Forum Discussion

oughtsix's avatar
oughtsix
Explorer
Jun 03, 2014

Material for water level probes in fresh water tank.

I have ordered a new fresh water tank to replace the tank in my Coachman Captiva 265EX trailer. The tank is an "Ameri Kart W1398" ordered from "Pelland Enterprises" an Ameri Kart distributor. Pelland has offered to have the bung holes installed during the manufacturing process. I have asked but do not believe that they will install the water level sensors in the tank. I am confident that I can melt the plastic and install the sensors myself. But I Don't know what kind of metal I should use to make the contacts? Copper maybe?

I would post a picture of the tank but do not have any picture hosting capability.

8 Replies

  • Horst Probes........

    Top one is for grey and/or fresh water tanks

    Bottom one is for black tank (has shroud to keep TP/Stuff off probe)



    Comes in pack of four........LINK
  • The Horst probe is designed for waste water tanks.
    It will work fine in the FW tank. But not any better than a stock one. The Horst is designed to deal with the crud in the waste tanks. Hopefully that isn't a problem in your FW tank.:B
  • Old-Biscuit wrote:
    Standard thru the wall level sensors are held in place with a rubber grommet that gets compressed.
    Drill the proper size hole.......insert probe...tighten nut compressing rubber grommet..hook up sensing wire.

    Old OEM probe (short flat) and new Horst Probe


    It looks like the fancy probe is specifically for the Blackwater tank? And the OEM probe is the only one I found on Amazon listed for the freshwater tank. The OEM probe you show is a big improvement over the probes in my OEM tank.

    http://www.amazon.com/KIB-MP5-Screw-in-Sensor-Probe/dp/B007HRRC6E/ref=sr_1_6?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1401833996&sr=1-6&keywords=fresh+water+tank+probes
  • Awesome! I had no idea there were such things as aftermarket probes. The OEM probes on my old tank look like they heated a piece of .25" x 1" metal and jambed it through the side of the tank then hit the perforation with a torch.

    I will do some research on tank probes!

    P.S. I have a total of 4 probes. 3 sensor probes and a single common probe. The single common probe is mounted higher than the lower sensor probe. Now there is some great engineering!
  • I highly recommend the Horst Miracle probes. We just had them installed in our latest TT. Not only are they way more accurate, the capacity of the tank seems to be waaaay bigger. On our first trip out with them this year, after 4 nights (two adults), we were just hitting 2/3 on the black tank. Previously, the panel would have said we were full in 2-3 days.

    This is our 2nd TT with these probes. Their performance is amazing. The OEM button sensors oughta be banned... :M

    If you are installing new ones and don't have holes in the tank, I would look closely at the elevations that you install the sensors at so they more accurately read 1/3, 2/3 and full. Often, the sensors aren't close to being at the elevation they should be and you don't get an accurate reading even if the sensors and tank are 100% clean to start with. You now have a chance to improve upon what the factory would have originally done. I'm not sure if this has been discussed on this forum but I know there is a lot of great info. on the Forest River forum. If you go there, look for posts by Herk7769 as in this thread: sensor mounting height
  • Standard thru the wall level sensors are held in place with a rubber grommet that gets compressed.
    Drill the proper size hole.......insert probe...tighten nut compressing rubber grommet..hook up sensing wire.

    Old OEM probe (short flat) and new Horst Probe