 14.44.5 is just fantastic for 2 people. Its got everything.
 

Marv_mart

Well-Known Member
Jan 3, 2014
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Adelaide
Bing - another question! I have now been told that the toilet must have water in the rear tank to flush and cannot use water from a hose connection or the front tank. What about the HWS. Does it only use water from the front tank, or does it use it from the tank or tanks that I select? Will a hose connection service the HWS? Thanks
I would like to know the answer to this as well. Have just picked up my new 14.44-5 OB
 

chartrock

Forum Patriarch
Staff member
Sep 26, 2010
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Gold Coast Hinterland
My 14-44-3 has the Thetford toilet which has a separate tank for flushing and does not use the main tanks or mains supply. The filler is located above the holding tank in the cabinet accessed from the outside.
 
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beecee

Member
Feb 10, 2013
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Canberra
My understanding, for my 2012 14.44.5 is that when connected, mains water does everything except flush the toilet which needs tank water to do this.
 

DaveS

Active Member
Jan 10, 2014
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Hi
I'll try to answer a few questions here .....
if you have a ensuite you have a pump, otherwise it's a option
depending on toilet model, some draw from their own built in tank, some from main tank "they" should be setup in this case to start the pump when you flush (no way i can guarantee that, but thats what supposed to happen)
if you have twin tanks you will have a selector valve, new models have a white arrow on them, point this down to draw from both or left and right to pull from individual tanks pointing up you suck air .......
tank fillers, level gauges, selector switch seem to never match the layout, depends on whats easy in the factory, hard to find 2 vans the same ...... for this reason we don't supply written instructions on handover for each van as 9 times out of 10 it's wrong, instead the handover guys are supposed to check over the van first and identify what does what .... seems it works for us. and often we get vans back at first service asking to change fills to match tanks and level gauges etc, these we "usually" do as warranty claims with no cost to customer

playing with the tempering valve can void your warranty on that part of the system, we aren't allowed to adjust them ..... gotta be a plumber for some insane reason ........

basic van setup is water fillers to fill tanks, pump sucks from these into main pressure lines using a selector valve to select tank(s)
mains fitting for site water, connects to pressure side of pump (somewhere) so it supplies everything pump does
main inlet has a non return valve to stop pump squirting water out here, also has a pressure reducing valve otherwise a overzealous davey pump can turn your van into a expensive water sprinkler after blowing all the fittings off .....
Tempering valve mixes hot with cold to extend the heated water supply past the HWS capacity of about 20 litres.
Remember these are designed (with high temp cutout switches) to supply water that won't burn you, if you want hotter water to do the dishes boil the kettle, don't stuff with the temp valve.

Handy hint .... don't poke anything in the inlet or outlet of your HWS trying to clean them, they have a internal elbow to send cold water to bottom and hot to suck out of the very top, knocking these elbows off reduces your hot water capacity by HALF! as the water mixes without layering. Even non standard length Sacrificial anodes will knock the bottom elbow off.
 
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richie/ karen

New Member
Jan 27, 2014
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My 14-44-3 has the Thetford toilet which has a separate tank for flushing and does not use the main tanks or mains supply. The filler is located above the holding tank in the cabinet accessed from the outside.
Hi Chartrock we must almost be neighbours,im in clear view Nerang and same van,we just got back from camping on main beach nth straddie for ten days we had some water tank issues,not sure if they are filled proper etc air probs ?? same as a lot of other owners are experiencing on here,we love it though , be cool to catch up and I can pic yr brains on diff issues,regards Richie.
 

chartrock

Forum Patriarch
Staff member
Sep 26, 2010
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Gold Coast Hinterland
Hi Chartrock we must almost be neighbours,im in clear view Nerang and same van,we just got back from camping on main beach nth straddie for ten days we had some water tank issues,not sure if they are filled proper etc air probs ?? same as a lot of other owners are experiencing on here,we love it though , be cool to catch up and I can pic yr brains on diff issues,regards Richie.
G'day Richie, I know the Clear View and you're right, we are nearly neighbours. That post of mine is just 12 months old and just a week ago we sold our 14'. But it would be good to meet up and I'd be happy to help any way I can. I'll send a PM with contact info.