Different European? Plumbing

OldWest

2004 T1N Westfalia
On the website blog for a 2005 4x4 James Cook for sale (see thread in this forum), the interior photos show a much different plumbing drain system. For example, the drains look like 1" corrugated type hoses for the shower and 2 sinks. The showed drain is a cup below the floor with a house leading off from that cup.

The kitchen cupboard hoses are a bit confusing. Can't tell what the hoses are for. Presumably, they should include a kitchen sink drain hose and the gray water tank overflow hose. But there is a green hose and other hoses which look capped off.

Under the bathroom shower pan area, you can see the shower drain cup and drain hose. There is also a hose attached to the corner of the gray water tank (on our NAFTA, I believe that is our air vent connection), but the other end of the hose looks capped. There is also an unused hose.

Lots of extra space as no big plastic drain pipes but wonder if those small diameter drainage hoses get plugged. Also, doesn't appear to have any air admittance valves (like ours in closet and under kitchen sink) or rooftop or other air vent (like our shared air duct for black and gray water tanks).

Also, can't figure out how the air vent is handled.

,
 

discus

GA Westy
I have installed a trap less system on mine and it eliminates the need for a vent pipe. Recovered lots of space


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

autocamp

un-Airstream'ed & un-Dodged NAFTA JC
Hi Bruce,

I have not seen the Euro JC first hand, but that does not stop me from trying to answer the questions. I have studied the schematics difference when I embarked on the cassette toilet restoration.

Plumbing is one area of the biggest difference between the Euro and our NAFTA versions. Our plumbing system is no doubt, heavily influenced by the US RV practices per RVIA. US RV plumbing, is one I found problematic, in that not scaled down for mobile application from what essentially system for homes.

The sewer vent trap in our NAFTA sound good in (simpleton's) theory, but fails in practice. When the vehicle is in motion with the windows open the plastic flaps in the trap vibrates and allows the sewer gas to pump into the cabin. Sewer odor is a complicated matter to solve as I have learnt the hard way.

Euro T1N JC has no sewage venting. They have cassette toilet which is not vented, unless the owner adds after-market venting or filtration. I believe most resort to rely on additive to combat the cassette black water tank odor or just live with it. Since their grey water gas is separate the need for venting is not as dire if you dump the content regularly.

The Euro JC does not have the kind of p-trap our NAFTA one has. Rather they have a cup-like contraption as you observed, that is similar in their domestic setup. It functions just like our p-trap using a pool of water to trap the smelly gas.

For the drain hose they use a more sensible small diameter hoses instead of big ass 1 1/2" ABS domestic rigid plumbing fittings in ours. VW Vanagon Westfalia camper has a similar corrugated drain hose as well as a plastic cup-like trap though in VW there is no tank so the trap is just a collector for grey water.
 

OldWest

2004 T1N Westfalia
Thanks. The trapless HepVo which Discus did may be the easiest to regain some space and improve odor control without redoing the whole drainage system, although some folks are concerned re the longevity and clog potential of these drains. The replacement 360 Siphon air vent on top of roof has worked well or you can do you make your own like Autocamp did on his blog.

Even without the air admittance valves, I'd think the gray water tank would still need an air vent to allow water to drain into the tank. Can't tell where the Europeans put that air vent.
 

grozier

Active member
Can't tell where the Europeans put that air vent.
I think the Euro Cooks have the same "spillover" or overflow tube as described above and installed in our Westies. This tube should be sufficient for both air rejection when using the drains, and air admittance when draining the tank, right?

Ted
 

ronjohn

2019 Unity MB
LTV uses the trap less HepVo system. It worked well in mine. Some odour did come through the bathroom sink once. I flushed it with water for a couple of minutes as suggested by the manufacturer. Problem solved.
 

OldWest

2004 T1N Westfalia
The European James Cook graywater tank is also different than the NAFTA Airstream Westfalia graywater tank.

Our tank extends farther to the rear, possibly to accomodate the shower and bathroom sink American style house drains (bigger than tiny James Cook hose drains).

Our kitchen floor under the kitchen cabinet is also different with more of the floor cutaway to fit the large kitchen sink drain (versus a small drain hose in the James Cook).
 

220629

Well-known member
Not that anyone asked...

If you are considering a change to hoses. Boat waste and potable plumbing often uses hose. At one time hose wasn't so great at keeping smells from permeating the hose wall. The newer hoses do a good job. In boats the design most always avoids using more space than needed.

Marine stores may have what you are looking for. Unfortunately marine duty parts = expensive.

:2cents: vic
 

OldWest

2004 T1N Westfalia
Here is a thread on the James Cook Friends Forum with photos showing the cold and hot water supply hoses, the drainage hose, etc.

According to one post, the water supply hoses are apparently 10mm and the drainage hose is 19mm (inside.diameters).

http://forum.james-cook-freunde.de/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=2042

In comparison, our NAFTA water supply hoses are apparently 1/2 inch (see Kiltym water filter thread) and the drains are 1 1/2" (see Grozier drains thread). 10mm and 1/2" may be roughly the same as the same faucets are used.

Water filter:

https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?t=64962

Drains:

https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40103

HepVo thread (but photos disappeared?):

https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?p=286268&highlight=Hepvo#post286268


We also have air admittance valves under the kitchen sink and in the closet which take up more space.

To save space, we could convert the drainage system to the James Cook version. We wouldn't have the option of using HepVo valves and the connectors to the gray water tank would need to be modified.
 
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