Water pump woe...

[Soldier Girl]

Hi everyone!

Per usual, I've got an rv issue & am turning to all the resident experts on this forum who've kept me sane & safe for a year & 8 months of fulltiming so far - despite my lack of any real mechanical skills & more than a touch of tech phobia, lol!

Today's dilemma; This is a travel day for me, so I switched my water pump on. Red light good to go, but I can hear the pump try to make it's vacumn or pressure equalizing thingy (technical term, lol!) or whatever it's called - it can't - so it jus keeps trying & trying...

I can get water to flow when I need it, but I don't want to burn it out, especially if it's something I can fix with all your help. Or, if it has to be replaced, to at least not let it become a fire risk as I go down the road! I've shut it off for now till I hear back from y'all.

I'm hoping for an inexpensive fix & am praying that one or more of y'all are patient enough to walk me through all the steps as though you're trying to teach a kindergartner!

In any event, I will be on the road till later this afternoon Pacific time, but will check in with y'all when I take a break or after I've set up camp again.

You can probably tell from the way I'm writing today that I am pretty confident that y'all can help with this - you've helped me get out of so many situations, some very serious or even dangerous, this doesn't feel like those did.

If any new rv'ers on the forum reads this, I hope they take away one point - that the guys on this forum have you covered & will help you succeed in your rv adventures - If they can keep this soldier girl safely on the road, they can certainly help you!

In any event, thanks in advance for all your help & encouragement!!!

[16ACE27]

So you're saying the water pump is running, you can get water from the faucets, but it never shuts off? You are either sucking air or you have a leak.

[taylorbob1]

or it's the auto off pressure sensor
or there's "swarf" in the filter
or the rubber diaphragm inside the pump is shot, a common break-down.

Amazon probably has your pump and pump repair parts available.
It's a fairly ez fix.

[Coveman2]

For the price you pay for a water pump on Amazon I would just replace the pump and after you have it working buy parts and fix the old one giving you a back up.
Coveman2

[taylorbob1]

Originally Posted by Coveman2

For the price you pay for a water pump on Amazon I would just replace the pump and after you have it working buy parts and fix the old one giving you a back up.
Coveman2

X2

That's what i did when the rubber diaphragm went bad but the motor was still good.
New pump was under $60, diaphragm was under $25
So now I have one new one in the coach + a back-up that i carry with me.

[Soldier Girl]

Thx. No leaks that I can find, so I guess I gotta figure out the other

Originally Posted by 16ACE27

So you're saying the water pump is running, you can get water from the faucets, but it never shuts off? You are either sucking air or you have a leak.

[Soldier Girl]

Thanks, I'll look into that too, if I can figure out how to replace it, that's probably what I'll havta do.

Originally Posted by taylorbob1

X2

That's what i did when the rubber diaphragm went bad but the motor was still good.
New pump was under $60, diaphragm was under $25
So now I have one new one in the coach + a back-up that i carry with me.

[taylorbob1]

Originally Posted by Soldier Girl

Thx. No leaks that I can find, so I guess I gotta figure out the other

If no leaks, try pressure sensor as well that senses and shuts down pump

Bottomline, buy a new pump
Under $60 on Amazon

[Soldier Girl]

Originally Posted by taylorbob1

If no leaks, try pressure sensor as well that senses and shuts down pump

Bottomline, buy a new pump
Under $60 on Amazon

I guess all that is on hold till my fire evac adventures are over. Priorites. But I don't think I can ignore it too long bc I also noticed that hooked up to the camp's water, despite my pressure regulator showing I'm in the good range - the public water is somehow filling (overfilling) my on board fresh water tank (and no, I didn't know that was possible).

Sooooo, I'm wondering if that's related to my water pump somehow, if it's going to damage my rig, or if it will suddenly go away once I replace my water pump (or talk my brother in law into doing it, lol - that's one positive to being stuck in CA right now!)???

In the meantime, while dealing with mlre pressing issues - like monitoring all the updates on the state of the fires and evacuations, I've turned off my public water.

I also turned off my water pump. I already use gallon water jugs for Radar's & my drinking water, so I don't constantly need access to my pump or public water.

I turn the pump back on to flush the toilet (don't want to waste my drinking water on that). I turn it on to wash the dishes or to sponge bath me. Despite the layers of ash I'm accumulating when I walk the dog, so far I'm avoiding an actual shower, which I worry may stress my water pump...

I hope doing all that will allow me to put off any major plumbing issues while I deal w/the fire safety needs. Hopefully y'all will let me know if that's the wrong approach.

And maybe someone can let me know whether the public water filling my tank is related to my pump that seems to be unable to equalize it's pressure but keeps runnin & runnin if I don't physically turn it off (& it seems to be a tad louder w/a more grumbly not quite grinding sound to it)?

In any event, the adventures continue & as always, I am so grateful to all you guys who always keep me flyin straight. Thanks again!!!

