Plastimo Water tank, bladder?

[ShipsWoofy]

The galley tank seems to be leaking, I cleaned it last autumn, brought it home and used a shock cleaning method. All was well, but this tank has been installed many years and the bladder felt far too stiff.

I had cleaned the heads tank a year or so back, same method, the bladder felt far more rubbery and well new. The heads tank had been out of commission for many years.

Now when we fill the galley tank about 5 litres of water appears in the heads, I have checked all the connections and they seem fine, I am expecting the bladder to have cracked, it has been moved a lot in the last few months and as said was showing age.

Now my problem. Looking on line the bladder for the 100L tank is number 16661 rectangular tank, tank No. 18033. plastimo.com

I have just found the manual for my tanks and being old, naturally these numbers do not add up, it seems I have tank No. 40.15.35.8 requiring bladder 14.18.02.1.

Fine you might say, but on the new tanks the 38mm inlet seems to go into the centre of one side of the tank, and the outlet on the opposite side.. mine are in opposite corners of the same side?? The new tanks would mean a change of installation and a lot more wonga than spare a bladder.

But here is the weird thing; The drawing on the front of the manual I have also seems to show the inlet connector in the centre of the bag, yet within the manual on an installation drawing the bag looks more like mine with both fittings in opposite corners. This makes it difficult, as they seem to be using stock drawings.

Has anyone come across this problem and could recommend a supplier who may be able to source me a bladder for an older bag. It seems about £80 difference between full bag and just bladder, so I need to exhaust every possibility before being fleeced for something I don't really want to buy /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[stevepick]

I had to buy a new bladder for a 150l tank recently. It has an inlet in the centre and outlet in a corner, this fitted my fairly old outer bags fine. Is this an issue though? Why not just cut a centre hole for the inlet in your old outer bag , and maybe reinforce the "old" inlet hole in the outer with some scrap of something?

 

[Clyde_Wanderer]

I recently bought a complete plastimo tank, the triangular 110L version, and it only cost in the region of £60-70.
There seems to be a big difference in what you are saying a new tank would cost you, are you sure that is correct?

 

[santeana]

Seems possible in pre mass production times optional fittings were offered. I replaced my OE Stowaway bladder a couple of years ago using Tilley Inflatables. Contact Paul Tilley 01803 833309 or 07815144269. No personal or business connection etc.

 

[Leighb]

I also bought a new 150L bladder recently, it fitted fine, but the inlet and outlet connectors were not in quite the same place. Not a major problem, but a bit irritating, why do they have to make these pointless changes /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[ShipsWoofy]

[ QUOTE ]
I had to buy a new bladder for a 150l tank recently. It has an inlet in the centre and outlet in a corner, this fitted my fairly old outer bags fine. Is this an issue though? Why not just cut a centre hole for the inlet in your old outer bag , and maybe reinforce the "old" inlet hole in the outer with some scrap of something?

[/ QUOTE ]

It may be.. First off I would have to buy some new 38mm pipe, which was replaced in Autumn when I cleaned the system. Second, the bag is wedged into a framework, currently the 38mm inlet is in free space, if it moved to the centre it will be pushed up against a wall and each time the bag is filled will be forced into the bag as such? This might add wear to the seal?

Also, I already have a problem with blow-back and the inlet is at the top, the bag is on it's side. If the inlet was lower down, more air will be trapped, the new bags appear to be designed to be laid down flat, mine is hung.

I will be happy to know I am wrong and thinking too hard about this, but I do think it will be a problem to fill.