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Date:         Tue, 8 Aug 2000 03:35:21 EDT
Reply-To:     Ssittservl@aol.com
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         S Sittservl <Ssittservl@aol.com>
Subject:      Re: Fridge matters
Comments: To: aphovasse@home.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

> From: aphovasse@home.com (Alain Pierre Hovasse) > > Here's my two bits on the westy fridge, some of which I've just now > figured out: > > The instructions on mine are a bit poor and unclear. It took me a while to > figure out, for example, that lever E, the furthest one on the right when > you open the fridge, should be in a vertical, or upright position. The VW > manual says it should be ON, and the Domestic instructions from the > manufacturer, say it should be at the "I" setting. The only marking I have > on mine are at the 3 o'clock setting with an "o" next to a flame icon, which > would indicate that the knob should be horizontal (o for on?) for the gas to > flow. All the manual illustrations have this knob lying horizontal. Well, > after fitzing around for a while today. I realized in fact on my fridge, > this knob should be in the vertical position for the gas to flow.

This is supposed to be some sort of international on/off code, with "one" for "on" and "zero" for "off". The problem with such codes is that the manufacturers seldom bother to tell anyone what their "intuitively obvious" symbols are supposed to mean, and as often as not they're either indecipherable or counter-intuitive. The Vanagon climate controls are another good example, as are European road signs. In the particular case of the fridge, the situation is complicated by the fact that the "one" above the dial tends to be covered by the rubber molding around the door opening, leaving you with a two-position dial with one marking - a circle with a flame. Is it "O" for "on"? "O" for "Off"? "Zero" for "Off"? Could the German word for "propane" perhaps start with "O"? "Circle" for "Completed circuit, thus on" (as used on some electrical stuff)? "Flame" for "Flame on"? "Circle and flame" for "Prepare the Sacred Fire in the Magic Circle and call upon the Gods of Propane to Bless your Combustion Chamber?" I would have preferred simply having actual words in just about ANY language, since that's at least decipherable with a translation dictionary. Since I'm a computer programmer, the 1/0 thing made sense to me (and I found the "one" lurking under the molding) - but my first thought was "why are they using computer terminology on propane camping equipment?"

> A somewhat seperate question: when we drain the sink, the water not only > comes out the bottom, but also the outside "city" receptacle on the side of > the van. This is normal I guess, but how can I stop it so that the waste > water only goes out the bottom, not the side?

I suspect this is actually happening when you run the water pump (to put water into the sink), rather than when you drain water out of the sink? It's not normal. In the city inlet itself, there's a backflow-preventer valve that's supposed to keep this from happening. It's because of that valve that the manual advises that you stick a screwdriver into the city water inlet to drain the water out of the line in the winter - doing that pushes the valve open, to let the water out. It sounds like your valve isn't doing its job. Maybe it's just sticky, and you could poke it a couple of times while the water's running OUT of the inlet, and see if you can get it to re-seat. If not, you probably need to replace your city water inlet.

You probably also have a bad faucet. When it's turned either to "pump" or "off", the city water valve in the faucet should be closed, so no water should flow either direction in the city water line. Try hooking up a hose to the city water inlet, and remove the pump fuse. Does "city" water flow from the faucet when it's turned to "off" or "pump"? If so, you've got a bad faucet.

[If I'm wrong, and the water really does come out the city water inlet when you drain the sink, then your van has been perversely re-plumbed by a previous owner in such a way as to contaminate your drinking water, and your first task will be to go after this new plumbing with a fire-axe.]

To decide on a solution, first decide if you really have any need for the city water connection. In my camper, I couldn't think of any reason to use it - for the one small sink, I'm quite content just to fill the water tank as needed. If you don't need yours, you could disconnect it at the faucet and cap it off (both the now-disused line, and the now-disused faucet fitting) using parts from a plumbing or hardware store. Inexpensive and foolproof, and you never need to worry about the cheap plastic city water fitting cracking and leaking water into your walls (which is what happened to me).

If you do want to use the city water inlet, then you probably need a new inlet and/or faucet. Both are available from Bus Depot (www.busdepot.com), Go Westy (www.gowesty.com), or Euro-American (the original manufacturer, at www.deltasix.com). If you get a new inlet, be sure to get a new gasket for it, too. (The big square gasket that fits arond the whole square plastic inlet housing.)

Although my problems weren't the same as yours (I had leaks and a non-functional faucet), I replaced both my city water inlet and faucet a while back. I replaced the faucet with a Shurflo that I like much better than the original, and I capped off the city water hose under the sink, since hooking it up to the new faucet wasn't worth the extra effort.

-Steven Sittser


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