trevorwilson Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 We have had our first campervan for a couple of months now and I have often wondered whether ur Shurflo Trail King 7 water pump is functioning correctly. It does pump water but, rather than being a steady stream of water, it pulses out of the tap rapidly. You can hear the pump clicking each time. Is this normal? I have never seen another one so I have nothing to compare it to - hopefully someone has a similar model and and tell me what theirs is like. I have uploaded a video to illustrate the possible problem: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xwgl7wg8sunyuuy/IMG_1346.MOV?dl=0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Bulgaria Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 Hi Trevor. My Hobby has a Shurflo water pump - don't know if it is the same model a yours but I guess it will be pretty similar. My Shurflo manual refers to restrictions in the plumbing system causing rapid cycling. There is an adjustment screw located at the bottom of the pump body. Adjusting this may reduce/remove the cycling. Hope this helps. Richard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulletguy Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 Trevor.....my pump is a Shurflo Trail King. First of all are you 100% certain you have run plenty of water through to ensure there are no air locks? The video looks suspiciously like there may be. When first filling it does often take a few mins to pump them out. The pump itself sounds far from healthy though! Mine is more of a low hum when pumping. My pump packed up last year so the one i have fitted now is virtually brand new. If you find you need to replace.......look no further than this guy here; https://www.thecaravanshop.co.uk/waterpumps/accessories/shurflo-pumps-spares/cat_16.html I bought mine from him as i couldn't get a better price locally though i wasn't surprised. I've bought lots of accessories from him before. His prices are fair and his postage sensible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 I assume the OP has run each tap, one at a time, until a consistent flow is achieved in order to clear any air in the pipework. Another possibility is that air may be entering the pipework from a loose connection between the pump and taps. How old is the van, new or secondhand? If secondhand, is it possible to contact the previous owner? I have the same pump and it works fine. PS. I haven't opened your Dropbox link for security reasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 It sounds to me like you have a serious leak on the suction side. Either that or you have no water in your tank! (Check the obvious things first). I had a situation slightly similar but nowhere near as bad when the body of my Trail King split due to frost a couple of years ago. The simplest way to check the pump is to remove it from your MH and add a length of pipe to the inlet side and drop the end in a bucket of water. Add power and stand back. And one final thought, have you checked the 'grit' filter on the inlet side of the pump? It is normally clear plastic and splits in two like a bayonet to clean the filter. I have to clean ours at least once or twice every year. Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trevorwilson Posted April 13, 2017 Author Share Posted April 13, 2017 Thanks Richard - I'll give that a look! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trevorwilson Posted April 13, 2017 Author Share Posted April 13, 2017 Robbo - thanks for your reply. I only have one (cold) tap sitting about 6 inches above the pump. I've filled the tank to the top several times and run the tap for several minutes (it's been like this since we got it a few months ago - I'm just starting to suspect that it should be quieter). All air has been expelled and still it pulses through. It's actually an almost new conversion but the company who did it are a bunch of morons and there's no way the van is ever going back to them. Good to know that the pump shouldn't be like it is though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trevorwilson Posted April 13, 2017 Author Share Posted April 13, 2017 Cheers Keith - I'll give that a try. The tank is definitely full and there are no obvious leaks but I'll dig deeper. Your idea of just connecting the pump to a tube in a bucket of water sounds like a great plan ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 Trevor Based on your video, I don’t think the way water is flowing from the tap is the result of air being in the system or there being a leak on the ’suction’ side of the pump between the pump’s inlet and the fresh-water tank. In both of those scenarios one would expect there to be a lot of hissing and spluttering as the mixture of air and water is expellled from the tap. In your case there’s this strange interrupted flow. It seems more likely that the amount of water available to the pump is inadequate and that this produces the peculiar behaviour. As Keith advises, check that the pump’s filter is clean and also that there is no obstruction (say a kink) in the pipe leading from the water-tank to the pump. It’s sometimes the case that a filter is fitted to the end of that pipe where it picks up water from within the tank, so check if that’s the case and, if so, that the filter is clean. Also check if the ‘morons’ have fitted an (unnecessary) non-return valve in the pipework on the inlet side of the pump. Keith’s suggestion to ‘bucket’ experiment would certainly be worthwhile. A SHURflo Trail King pump is never going to operate quietly. They all make a ‘rattling’ noise when running, but they should be able to deliver a smooth flow of water to the taps. I did wonder if the pump being so close to the tap might produce the effect shown in your video, but I really can’t explain why that should happen. Even though you don’t intend to return your camper to the converter, you might want to e-mail them about the problem, send them a link to your video, and ask for comments. It’s not normal what’s occurring, particularly when (one assumes) the pump itself is near-new, and the converter should be prepared to admit to this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alanb Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 Trevor, The Shurflo pump is a diapragm pump, which delivers a good suction head. That is to say it will suck water from a tank below the floor, without having to be submersed in the tank. These pumps always give a pulsed flow, but yours does seem to be extreme. As has been said they can be quite noisy, and are often hidden in a seat base. The pump should be fixed with rubber antivibration mountings and the mounting screws should not be over-tightened. You mention that your vehicle is a campervan, which has only one tap, and that the pump is only about 6" below the tap. This begs the question, as to where is your water container/tank? If it is below the floor then the the pump would have been better mounted at floor level, so as to minimise the suction head or lift. If on the other hand you have an above floor water container near the pump, I am tempted to wonder why a submersible pump has not been fitted. This could be much quieter, but would require a micro switch equipped tap to switch the pump ON when the tap is opened. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trevorwilson Posted May 15, 2017 Author Share Posted May 15, 2017 If anyone is interested I have solved the problem with my pump. I fitted a new one but the problem remained. I disconnected the filter but that didn't help either. I then bypassed the tap and found that the water ran smoothly from the end of the pipe... After a bit of investigation I found that the problem was with the tap itself. In the outlet end of the tap were no less that 6 filter grids of varying sizes designed to soften the water flow as it left the tap. this obviously created quite an obstacle and increased the back pressure on the pump forcing it to cycle on and off. I removed all but one of the grids in the tap and the water still flows nicely from the end but the pump works perfectly as I would have expected it to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alanb Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 Trevor, Thanks for posting the solution, it could be of help to others. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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