Hi Campers,
I came home from a two week camping trip on the weekend a bit cheesed off with my Aquacube Logic hot water system. It has only had a couple of weeks @ 2 showers/night use prior to this trip & the thing started playing up in the last week, to the point where it became unusable. The issue was obviously a water flow restriction through the machine. Despite being out of warranty I rang my supplier to see if they could assist & they put me onto the claims department at Companion. After explaining the problem I was asked what water source I was using & I told the lady that I use clean river water from a 20 litre bucket. She said 'there's your problem.... the internal filter is blocked & it will have to be dismantled & cleaned by us. It clearly states in the user manual that water direct from rivers, lakes & the ocean should not be used.' And so it does...I checked. To Companions credit the lady did offer to do this service under warranty but I couldn't see the point as I'd have to get it done every time I went camping. Now I would think a fair percentage of buyers of this product would buy it because they, like the wife & I, like to go camping in remote or out of the way places where there are no facilities, so they can enjoy a hot shower. We take 85 litres of town water in the camper tank & a couple of jerry cans with us for drinking water & we'll get two weeks or more out of that. However, washing up & shower water comes from the river. It has to when you use about 15 - 20 litres/day for showers. If you have access to clean tap water then you probably also have access to an amenities block with showers, completely negating the need for one of these contraptions. My gripe is why the hell doesn't it state in big letters on the colourful carton that 'river water should not be used as source water for this heater', so the average punter can make a decision in the store as to it's suitability to task, & pass it by if there's no other option, instead of finding out halfway through his holidays on a remote camp! And if the thing has a filter why isn't it mounted externally & serviceable by said punter! The pump has a mesh screen & I assumed (wrongly) that that would be sized correctly to protect the innards. Not so apparently. The lady said algae is the culprit. If I can find & clean this internal filter (actually it'd be better to get rid of it completely) I'll use a stocking on the pump suction & maybe install an external inline filter ( fuel filter would be too fine I think).
Has anyone had similar issues? As I read on here some have had a great run from theirs & others have had issues. Do others, god forbid, use river water? Has anyone had one apart & can explain the best way to dismantle it?
Failing attempts to get this thing working satisfactorily I'll just bin it & try one of those imported systems off Ebay. They seem to produce positive comments on here, legal or not.
Mick
