Water Pump Problems

[Westy]

Has anyone got any advice re: intermittent water pump activity. Our Bessacarr E435 is just 3 yr old but the water pump has started playing up. When switched on and the taps turned on, it eventually dribbles out a bit of water and then spurts, spits and stops . The pump noise is heard occasionally after about 5mins of switching on. Not sure where to start looking for the problem

[cronkle]

I don't know your van or what type of pump it is but i would be inclined to check that electricity is getting to it first. There are various ways of checking, this the simplest putting a circuit tester to the feed and neutral with the pump switched on. More knowledgeable people will give better guidance when they come along.

[Guest Tracker]

Sounds as if maybe air is being drawn into the system.

 

Check and tighten all the water pipe connections and routing for kinks and leaks from tank to pump to taps - including the internal tank water pickup.

 

If air is being drawn into the low pressure pipe (from tank to pump) you may well not see any leaks but air could still be sucked in causing spitting and a lack of self priming.

 

It is unlikely to be a problem with the high pressure side (from pump to tap), unless it is a badly kinked pipe, because there would be great puddles of water if there were.

 

Hope this gives a start of where to look.

[w1ntersun]

Hi,

 

If its a high pressure system then check your grit filter on the inlet side of the pump in case the diaphram is not closing properly allowing water to return back to the tank.

 

Richard

[Derek Uzzell]

Westy:

 

A Bessacarr's water system is likely to include a (SHURflo or Whale?) diaphragm water pump that's activated when pressure falls in the system due to any of the motorhome's taps being turned on.

 

The first thing I'd do is check for a blockage by switching off the water pump, removing the filter-unit on its input side, opening a tap and switching the pump back on.

 

If the pump clatters into life and continues to operate, then this would indicate a blockage somewhere between the pump and its water pick-up in the motorhome's fresh-water tank. If that's the case, then check the filter-unit is clean (if it hasn't been maintained during your 3-year ownership period, then it may well be clogged), that there's no kink or blockage in the hose between pump and tank pick-up and that the pick-up itself is not obstructed.

 

If the procedure I've mentioned in Para 2 above doesn't result in the water pump starting and continuing to function, then there's the possibility that the pump is faulty or that there's a partial blockage in the water system somewhere close to the pump. (I'm assuming from your posting that all the taps - hot and cold - have a similar poor, spitty water-flow).

 

Switch off the pump, disconnect the water hose on the pump's outlet side and switch the pump back on. The pump should start up immediately and continue operating continuously. If it doesn't, then there's something wrong with it and it will need attention from someone whose water-pump familiar. If the pump does start and run OK, then there may still be something wrong with it, but there might also be a blockage/kink in the water hose not far from the pump on it's outlet side.

 

(The above really just expands on what has already been advised by Tracker.)

 

Presumably your Bessacarr's water system used to function OK and the problem has developed either gradually or rapidly. (You don't say which.) A limited water-flow at the taps might suggest that the pump has difficulty picking up water: conversely, even if it couldn't pick up water, opening a tap should cause the pump to run continuously until the tap is switched off. There is a pressure-sensing switch on diaphragm pumps that can usually be adjusted, but I'm not sure in your case whether doing this would help.

 

I've looked through the troubleshooting section of SHURflo's manual, but there's nothing that specifically matches your problem as you've described it. John Wickersham's "The Motorcaravan Manual" contains a fair amount of information on water pumps/systems and I note that he says about diaphragm pumps "If water delivery is intermittent, the sealing 'O' rings inside the mechanism sometimes fail and air gets into the system. Eventually the water flow will fail completely".

 

From what you've said, your Bessacarr's pump IS working (albeit only after a fashion) and water does flow from the taps albeit inadequately. The pump failing to keep running even though the taps are turned on makes me suspect that the problem lies with the pump itself, but I'd need to get my hands dirty (and wet!) to be confident of that diagnosis.