Waste Water stuck at 100% Full - Pump cutout - Any Remedies?

[deckboy]

We're in Spain. Waste Water (Grey Water) stuck at 100% Full although tank now empty, and so taps/pump have cut out. Any SIMPLE remedies/ideas?
It has happened before when something got stuck in the sensor and we half filled the tank and did some zig-zagging on quiet roads. Cleared it OK, but not this time. Access to the sensor not easy.
Not a big problem for us in our wee van, more of a nuisance. We carry our drinking water in a 5l bottle and so only use taps when washing etc. Will just need to get a second 5l bottle for that.
As I say, nuisance rather than big problem, but someone out there may have a magic remedy
Thanks.

 

[harrow]

Try putting some washing powder and water in the waste tank and have a drive around ?

 

[The laird]

Put a few litres of cheap cola in tank leave for an hour or so and drive about for a bit then dump it and try after that (4litres ?)

 

[daygoboy]

Making a few remote assumptions/guesses.......
the float sensor is switching a relay that is cutting the power to the fresh water
pump or microswitches? If you could disconnect the wires from the relay and join
the 12v power wire ends together so that the sensor switching is byepassed.
You'd then be without the full waste tank warning, which may be preferable
to having no pumped water! The relay might be more accessible than the sensor.

 

[deckboy]

Making a few remote assumptions/guesses.......
the float sensor is switching a relay that is cutting the power to the fresh water
pump or microswitches? If you could disconnect the wires from the relay and join
the 12v power wire ends together so that the sensor switching is byepassed.
You'd then be without the full waste tank warning, which may be preferable
to having no pumped water! The relay might be more accessible than the sensor.

Thanks for that.
I am not very tech minded, but understand what you are saying. I can (just) see the top of the waste tank and the wires entering what I assume is the sensor. No idea where the relay would be.
As I said, just a nuisance at the moment we'll stick with zig-zagging/sloshing, but mat come back to your remedy if it becomes a problem.
Many thanks for a clear reply.
Pete

 

[Chris356]

How does your water pump work is it micro switches in the taps if so you should be able to find the relay near the water pump

 

[Fazerloz]

Funnily it happened to mine in Spain. Are you sure it's a sensor and and not a simple float switch . Mine had just come loose and was hanging part way out of the tank. I reversed half way up a banking so I could get under the van to put it back in. Hope its something as simple.

 

[izwozral]

Same thing happened to us, ignored it and it righted itself after a couple of days, been fine since. Damn glitches.

 

[ricc]

if you can see the wires going to the tank sensor try dissconecting them, if taps and pumped water work leave the wires off. if nowt works with the sensor wires off try joining the wires together. just depends whether the sensor switch closes when full or opens when full.

 

[daygoboy]

You have of course given the tank a good kicking, that might
give a recalcitrant or float switch a wake up call!

 

[Papillon]

use caustic soda, not washing soda, and fill tank then leave over night before flushing

 

[Buster3861]

We're in Spain. Waste Water (Grey Water) stuck at 100% Full although tank now empty, and so taps/pump have cut out. Any SIMPLE remedies/ideas?
It has happened before when something got stuck in the sensor and we half filled the tank and did some zig-zagging on quiet roads. Cleared it OK, but not this time. Access to the sensor not easy.
Not a big problem for us in our wee van, more of a nuisance. We carry our drinking water in a 5l bottle and so only use taps when washing etc. Will just need to get a second 5l bottle for that.
As I say, nuisance rather than big problem, but someone out there may have a magic remedy
Thanks.

Put a few litres of cheap cola in tank leave for an hour or so and drive about for a bit then dump it and try after that (4litres ?)

hi I done the same as the laird, I put 6 large lidl cheap coke bottles in tank and drove about and it decreased the inside of tank. Dimples hope this works for you..

 

[QFour]

Well I wonder which idiot came up with that one. Trouble is with these designers is they never think anything is going to fail. If they have a sensor that shows it’s full why on earth do you need extra wiring to stop the water working when all that will happen is the sink won’t drain. Next thing you know they will have a light come on if any of the bulbs fail and then of course you need another light in case that one fails and how about a wailing siren that you cannot switch off just in case.

 

[daygoboy]

Beaten by the ingenious idiot fresh water fill system inventor incorporating a solenoid valve
and small bore exterior filler with electric pump filling or hose connection, but no practical way of
just pouring the water in from a container, which often is the only viable option available, particularly
when wilding.
What's wrong with a 40mm dia. exterior filler and pipe above the tank highest level with
an anti airlock/breather pipe connection, that has worked well for 500 years!

 

[QFour]

Beaten by the ingenious idiot fresh water fill system inventor incorporating a solenoid valve
and small bore exterior filler with electric pump filling or hose connection, but no practical way of
just pouring the water in from a container, which often is the only viable option available, particularly
when wilding.
What's wrong with a 40mm dia. exterior filler and pipe above the tank highest level with
an anti airlock/breather pipe connection, that has worked well for 500 years!

Probably same idiot that stops the water pump because the grey waste is supposedly full. I still cannot believe that they expect you to pump the water in via an external pump. We met a couple at Southdowns who needed a new pump as theirs had packed up. Makes you wonder if these designers ever use the products.

 

[daygoboy]

Probably same idiot that stops the water pump because the grey waste is supposedly full. I still cannot believe that they expect you to pump the water in via an external pump. We met a couple at Southdowns who needed a new pump as theirs had packed up. Makes you wonder if these designers ever use the products.

Sticking with the OP theme......waste water.
There's a PVC popular model where the waste tank outlet is so close to ground level it can only
be emptied into a shallow bowl, great for someone with arthritic knees, having to kneel down &
make 20 trips to the disposal point. Or just let it out overnight!!
However the vinyl decorative decals look terrific, and match the plastic wheel discs! Definitely a bit of
thoughtful design given to those features. They know what sells !!

 

[maingate]

Autotrail Coachbuilts on the Ducato chassis were as bad at one time. It was virtually impossible to connect a Wastehog under the outlet and they are very low profile.

 

[QFour]

Sticking with the OP theme......waste water.
There's a PVC popular model where the waste tank outlet is so close to ground level it can only
be emptied into a shallow bowl, great for someone with arthritic knees, having to kneel down &
make 20 trips to the disposal point. Or just let it out overnight!!
However the vinyl decorative decals look terrific, and match the plastic wheel discs! Definitely a bit of
thoughtful design given to those features. They know what sells !!

Surprised they didn’t install a pump as the only way to empty it. I do wonder at some of the so-called innovations that they come up with. Our Laika came with a 40mm drain with a handle to release the valve in a compartment under the floor. It is so simple to use. We can also connect a pipe similar to the old vacuumed cleaner pipes to the outlet and I made an adaptor to 25mm black plastic corigated pipe so we dump it down the drain on a site or into a hedge bottom.

Perhaps some of the designers should be made to live in the vans they create. They would soon come round to the KISS principle

 

[daygoboy]

Is choosing the Alko chassis option such an great asset, when the low height virtues
are compared with the negative aspects? When building on the Alko the manufacturers
tend to make a few compromises, such as being compelled to use shallow underfloor waste
tanks which don't drain efficiently or fitting F/W tanks inboard and saying this is to protect
from frost, probably the case, but possibly not.

 

[daygoboy]

Autotrail Coachbuilts on the Ducato chassis were as bad at one time. It was virtually impossible to connect a Wastehog under the outlet and they are very low profile.

All that effort just to stop you getting a look at their 'handiwork' underneath lol!