Hoping someone can help. Last year, the hot water tank exploded while away, it looks like the main attachment point failed and sheared. sort of a long rod that runs the internal length of the tank to the mounting plate on the side of the caravan.
On the sticker is says Cascade Rapide GE (9 litre).
I have photos, but can't see a way to post them here.
Any ideas on how I can get this repaired/replaced? Thanks.
The long rod is probably the heating element? Not sure how easy it would be to get a replacement. You could always try companies selling secondhand parts.
This happened to me a couple of years ago. I couldn't get a spare. Because I only use electric sites and use their showers etc I had a Truma Therme installed. It doesn't use gas it is electric only and is a small tank so doesn't supply a lot of hot water. It's a a good work round for me. It would otherwise have been an expensive hot water heater replacement.
(Incidentally when mine boke the water went over the electrics for the motor mover control panel.)
The cascade was replaced with a Henry water heater but even these now seem to have disappeared with nil stock.Alternative will be fit a totally electric water heater.
Propex says their water heater fits into the same space as Carver (ours packed up) & Henry (which we replaced it with).
See https://propexheatsource.co.uk/henry-carver-cascade-water-heater-replacement/
Quote: Originally posted by Chicken Drumstick on 23/2/2025
Hi,
Hoping someone can help. Last year, the hot water tank exploded while away, it looks like the main attachment point failed and sheared. sort of a long rod that runs the internal length of the tank to the mounting plate on the side of the caravan.
On the sticker is says Cascade Rapide GE (9 litre).
I have photos, but can't see a way to post them here.
Any ideas on how I can get this repaired/replaced? Thanks.
This is quite a common problem with these heaters once they reach a certain age, and it is totally unpredictable and unpreventable. I had it happen to me as soon as I got to a site just a few years ago. You can have these heaters repaired but I found that I could get a new electric water heater for half the price of having the old one repaired, and as we only ever use sites with EHU it was a no-brainer! I bought the new heater online and fitted it myself, it wasn't difficult, even for me in my 70s. I am well pleased with the new heater and it saves me some gas as my old cascade was gas-only. Most sites charge for "an electric pitch" regardless of how much you use, so I might as well make best use of it.
Its this rod that has sheared on mine. However mine says Cascade Rapide GE and the kits on eBay all seem to be for a Cascade 2. No idea how different they are. I did ask the seller.
I don't think that part of the heater is likely to be that much different. The standard heater is gas-only, like mine was, but the GE means gas and electric. The problem you will find is getting the corroded end out of the heater unit. On mine there was nothing to get hold of and I couldn't even drill it out. My plan was to drill a hole in the bit broken off and use an easy-out to remove it. All I managed to do was blunt my drills. If I could have got it out I would have bought one of those repair kits. That's why I ended up going for a replacement heater. These days we never go off-grid except maybe for one night, as without EHU we have no fridge either. Our caravan is 33 years old and at some point in its life someone has fitted a domestic mains-only fridge, and while that is working really well I see no point in replacing it. I also use a convector heater on chilly nights too.
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Topic: Hot water tank exploded - Carver Cascade
via mobile 24/2/2025 at 9:34am
