Fresh water tank leaked from cap. New owners be aware.

[Ocean Spirit]

View attachment 31439 Well
Very poor start !!!
First time I have filled with water and went back in doors to leave Milton liquid flushing.
CAme back out to transfer from fresh tank to grey tank and found a stream of water inside the cupboard. Could be upto half a tank but so far other than slightly wet bottom shelves no sign of water?
Where does it go?
New owners check this is tight.... thanks VW!
EDIT: Sorry Pic is upside down better one below

 

[Ocean Spirit]

Actually now I’ve stopped swearing
Isn’t that the grey water tank?

 

[calikev]

Yes that is the grey watertank

 

[Hotel California]

Is that pic upside down ?
Looks like that inspection lid is leaking , rubber seal wrong,...?
Empty it and check or go to your dealer ....but watch out the might remove the kitchen unit ...

 

[andyinluton]

Isn't all that water at a higher level than the top of the tank?

Im trying to work out the orientation of the photo.

If so probably the hose between the filling point & tank not correctly secured?

 

[Ocean Spirit]

Yes somehow pic is upside down.....not having a great time here
I cured the leak, it just was loose!
But it’s never been touched by me and didn’t even appreciate it was there. Poor job by VW or dealer however I’m most concerned about where the water will have gone to.
Since my first post I have worked out that it would have only been running while I was running the tap. Also to get to the level you see behind the hatch is only a few minutes and the water kept rising so my guess now is that possibly anywhere between cupful and 1.5 litres before I found it.
Still interested if anyone knows it’s path?

 

[Hotel California]

The water will probally be under the cupbord , open that big round plastic cap in the bottom (in your picture it's above) and check things out . There are electric wires underneeth....

 

[westfalia]

Whenever i want to flush my water tank through, i don´t pump it all out
through the tap and into the waste tank.
I pump a bit through and then let the rest drain directly from the fresh water tank.

 

[Ocean Spirit]

OK now the photo is the right way up !!! I took off the inspection hatch in the FLOOR and got an inspectioon mirror and torch into the hole.
I was on a slight incline so obeying the laws of gravity the front of the van (uphill) was dry. Down hill I was surprised to see only droplets and I could see down to the division where the fridge starts. I was also able to absorb the droplets with kitchen roll wrapped around the mirror.
So, knowing that I must have lost more than that I tried numerous times to get kitchen roll down behind the aperture that sits just behind the waste tank drain valve. It got slightly wet once (I think the start of the wheel arch must be there somewhere.
I couldn't see any access under the fridge and clearly the bottom of the wardrobe is above the metal floor of the van. So that was as far as I could reach. I removed the panel for the leisure battery and gained nothing as it sits similar to the bottom of the wardrobe.
After an hour or so, there was about the volume of a tea spoon when I lifted the tail gate coming from under the unit at the rear edge. Once I mopped this up no more came out. I've left kitchen roll in the back as I'm still parked on the incline.
I'm guessing that I haven't got al the water l and don't know what to expect when I move the van and drive to work in the morning. That said, the leak path must be narrow at this parking angle or it would have exposed its self in more places by now so really hoping that whats left is negligable.

 

[andyinluton]

I'd leave the floor inspection hatch open along with the cupboard doors & then leave the parking heater on full pelt overnight to dry it out.

 

[motacyclist]

I don’t think that would be on the dealer’s pdi checklist, the fault is down to VW.

As per Andy’s suggestion leave it open and it should dry. There should be no smell as the water had disinfectant in; hopefully there is no wiring or circuitry under there to get damaged.

If you have a dehumidifier and mains available put it in the van. I did this in a BMW I once had which kindly wound all the windows down on its own; it rained overnight and it was soaked inside. The dehumidifier dried it completely in a few hours.

Must remember to check mine when I fill the tank!

Good luck.

 

[andyinluton]

Did you read the hazard sheet that came with the Milton? I know getting it in contact with stainless steel is a strict no-no (look on the motorhome forums for users that have destroyed the heat exchangers in the water heaters using it) - I just hope everything under the sink has a decent coat of paint on it!

SECTION 10: STABILITY AND REACTIVITY

10.1. Reactivity

Mixture which by chemical action can corrode and even destroy metals. Contact with acids liberates toxic gas (chlorine).

10.3. Possibility of hazardous reactions

Decomposition with evolution of oxygen is accelerated by light and heat and also by contact with many metals, particularly copper, nickel, iron and “monel”.

 

[motacyclist]

Hmm ... might be as well to get the dealer to check it so it's on record if there are any future problems.

 

[WelshGas]

The PDI does NOT include anything to do with the Habitation area/equipment etc:.

 

[Ocean Spirit]

Thanks for the responses.
I drove to work and back today 44 mile round trip only to mop up another table spoon full so I'm becoming more confident with every step that I got lucky and spotted the leak almost immediately.
I opened the drain valve on the grey water tank and it took just 8 seconds to get from the level seen in the picture (in the previous posts) to go out of sight. So I then collected 8 seconds worth from the tap into the plastic bowl on my own theory that the tap should run as fast as the drain (guessing) and it wasn't an awful lot. But the anomoly is how much do you turn the tap on for flow rate??
I also emailed Milton to tell them about the dosage I used in with the water but I don't really think they totally understood. Instead they angled that the spillage was concentrated liquid and still said if it was rinsed with water it was unlikely to damage the metal. So, the fact that the floor is painted, the milton was diluted and cleaned up quickly I feel ok.
here is what it looks like under that inspection hatch in the cupboard floor.

 

[Hannick]

Soon after we bought our van we noticed we had a leaky circular door hatch into the waste water tank and so water was leaking into the van. It transpired the circular hatch had previously been tightened up to the point the thread cracked away from the hatch itself and so was broken. A trip to the dealer and a new hatch purchased.

Beware tightening it too much!