DIY fitting of a Whale Elegance microswitch in your caravan, motorhome or boat tap is a simple job requiring very little skill or time. I replace hundreds each year in my role as a caravan service engineer & only charge 15-30 minutes labour.

The fault symptom is usually a tap not working unless you turn on another tap elsewhere in the vehicle.

All you need to do is get a new switch (which we can supply - see our eBay store), follow the following simple instructions & I've even provided a picture of an underside of a tap for your reference. Now read these carefully, get your Pozidrive (or Philips) #2 screwdriver out, take a deep breath & 'Have Fun!' - fixing it yourself!

• Turn the tap to the OFF position.
• You require access to the underside of the tap (as shown in diagram), so.....
  1. If in washroom, you can usually access this through the vanity unit under the sink - if not follow 2 below.
  2. In the kitchen, space is usually tighter, so remove the caps in the four corners of the mounting-plate using a small flat bladed screwdriver or similar & remove the posidrive screws there under. Then gently lift the taps up until the microswitches are accessible.
• Take note of which way round the legs are as the microswitches’ legs are offset and the switch needs to be replaced the same way it comes off. If the new microswitch has an additional leg - no matter, just ignore it or cut it off with a pair of side-cutters if it bothers you - either way it will still work!
  
• Gently straighten the legs.
• Slide the white plastic collar off the switch down the wires - the switch should just drop off the 2 retaining lugs.
• Remove the 2 mini spade-connectors off the switch legs.
• Refit the mini spade connectors onto the new switch (it doesn’t matter which one goes on which leg, so long as you use the correct legs if there's three!).
• Offer the microswitch up to the retaining lugs (observing that it must be the same way round as the old one).
• Slide the collar back over the switch to hold it in position.
• Gently bend the legs down 90 degrees.
• If tap was removed then refit with screws & caps.

There - you've done it all by yourself!


Below are examples to help identify the Whale Elegance range of taps - note the distinctive coloured rings around the knobs, and the shape of the spouts; also on early versions of this range, the knobs were flat sided not curved -