This has happened to me at some stage or another on every one of the  Jurgens caravans I have owned with an onboard water tank. You think you've got just enough for one more load of dishes - then gurgle, gurgle.

What is the quickest way to get rid of that airlock? The latest van is an Exclusive Deluxe. Water system is no doubt exactly the same as the Exclusive GS.

This may sound unorthodox but on the odd occasion that has happened on our exclusive i open the tap [ to switch the pump on ] in the kitchen sink an and suck the water through by mouth, it works quickly every time.

Robby, my early experiences were that the non-return valve had a tiny piece of paper in it an it did not close off.

We had this on our very first trial outing, phoned dealer and was told to bleed pump .... which worked but a big schlep to crawl under the van...

Per the Forum discussions, I added a T with a run of to waste with a ball valve. So on the rare occasion that we have a air block I open the tap, bleed off some water, and hey presto the pump is back in action. This also serves as a means of emptying the water tank.

Sucking on taps has not worked for me.

RichardJ wrote:

Robby, my early experiences were that the non-return valve had a tiny piece of paper in it an it did not close off.

We had this on our very first trial outing, phoned dealer and was told to bleed pump .... which worked but a big schlep to crawl under the van...

Per the Forum discussions, I added a T with a run of to waste with a ball valve. So on the rare occasion that we have a air block I open the tap, bleed off some water, and hey presto the pump is back in action. This also serves as a means of emptying the water tank.

Sucking on taps has not worked for me.

I did the same thing on the Classique we had. Run off with ball valve also serves to drain the tank.

Main reason why I drained the tank after a short camping trip was that the borehole water of some resorts have a lot of chalk in them.  This in turn clog up inside the geyser.  Its just to minimize the use of that type of water.

Same topic, different problem ..... apologies for hacking your post!

My Sprite SW has 2 taps - one inside for the little wash basin, the other for the dishes outside. When the latter is opened, the one inside also starts dripping, which can be a problem if the spout is not turned down! I have checked but cannot really see the cause for this, an a one-way valve obviously won't work. The inside tap does not leak when closed.

Any suggestions?

Obviously the inside one cannot drip if it does close fully, so it certainly does not.  The fact that the leak does not (I presume) activate the pump, is due to the fact that the very small flow through is not enough to do this.  So repair or replace the inside tap, or perhaps just live with the problem- it is much less of a hassle.

Correction: The pump does not activate because the tap is not turned on which does not complete the electric circuit and therefore the pup does not start due to the small leak.  I was thinking of a system where there is always pressure in the system and the pump activates when the pressure drops, which will probably not be the case in your setup.

Each tap has two functions.

1.  Is to first activate the pump through the micro switch.

2.  And then like normal the more you open the tap the more the water comes out.

So if the inside tap is closed and you open the outside tap the pump is then switched on and there is pressure in he system.  If the inside tap leaks when there is pressure in the system it actually means the tap spintle/ axis is not fully closed.  So all thought the tap knob has de-activated the micro switch the tap axis must still turn some more.

You can fix this by doing the following:

• First disconnect battery and mains.
• Open the leaking tap about 1/8th of a turn.
• Use a marker and mark the position of the tap knob in relation to the tap body.
• Pull off the tap knob
• You will see that the center has splines that fit over the splines of the Tap axis
• Turn the knop so that the mark on the knob is one spline more open than the mark on the tap body.
• Press the tap knob over the tap axis again
• Close the tap fully.  Ensure that you hear the lick sound of the micro switch being pressed.

Connect the battery and test.  You will have to adjust the splines until you find the mid way for water stopped and micro switch activated.

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER pull the tap knob off while the tap is fully closed and the tap knob is pressing against the micro switch.  Chances are 99% that you will damage the micro switch.

Hope the info helps

• e

Daai air lock probleem.. dit nog nooit gehad nie, maar dink die beter oplossing vir dit is; hermonteer jou pomp dieselfte hoogte as die laagste vlak van jou water tenk en herlokeer  dit na die drain plug sodat daar altyd gravity druk aan die suigkant van die pomp is.  

Ek dink dit klink na n lekasie iewers. Dit kan wees dat daar lug ingesuig word op die toevoer-pyp.

@Leon (Luhman) ........ thanks, I will certainly try the positioning of the tap. Never thought of that but, it does make sense. Will give feedback as soon as I get to "Awol" again. 

Thanks again, and Fred - appreciate your feedback as well!!

Thanks everyone for your advice and suggestions. I fixed the problem permanently by fitting a new Sureflow high pressure pump with automatic failsafe. ie. The moment the pump detects no water, it shuts itself off, therefore its always primed and ready to go. The difference in the van's water system is much better now. The cost was R2350 fitted.

Robby wrote:

Thanks everyone for your advice and suggestions. I fixed the problem permanently by fitting a new Sureflow high pressure pump with automatic failsafe. ie. The moment the pump detects no water, it shuts itself off, therefore its always primed and ready to go. The difference in the van's water system is much better now. The cost was R2350 fitted.

That was probably the way to go.  Hope that you made use of a relay in the wiring.  Because the Sureflow pump use higher amps than that of the original pump and its not long then you will see that the micro switches in the tap fails as the contacts burn during during activation and stopping of the pump.

Just change the wiring that the micro switches activate a relay, which in turn supply power to the pump.

The Shurflo also has a Stainless Steel filter on the inlet so no dirt gets into your geyser and water system. Fitting one was the end of my water pump problems on my Exclusive. It was fitted some 3 years ago and has been used almost permanently as we camp almost permanently. We also do everything water related in the caravan. Even the dishes get washed in the caravan.

Nico wrote:

@Leon (Luhman) ........ thanks, I will certainly try the positioning of the tap. Never thought of that but, it does make sense. Will give feedback as soon as I get to "Awol" again. 

Thanks again, and Fred - appreciate your feedback as well!!

Nico.  Did you resolve the problem on the leaking tap in the van?

Nico, hope you have solved your leaking tap problem.