Pre birth of a camper - No laughing!

[graynomad]

€80 for them!!!!. To be fair to the stores manager, he asked me did I really want them before he rang them up.

That was good of him, a few years ago I though I should have a spare wheel bearing, I assumed < $100 and never even asked the price. It had to be ordered and when I went in to pick it up was charged over $400. I nearly died. It was a genuine Timken bearing but another brand (still well known but not as well as Timken) was more like $100, they should have warned me.

Oh well, you live and learn

 

[ianc]

Finally got the ECU remapped. I ended up pulling the ECU out, bringing it to a guy in Ballymena (NI) and he put a map on. It's made a big difference. I can now actually accelerate in 5th gear. Amazing! No idea of the impact on mpg yet. There is a bit of a saga to be resolved with the guy I initially engaged to do this remapping, so I'll hold on the details for now.


Taking the ECU out was not fun. It's on the LHS of the engine block, under some plastic covers and clearly designed to be only worked on by young children. I ended up asking my daughter to undo one of the fixing bolts. My hands just wouldn't fit. About 2 hours to remove and nearly the same to refit.

I'm happy to recommend the guy in Ballymena. Davey in TorqueTronix.

 

[ianc]

Plumbing question for the audience

I've found that the shower tray is not draining any where near quickly enough. The reason seems to be a lack of fall (<100mm) between the tank (on RHS of van) and the shower drain (on RHS of van). There's also a non return valve which is not helping. I'm thinking of fitting some sort of scavenger pump.

Does anyone have suggestions for a pump which will handle grey water and how I might trigger it?
The plumbing is a pressurised system so no micro switches easily available to hook into.

For reference - the drainage plumbing is implemented in 28mm http://www.leisurelines.net/28mm-pipe-system-108-c.asp

and the non return valve is this: http://www.leisurelines.net/1--1-12-25-38mm--valves-444-p.asp

 

[graynomad]

In my last build I didn't use an S-bend or a non-return valve, there is 1 elbow but I have never noticed any smell. So maybe just remove that valve and see how it goes.

Some check valves need quite a lot of pressure to open, they all need some.

Also there is that other "valve" that is designed for this, can't remember the name now but I'll have a search.

I think 100mm over 2.5m should be enough fall, so I would say it's the valve.

EDIT: This is it

http://www.hepvo.com/

http://www.northcoach.com.au/products/HepVo-Waterless-Trap.html

 

[sherwood]

Does anyone have suggestions for a pump which will handle grey water and how I might trigger it?
The plumbing is a pressurised system so no micro switches easily available to hook into.

I suggest you look at Chandlers as boats use waste pumps.

http://www.midlandchandlers.co.uk/C...elItemID=6c0d7ad0-aaec-41da-b5f3-f99a1c103a01



WP-054
WHALE GULPER SHOWER DRAIN PUMP
Popular diaphragm pump, will run dry without damage and sel f priming up to 3m. Multi-directional head. Up to 14 litres per minute. Dimensions: 117mm x 173mm (including hose tails) x 273mm Connections Type: 19mm hose tails Fuse Requirement: 5A
Your Price:
£94.99


Cheers.

 

[Anton2k3]

HI Ian, i fitted one of the above whale gulper pumps with a two way operation. All wired to a two way switch (on/off/on), One 'on' on a flow switch (on the cold line) so that when the shower is turned on it works, or can select manual over ride (other 'on) to turn it on and drain the tray. I also fitted flap non return valve in the drain line to that we can use shower when the van is parked with the wrong fall. To fit pump just fitted two 40mm y's to the drain either side of non return valve, then fitted rubber 40-22mm reducers to the Y pieces. Plumbed some 22mm copper into the water box area, and coupled to gulper with flexible hose. Works very well, never have to worry about falls of parking level etc.

Just noticed you are using odd size plumbing, can you re do system in standard house size to make parts easier?

http://www.screwfix.com/p/mcalpine-t28m-nrv-40mm-non-return-valve-white/61561
http://www.screwfix.com/p/floplast-equal-tees-white-40mm-pack-of-3/99915
http://www.wickes.co.uk/condense-reducer-connection-22mm/invt/160079/

Think all will be available locally from good plumbing shop. If you do go down the route of changing to 40mm, can also get tank connectors:

http://www.plumbase.com/tprod99726/section2072/polypipe-40mm-tank-connector-wws36.html

Here are some pics (not very good ones, but all i could find) of the installation.

 

[ianc]

Anton, Sherwood
Thanks for the suggestion. I just bought one of these pumps and the switch on eBay.

 

[ianc]

Now for problem number 327....