[lwmcguire]

Either your 4 way valve, check valve portion has failed or the check on the water pump

Usually it is the check on the water pump depending on yhow your unit is configured

Having water comeback through the pump and fill the fresh water tank is fairly common

A small piece of debris stuck in the pumo diaphragm will also cause this

Clean your strained ahead of the pump while checking it out

[Soldier Girl]

Thanks

Originally Posted by lwmcguire

Either your 4 way valve, check valve portion has failed or the check on the water pump

Usually it is the check on the water pump depending on yhow your unit is configured

Having water comeback through the pump and fill the fresh water tank is fairly common

A small piece of debris stuck in the pumo diaphragm will also cause this

Clean your strained ahead of the pump while checking it out

[OldWEB]

Many videos on Shurflo pumps just do a search online for your model number. I too would guess that the diaphragm/check valve needs cleaning (cheapest fix), as that is what prevents city water to go backwards into the fresh tank and would also prevent the necessary build up of pressure.
Good luck

[MaceMan]

Make sure that an outside shower Or the outside sync for the kitchen the boss it isn't on and running water out of it as you go down the road! If you can see it look at the input pre filter and see if it is full of water or has an air bubble in it. Might have a loose input connection some where.

[MaceMan]

Rut ro. The check valve that is supposed to prevent that filling issue. It is part of the water pump so it will have to be repaired or replaced. Take the hose off the city water, turn on the pump and see if water comes out the city connection. If so that is the problem for sure. Some have a manual valve to use the city connection to fill the fresh tank, if you have that, check that.

[2thdoc]

Recently ran into this issue with my rig. While at the campground before hitting the road and while still connected to the city water, I switched my water management control switch over from "city source" to fill my onboard water tank.
I failed to return it back to "city source" when done, shut off the water feed from the campground, depressurized the hose and completed my departure routine. Just before leaving, I flipped on the water pump and it continued to run, that is until I realized my mistake and returned to the water management panel and returned the switch to city water and presto it stopped. Life was/is Good!
Not sure it this solves your problem but putting it out there....
Good Luck

[Dilley Dilley]

Originally Posted by Soldier Girl

Hi everyone!

Per usual, I've got an rv issue & am turning to all the resident experts on this forum who've kept me sane & safe for a year & 8 months of fulltiming so far - despite my lack of any real mechanical skills & more than a touch of tech phobia, lol!

Today's dilemma; This is a travel day for me, so I switched my water pump on. Red light good to go, but I can hear the pump try to make it's vacumn or pressure equalizing thingy (technical term, lol!) or whatever it's called - it can't - so it jus keeps trying & trying...

I can get water to flow when I need it, but I don't want to burn it out, especially if it's something I can fix with all your help. Or, if it has to be replaced, to at least not let it become a fire risk as I go down the road! I've shut it off for now till I hear back from y'all.

I'm hoping for an inexpensive fix & am praying that one or more of y'all are patient enough to walk me through all the steps as though you're trying to teach a kindergartner!

In any event, I will be on the road till later this afternoon Pacific time, but will check in with y'all when I take a break or after I've set up camp again.

You can probably tell from the way I'm writing today that I am pretty confident that y'all can help with this - you've helped me get out of so many situations, some very serious or even dangerous, this doesn't feel like those did.

If any new rv'ers on the forum reads this, I hope they take away one point - that the guys on this forum have you covered & will help you succeed in your rv adventures - If they can keep this soldier girl safely on the road, they can certainly help you!

In any event, thanks in advance for all your help & encouragement!!!

You might be having an issue with your Anderson Valve which is the 4-way switch/dial that has Normal, City Fixtures, Tank Fill, etc. Since that valve that has the black pointer on it has o-rings inside they are susceptible to getting dislodged internally and then leak in the wrong direction. Example: you have the dial set to city fixtures and while you do get water out of your faucets the fresh water tank will also slowly fill and at some point overflow. I know this because this has happened to me several times. Maybe the reason you are hearing the pump running but you don’t see any visible leaks is because the water is being pumped back into the fresh water tank because it’s leaking past one of the o-rings in the valve that is partially dislodged. You don’t need to worry about overheating that water pump and starting a fire. Especially if there is water pumping through it. That water will keep it cool. The only time you could have an overheating problem in a water pump is if the water just kept circulating inside the pump itself with nowhere to go or no source of water. Plus those pumps are very small and before they could catch on fire they would likely burn out and stop running.
Now the remedy for not dislodging an o-ring in your 4-way Anderson Valve is to remember to the rotate the black valve switch when there is no City pressure on the valve because that pressure can dislodge the o-ring. Also, Ive found it helps if you turn the black valve dial past the position you want to set it on and then turn it back and stop on that position. This helps to keep the o-rings in the groove that they are supposed to be in. Good Luck. Hope this helps.

[tomkat334]

I had the same problem. I had to take the RV in for another major issue and had them look at the water pump. Turns out they cleaned the fresh water tank out that had shavings in it from Thor drilling for lines at the factory. They got about a bushel out. Had to replace the pump too because it had filings jammed in it. I have no idea how they cleaned it all out but the mechanic said he got it all and that problem will not be repeated.

[Beau388]

Thor plant 750 (where your coach was built) usually installs a water filter screen just before the water pump. Surflo ships the pump and filter as group. It is there to protect the pump. Be sure you clean the clean the screen regularly if you use tank water often. It is on Thor's dealer PDI checklist to clean the filter after filling the water tank and checking the plumbing. Thor does not put water on the coach but only uses a 20 psi air to check the plumbing The coaches come to the dealer winterized because it gets cold in Elkhart.