[stuart churchill]

My caravan is a bit old, but in good nick (1989 ABI Jubilee Diplomat). Everything has been working fine until recently. Last year, the water pump failed intermittently. Then, a few months ago, it stopped working altogether. I presumed that, because of its age, it needed replacing. So, I bought a new pump and everything was OK again.

Then, just a few days into my holiday, it died. I had to bypass the existing wiring and fit a cheap switch temporarily so that I had running water.

About the same time, the bathroom light stopped working as well. I bought a self adhesive battery light as a temporary measure.

This week, I set about repairing the faults. I've fixed the light, but in doing so I found that another light fitting was arcing because of a faulty connection. Anyway, I digress. It's fixed now.

Back to the pump. The caravan has 2 pumps - one for domestic water and one for the toilet flush. The toilet has been working OK. There are 4 taps - a mixer in the kitchen and the same in the bathroom. None of them work (they all did before). The taps have microswitches inside, which I've tested with a circuit tester and all is well. The pump works when connected directly to the 12v supply.

I've checked all the wiring for continuity and current, again, all is well. All connections are sound, and fuses are good.

Here's something I can't get my head around. When the pump is connected to the 12v supply, it works when I touch the 2 wires together to complete the circuit, but when I connect a tap, it doesn't, despite the circuit tester showing it to be working.

And just to complicate things further, the toilet pump decided to stop working yesterday! I thought maybe I'd disturbed something during my inspection.

Much of the wiring joins are behind a panel in the bathroom, which I had to reluctantly remove for inspection. But nothing seems to be out of place.

I have a feeling it's something so simple that I've probably overlooked, that I'm going to feel silly when I find out what it is.