I think I mentioned on this thread before that the angle profiles used to finish the edges on my camper box have not worked out well. They've cracked in several places, are of variable thickness and are lifting. So I'm on the hunt for replacements.
Based on conversations with a few people who have well made boxes from Ormocar, I think I need 60mm x 100m x 4-5mm GRP 90 degree angle profile. Trouble is finding a supplier who will ship to me.

This is where Ormocar source http://fibrolux.com/main/grp-profiles/angles/ They are not keen on shipping to Paddyland
I've also tried the following:
http://www.engineered-composites.co.uk/pultruded-profiles
http://www.captrad.com/GRP+Grating+|+Fiberglass+Grating+|+GRP+Flooring/GRP+Profiles+-+Angle+
http://www.steponsafety.co.uk/products/frp-structural-profiles/
http://www.areco.co.uk/shop/roofedge-trims-grp.asp
http://www.duracomposites.com/dura-profile-fibreglass-structures/
http://www.jbpipeline.co.uk/composites/structuralprofiles.php
http://www.hrfibreglass.co.uk/grp-pultruded-profiles/
http://www.angliacomposites.co.uk/profiles.htm
None of the above do angles this big (~100mm) in anything less than 8-10mm thickness

This crowd have a 100mm x 75mm x 2.5mm at a good price but I'm concerned it's to light and would be brittle
http://www.rbjplastics.com/standard-profiles/glass-fibre-angles.htm
They'll also make the ideal size I need but have a minimum order of about 100m.

Anyone had success in sourcing similar in the UK or Ireland?

 

[ianc]

In my last build I didn't use an S-bend or a non-return valve, there is 1 elbow but I have never noticed any smell. So maybe just remove that valve and see how it goes.

Some check valves need quite a lot of pressure to open, they all need some.

Also there is that other "valve" that is designed for this, can't remember the name now but I'll have a search.

I think 100mm over 2.5m should be enough fall, so I would say it's the valve.

EDIT: This is it

http://www.hepvo.com/

http://www.northcoach.com.au/products/HepVo-Waterless-Trap.html

Graynomad,
I pulled the valve at your suggestion and it did improve but was still very very sensitive to how level the van was. When I looked further at the problem, even though there was a 10cm drop over the 3m distance, there were also a couple of highpoints in the pipe. :-(

So I'm going for the pump option.

 

[graynomad]

also a couple of highpoints in the pipe.

That wouldn't help

 

[nick disjunkt]

could you not use aluminium angle instead? once painted it'll be indistinguishable and with sikaflex's activator, primer and glue system it'll be plenty strong enough. If you have trouble sourcing the correct angle locally you could just get a local sheet metal fabricator to press you some from appropriate sheet.

 

[ianc]

could you not use aluminium angle instead?

Nick, I thought about using Aluminium angle as it would be much more protective. But I was concerned about the different thermal expansion characteristics between the Alu and the composite walls. Particularly given the fact that the current hand moulded GRP edges cracked in the heat.

Do you have experience of mixing the two materials on 5+m runs?

Thanks

Ian

 

[graynomad]

The two materials have been used successfully by guys here in Oz, I think the answer is to use 3-5mm of adhesive so the materials can move relative to each other without sheering the glue.

If I can find a better reference I'll post it.

 

[graynomad]

Some quotes from a my build thread on another forum

From one of the guys who has used composite panels and ali.

I did a crude calculation on differential expansion between aluminium and the panels and came up with 3.5mm of Sikaflex 252 for a 4M join. Based on 75 degrees C temperature range, from memory.

From me (I'm using fibreglass/PU foam composite panels, so that's what I means by "glass")

According to a CoE calculator I found we get the following expansions for steel, ali and fibreglass, with a 75C temp change and 4M length

steel 3.9mm
ali 7.2mm
f/glass 9mm

...

The worst case then is steel on glass (say where the base frame connects to the walls) with a slip of 2.55mm.

So what Sika thickness have people used, Peter you appear to have gone for 3.5mm but Tony seems to have used "2 or 4mm as required".

If my 2.55mm calc is right that's a heck of a lot although obviously ali is much better.

EDIT: I just had a thought, I was working on 0-75C but actually if you do the build at say 30C you have +45-30 temps which roughly halves the numbers again.

Anyway I'm no longer using ali capping on the corners, but it seems that the diff in expansion between glass and ali is about 1.8mm over 4M (if I got the numbers right ), divide that by 2 if you build at 30C and you get say 1mm of difference.

I believe Sika does have a document about sheer which I haven't yet read, but my gut feeling is about 3mm glue thickness would suitably isolate the two materials for a 4-metre length.

 

[andylod]

Ian

I have bought various mouldings and extrusions from these guys. Good on the phone and send out straight away.
http://www.commercialbodybuilding.co.uk/pdfs/JA-Aluminium.pdf
Hope this helps
Andy