Truma frost control valve leaking

[Puddleduck]

And making a right mess as the water is tracking along the gas pipe back into the galley area.

Looking at the picture it is the right hand side connector that is leaking. It's very tight to get into as the boiler is in the way (of course). Anyone any ideas about how to fix it?

We are in Ayrshire at the moment living in the van whilst we do odds and ends for our daughter.

 

[daveandsan]

If you take that circlip out, the part with the pipes attached will come off.
You may be able to see what is causing the leak with it off.

 

[WillH]

May just be a bit of scale.

 

[Puddleduck]

If you take that circlip out, the part with the pipes attached will come off.
You may be able to see what is causing the leak with it off.

Will give that a try. We didn't want to force anything in case we broke it - especially being away from home.

May just be a bit of scale.

With a bit of luck

Thanks a lot for the ideas

 

[kelpie]

Sometimes a slight pull out and push back in reseats the connection.
John

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[daveandsan]

@Puddleduck
http://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/truma-frost-drain-valve-fixed.105845/
There are some photos on here when I stripped our valve down.

 

[irnbru]

Hope you get it fixed Helen. X

 

[Puddleduck]

Got the clip out but it is held on by a couple of screws in addition to the clip. We can get to one of the screws but not the other so will leave it until we get home where we have more tools including a flexi-driver.

 

[Puddleduck]

Sometimes a slight pull out and push back in reseats the connection.
John

Yes, but not enough space to pull it out

 

[kelpie]

Yes, but not enough space to pull it out

Maybe pull out wrong words , it's a slight very slight pull as if you're disconnecting. There are tooth like protrusions inside the "female" connector where "male" pipe goes in. If they don't catch properly the pipe can work loose enough to leak.
Sorry if it sounds like school sex education lessons. Didn't have them when I went to school, made finding out a bit more interesting in my humble opinion. Ah the memories, sorry history recall.
John

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[Puddleduck]

Maybe pull out wrong words , it's a slight very slight pull as if you're disconnecting. There are tooth like protrusions inside the "female" connector where "male" pipe goes in. If they don't catch properly the pipe can work loose enough to leak.
Sorry if it sounds like school sex education lessons. Didn't have them when I went to school, made finding out a bit more interesting in my humble opinion. Ah the memories, sorry history recall.
John

It's so tight I can't even get my hand in to get to the connector so I think we (well he) will need to take the assembly out and strip then remake the connections.

Sex Ed at my school was a class taught by the Nun who taught science. We studied the rabbit and once the reproductive organs and cycle of the rabbit had been studied she said "As it is in the rabbit so it is in humans. Please do not experiment."

 

[kelpie]

Sex Ed at my school was a class taught by the Nun who taught science

Some explosive evenings to be had there then.
I think they choose the person who gets least embarrassed by the situation. Worse when they call it "birds and the bees", have you ever seen a bird and a bee that are friendly with each other?
Hope you get the leak solved .
John

 

[Puddleduck]

Still haven't got the leak sorted so will phone Mill Garage in the morning. At least it's only on the pumped side so if the pump isn't used it doesn't leak. As we are home all the water is drained down anyway.

It's just too tight to get into and we are frightened of breaking something.

 

[lorger]

We had a slight leak in one of our old vans, I took the valve off and gave it a god clean and that fixed the issue so hopefully when your home it will be an easy fix

 

[Puddleduck]

We are home and if we could get it to bits it should be an easy fix

The joint that is leaking goes into another (elbow) joint which is hard up beside the boiler. There is probably only a half inch of exposed pipe between the two junctions.

We can take the circlip out but there is no room to take out the blue bit (if that makes sense), the drain leg goes out through the floor right under the valve. I have no idea how they managed to fit it unless it was put in as one piece with the boiler and before the rest of the back cabinetry was installed.

Very frustrating as it should be a quick and easy fix. I suspect that the pipe between the valve and the elbow isn't seated correctly.

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[Ridgeway]

If the picture above is accurate then it has a speed fit type fitting rather than the hosetail in the linked picture from daveandsan, is that correct ?

If yes then i assume the pipe to be PVC so it's rigid enough to work with the speedfit. Likely it just need taking out and then pushing fully back in to seal it although speedfit and flexi pipes aren't a great combination, the hosetail would be better.

 

[Puddleduck]

If the picture above is accurate then it has a speed fit type fitting rather than the hosetail in the linked picture from daveandsan, is that correct ?

If yes then i assume the pipe to be PVC so it's rigid enough to work with the speedfit. Likely it just need taking out and then pushing fully back in to seal it although speedfit and flexi pipes aren't a great combination, the hosetail would be better.

Yes, it is the speed fit type.

It's too tightly fitted into the box to allow me to get in to take it out!!! I'll take a photo tomorrow so you will be able to see.

It does need taking out, cleaning and putting back in properly but there just isn't enough room to let me do that.

