Fresh water system

[Carl]

Once again this system is giving me a fit! During a recnt fishing trip my crew ran it out of water and the pump lost its prime. This happened once before and I never was able to get it to pick back up until one day I tried it again and it started. These are the things I have tried after filling the tank:
turn on pump
turn on fauset to let out air
turn off fauset, turn on fauset
crack the little filter houseing at the pump then close
insert clear tubing into tank fill and blow to preasurize tank while the pump is running and the fauset is on
hooked up the street connection which fills the preasure side of the system while running

It just wont pick up. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks, Carl

[Richard]

Carl:

I had the same problem when my boat was just several months old and it turned out to be the pump. I tried everything to prime it but nothing worked.

Since the boat was still under warranty I did not try to take the pump apart although I suspected construction debris in the inlet check valve (or a defective check valve). The pump ran and ran but no pressure.

The pump was replaced under warranty and I have never had a problem since. Now it will always prime by opening any spigot, although sometimes it takes 20-30 seconds or so of running the pump. (The pump manual says that it does not hurt the pump to run it dry.)

This spring I turned the pump on and it clicked once and stopped. I immediately thought , here we go again with another pump problem.....Actuallly it was just a senior moment....I had bypassed the water heater last fall when winterzing and essentially deadheaded the pump. Once I hooked everything back up it worked correctly. I flushed the system dry several times and it always primed easily each time.

[jcollins]

I have to echo Richard. I ran mine dry 3 times on Saturday flushing out the pink anti-freeze. I would leave the faucets on and just turn off the breaker, refill the tank and hit the switch. It only take a few seconds for water to start flowing again. I should add that I don't have a city water hook up. Would that make a difference in your priming problem? Is your pump still under warranty? I forgot what year your boat is.
I always thought this type of pump was self-priming.

[Carl]

The boat is a 2006. The dealer gave up its Albin "dealership" a couple of months before Albin closed its doors. Mainly because Albin owed him money for fixing warranty issues and was not paying him back. I will just replace the pump myself rather than go through the headache and frustration of trying to get the dealer to do anything. I just went through my manual and as my usual luck goes this is the only pump I do not have any manual or warranty card for.
I was very careful when I flushed my pink stuff this spring. As soon as the pump started to suck air I turned it off and filled the tank back up. It would then pick right up and take off. If it is the pump I will be happy to replace it so I dont have to worry about it always losing its prime. Last year I thought maybe it had an air leak but I would come to the boat and turn the pump on after a week and it wouldnt even click once. It would still have pressure.
John, The street hook up connects on the pressure side of the system. When hooked up at the dock you will not pull water from the tank. However it does not fill the tank, you still need to do that through the fill cap.

Thanks for the replies....I thought there might be a secret de-coder ring hidden in the plumbing somewhere.

[Russell]

If this problem is intermittent as you describe it suggests something blocking the intake to the pump. It gets sucked hard against a screen or small opening and after a long time with the pump off, it drifts away. I would take apart the intake and see if that is the problem before purchasing a new pump.

[Carl]

Replaced the pump over the weekend and wala it works! I think this pump was doomed from the beginning. The new one works much better, picked up in 5 seconds, and does not surge like the old one, and seems to have more pressure even though it is rated the same.

Thanks for the replies

[Capt Paul]

Carl,

I am curious, what's the make and model of the pump you replaced the old one with?

My problem is my pump will not shut off. I replaced it with one of the same type about a year and a half ago. It lasted about a year before the same thing started happening.

I'm looking to see if there are any out there that work better.

Paul

[Carl]

The new one is a Jabsco. I dont have the model # but I can get it the next time I go to the boat. It had the same ratings as the old one which I think was a Sea Bold? I took the old one apart today to look for any junk that might have caused it to not work. I found nothing. It looked to be clean.

[mhanna]

I had a similar problem where the pump would not prime sometimes, and other times not shut off or cycle. I found it to be a air leak in the plumbing between the tank and pump. I would never get any water dripping out of the pipe but when the pump turned on and sucked, air would go in and create issues.
The plumbing is a blue plastic pipe and the fittings are just pushed on. There was one elbow where it would not seal.
I found it by putting together a jug of water and a hose going right into pump. Everything worked fine that way, so I looked at plumbing. For my 28 I think there were 4-5 fittings to check..

Matt

[Russell]

Does anyone else have a problem with a weird smell in the first tank of water after flushing out the pink RV antifreeze? It is almost like formaldehyde and I do not understand it because the antifreeze does not have a smell and the small amount that remains is very dilute.

[Richard]

I had the problem really bad last year, particularly with the hot water. I started using a water tank additive that I purchased at West Marine and it seemed to help.

This year I spent a lot more time flushing and put the additive in right away. So far no problems.

I can't remember the name of the product, but it comes in a small clear plastic bottle and you only need to add a few onces per tank.

I will check next time I am on the boat.

[tlinson]

I found by installing a check valve on the suction side of the pump you stay primed and the pump does not work as hard. Might help in pump life.The only drawback is winterizing, you have to make sure that wet leg is either empty or pinked. Plastic 1/2 inch valves are pretty inexpensive, but the water piping on my 26 is Sea-Tech metric. Had to get some 15mm hose x 1/2 mpt adapters.I installed the check valve and everything works like a charm.

[Capt Paul]

Well, I took apart my fresh water pressure pump this weekend and low and behold the impeller was broken. This was one of the things the user manual said to check if the pump would not shut off. It would deliver pressure but just not enough to to reach the shutoff point.

I thought there might be air in the line and tried bleeding it. When this did not work I watched how the pressure would rise on the gauge and noticed that it would never quite reach the shut off pressure of 22PSI. I then thought there might be a leak, but it held the charged PSI so that wasn't it either. So it had to be the impeller buy logic I guess.

Any way, a new impeller is on order and I plan to change it once a year like I do the engine impeller.


Paul