I need to start work on the sink in my van. I have removed the tap as you can see and the switch was already missing so now I need to find a neat way of fitting a tap/switch and cover the holes that are there. Anybody done this already ? Also, the waste pipe is missing. Do I need a u bend in there ? Is it the same fitting as normal household waste pipes ? Comments, ideas, pics etc are all welcomed.
I may have a tap, I think the waste is the same as household stuff, but there are some for sale complete on ebay
Forgot to post the pictures, doh ! Thanks Grazzer. Had a look but could not find them. Cheers Davidoft. I'll have looksee on ebay. What condition is your tap ? Any pics at all. I may be interested as I do like to keep to original where I can (cost permitting) but if it is in similar condition to my own then I would pass. If you could let me know and what you have in mind price wise as well.
Thanks Grazzer. I had seen these already but I need the Berlin version which is £68 :-0 Also out of stock.
Hi Lofty. I've got a complete sink/hob with the whole waste pipe that I've been trying to sell for a while - it's at the top of this thread: http://thelatebay.com/index.php?threads/lots-of-late-bay-westfalia-parts.21246/ Not sure whether any of it might be of use to you. Would be willing to sell the waste pipe separately, but really want to sell the sink/hob as a whole rather than pulling bits off. Ignore the price on there - would happily accept £40+postage for the complete sink/hob/waste. Even if you aren't interested in any of it then there is a picture of the waste pipe in that thread that might help as a reference for you - am happy to take more photos should you need them. It's quite a complicated waste pipe as it also goes to the side vent - can't see why a simple U bend and straight down pipe would be OK! Nick...
Thanks Nick, the waste pic helps alot. I'm hopefully only looking for a solution to the tap but I am going to test the hob at the weekend so if it is not working then I would be interested in the whole lot. You did mention the tap leaks a bit. Whereabouts ? Is it where the spout comes out of the body ? Out of interest. What did you end up doing if you took this out of your van ? Thanks
Not totally sure where the tap is leaking. Pretty much the first thing I did when I got my van was strip the kitchen unit out but I tried it once first and there was just a little dribble coming out from around the tap base. The tap wasn't screwed on tightly and so that may have been it, but didn't investigate further as had already decided I wasn't going to be reusing it - might have a look at it later out of interest and so I can give more details to anyone who might be wanting to purchase it. As for the reason why I'm not using it and what I've done (or am in the process of doing!) instead... We've three kids and so I needed to turn the Berlin 3/4 width seat in to a full width on. This meant that I had to lose the original Berlin fridge from down the side of the seat. We definitely wanted a fridge and so I decided to rework the existing kitchen unit so that I could fit a modern compressor fridge in it. The spare wheel has gone on the front of the van in order to maximise space in kitchen unit. Anyway, I decided I also wanted to fit a Propex heater in to the base of the kitchen unit and upon investigation the standard Berlin hob requires a different gas pressure to the Propex heater and so instead of trying to come up with ways of having multiple regulators for the different pressures I opted to just replace the Berlin hob/sink with a new Smev unit. I also wanted to lose the gas tank from under the van so that I could fit the biggest underslung water container there instead, so instead I have opted for a Campingaz bottle inside. Changing the hob also meant it would all work better with the pressure from a standard Campingaz regulator. The new Smev hob I've got is a very similar design to the original Berlin one - here is a work in progress picture of it stood in place: And the tap I've gone for is one like this. It is microswitched for the pump and it will fit in the back left corner of the sink/hob: Regarding drainage for the sink, I'm not going to do anything clever at all - I'm literally going to have a 3/4" pipe going straight out the bottom of the van where when parked up I will put a waste tank for collecting any drained water. I'm not even going to have a u-bend of any kind. I had the same set up on our previous camper (T4 conversion) and it worked fine and we never had any smells coming up through the plug hole because of having no u-bend. I found that we were having to empty the waste container far too often for it to build up smells - the kids aren't very good at keeping tap use to a minimum! So my final set up is going to be - full width seat, same size but reworked kitchen unit (with a compressor fridge on the right and a propex in the bottom of the cupboard on the left - see following work in progress picture), a small cupboard going along the side between the seat and the kitchen unit to hold the Campingaz bottle, and a 50 litre underslung fresh water tank where the gas bottle used to be. Hope that is of some help! Nick...
Put the tap back as wire up the pump to a nice silver flick switch. Will cost you about £3 http://bit.ly/WH5dxK
Cheers Birdy. Looking back I wasn't really clear in my description on why I had an issue with the tap. The spout is really floppy and I am pretty sure when I plumb it, water is going to spurt out from around the spout where it comes out of the tap body. I should be getting some hose and a pump tonight so I will give it a go but I'd be surprised if it is OK. So looking at putting another tap on, I thought I would look at a more modern 'fold down' type with the switch built into the knob.
the berlin hob won't work of campingaz lofty it's set for propane. campinggaz is butane i tried it when i first got mine and it caused funny large orange flames, i'm now running both the original berlin cooker AND the propex off the same bottle/regulator - calor gas propane 3.9kg and it's all good - the vent on the side isn't a vent as much as an overflow incase you don't undo the bung in the waste pipe.
oh and to add, my switch was hanging out on wires when i got the van and i removed the tap and all associated gubbins including the tank - i just use a 5 litre container now although i may one day refit the tap but use an external water container with a submersible pump in.
I don't know if that is right. I'm sure Mike4 runs his on butane. Are you sure your regulator wasn't faulty??
This isn't strictly true, but you have to get the pressure right. My German spec Berlin was set up for propane with a 50 mbar regulator which is higher than the standard pressure for propane of 37 mbar. Normally if you run a device set up for propane at 37 mbar it will also run on butane (campingaz) at 28 mbar. The Calor Marine website explains this, and it's quite safe and normal on boats. If you try to run a 50 mbar set up on butane at 28 mbar it will not have enough pressure. My bus came like this and the cooker and fridge were useless. It was only when I managed to get the right adapters and up the pressure that everything now works fine on campingaz.
well, i dunno then but one thing is fact my berlin has a sticker on saying use propane only and i tried butane and it was cack.
I'm sure I could have tweaked things to get it working with the original hob, however I don't trust gas and so didn't want to have to tweak jets or have extra pressure regulators etc. in order to get the old (higher pressure) Berlin hob working fine with a newer (lower pressure) propex. We've three kids and I want to feel safe with them in the van and don't want to have to worry about the hob not being set to burn fuel properly (will definitely have a carbon monoxide detector in the van anyway though). So I went for a simple option of new hob and heater which I know are set up correctly to work with the Campingaz regulator. The sink/hob I got is a "Smev 927". I got it from CakTanks. You can get it in two variations with the sink on left or right - mine is left as that matches the original Berlin layout. As you can see from the picture it's a perfect fit for the existing hole - didn't have to do any modifications to sit it in there! The tap is a Chrome "Super Novo Single Tap". I got mine from Grassroutes leisure, however there are a few people selling them on eBay. I haven't fitted it yet, but from measuring I think it's going to be a perfect snug fit when the kitchen lid is closed. Nick...