 

[Roger20]

If the connectors are anything like the pictures below the metal insert stops the pipe pulling out of the connection. Pressing down on the white part causes is to click inward and release its grip.

 

[Puddleduck]

If the connectors are anything like the pictures below the metal insert stops the pipe pulling out of the connection. Pressing down on the white part causes is to click inward and release its grip.
View attachment 265808 View attachment 265809

Can't get in to press on the stop. There isn't enough room. I got a tool which is supposed to do it and can't get enough pressure on it when it is in place.

 

[mitzimad]

you have to push the black collar in at the same time as you pull the pipe out

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[Puddleduck]

The white T junction is the bit that comes from the dump valve.

Where the blue elbow and the white connector meet is where it is leaking. There is a paler blue collar in the white connector but there is no room to get into the collar and it appears that the elbow is actually a stem elbow. Even if I could get in to pull the collar back there is no room to pull the stem out. You can see in the photos how little space there is between the blue elbow and the boiler body.

Ignore the clear junk stuff which is LSX and Martin put on as a temporary fix.

The nice people at Mill Garage in Duns said they will have a look at it on Friday but they really busy so it doubtful they can do anything this side of Christmas but they will advise and help if they can.

 

[Puddleduck]

you have to push the black collar in at the same time as you pull the pipe out

Yes, I know that but can't get it to:

a) push the collar back or
b) pull the stem elbow out of the joint

as there isn't enough room. I think it was put in as one unit along with the boiler.

Ideally I would take the circlip off and take the pipe assembly out so I had loads of space to clean and reset / resite everything. BUT the draining part of the valve goes out through the floor and I don't want to break anything by forcing it. You can probably see how tight it all is.

Martin thought he would take the whole dump valve out but he can't get to the screw on the dump valve lug between the dump valve and the boiler.

If we could get access the actual fix is straight forward

We used JG pushfit a lot on this house so are well aware of how they go together and come apart. That is not the issue, the access is.

 

[Puddleduck]

Can't get in to press on the stop. There isn't enough room. I got a tool which is supposed to do it and can't get enough pressure on it when it is in place.

Actually even if I could get in that wouldn't help as the elbow is a stem elbow and there is no room to pull it out (titter titter ye not).

 

[daveandsan]

Actually even if I could get in that wouldn't help as the elbow is a stem elbow and there is no room to pull it out (titter titter ye not).

Can you get to the screws with a flexi screwdriver that hold the valve down. If you can do that it may give some room to play with, don’t worry about the drain pipe, it was just a push fit on mine.

 

[tonyidle]

Remove floor to boiler screws & lift the boiler an inch or so?

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[Puddleduck]

Can you get to the screws with a flexi screwdriver that hold the valve down. If you can do that it may give some room to play with, don’t worry about the drain pipe, it was just a push fit on mine.

We can't get to the second screw even with a very fine flexi-driver (which is why we left it until we got home thinking that the smallest flexi we have would get it there). There just isn't enough space

We even bought a cheap long screwdriver from poundland and bent the head over hoping that it would reach in but no luck with that either.

Remove floor to boiler screws & lift the boiler an inch or so?

Can't get to them, actually I can't even see them or feel them

The boiler sits on the floor in front of the garage. Then above the boiler (actually inside the van) is a drawer unit with a wardrobe above it and the fridge freezer beside it. I will need to lift out the drawer and look again but I am pretty certain that there is a solid base to this unit and no easy way to get under it - the unit is built onto the base - which may even form the base of the fridge freezer unit as well.

 

[Puddleduck]

Martin is really tired and upset about it so I don't want to push things as it has been a pretty awful six weeks. I don't want to make him any more stressed and he has already had a bit of a go at me when I took the photos this morning - which isn't like him as he usually asks me to see if I have any more or better ideas.

 

[daveandsan]

Martin is really tired and upset about it so I don't want to push things as it has been a pretty awful six weeks. I don't want to make him any more stressed and he has already had a bit of a go at me when I took the photos this morning - which isn't like him as he usually asks me to see if I have any more or better ideas.

Yes, I know how he feels. Our valve was in an awkward position and you needed to be an contortionist to remove it.
They just fit these components and then build round them with no thought as to how you will remove then when they go wrong.
Hope you get it sorted.

 

[Puddleduck]

The van has been to the wonderful people at Mill Garage

Hopefully the leak is now no more as Mill Garage had the special tools to get into tight spaces and were able to take the whole dump valve mechanism off and re-position it. We now have much easier access to the pipework. They also said that there might be damage to the valve mechanism because it had not been installed correctly and in moving it there might have been internal damage (we knew that was a possibility but they also warned us before they moved it).

They confirmed my thought that it was a manufacturing error and have given us a report to that effect so I can now write to Adria to alert them. I don't expect any financial recompense from Adria or the dealer who I will copy into the correspondence.

It took the experts with the correct tools an hour to strip it out and reinstall, £54 incl VAT and report

 

[Puddleduck]

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