Reading instruction is *always* a good idea!

Our old 'van came fitted with a Carver Crystal filter (the old white plastic cannister with the tapered seat/seal) and I grew to loathe hooking up the water pump because of the plug being fiddly-arsed to get in and locked with the two tabs. The housing of the filter eventually split and I replaced it with a Truma Ultraflow housing which used the pistol grip-type connector (see below).

Our new 'van had the Carver/Truma crystal inlet with the connector I was familiar with from the old van...

with the addition of this funny clippy thing

which I couldn't figure out. Why did the clips face outward? What was the lever/clippy thing for? I decided (without reading any of the supplied manuals) to swap the housing for a Truma Ultraflow as I preferred the pistol grip connector for ease of use. I then looked to see if the water pump on the connector from our old van would work with the new one's system (pressure/flow etc) and saw a picture of the Carver connector, which made me realise the mystery blue plastic clippy thing was on the wrong way around! Instead of this..

it should have been this

Note how the clips engage in the holes next to the electrical terminals and make a lovely solid connection. Also, the funnd tab/clippy thing turns out to be a hose clip to keep your pump off the deck when you're filling/changing aquarolls

It has turned out that the darker blue bit you can see on top of the pistol grip Truma connector folds out into a hose clip/rest too, but since there were no0 instructions supplied with my first one I didn't realise.

Would I still have changed it knowing all of this? Probably not, although the little tabs you have to twist to keep the carver plug in place are a PITA, whereas the Truma pistol grip the latch is in the 'trigger' position. The Caver Crystal connector does feel more solid and durable however, so on balance I'd probably have left well alone. The answer? Read the ruddy instructions!!