Water pressure pump fault chase - 02' 3500 SCR

[Huddo007]

Hello all,

After much waiting the boat has arrived, I have been busy the last few days putting it back together but have a quick question, I don't have water pressure at the taps, when connected to the rear "dock" water all is good, I have filled the tank, just wanted some heads up on which area to start looking, I can not hear the water pump running and need to chase down where it is, but thought someone out here might know of a common check area, could I also please be told if it runs from 12v or 110?

Cheers

[seapuppy]

the FW system runs on 12vdc water pump in the engine bay...it will pressurize the system and then shut off....if your water tank is full...or has water in it..it will take water from the cold side and pressurize the entire system thus filling the water heater ..which is 110vac....so...is there any valves that are shut off..probably not as the system is a straight system.....but the pump may have a filter or screen on it that needs cleaning...check there....

take pic's and maybe we can point stuff out too you...


SP

[Huddo007]

Thanks SP, ok so apart from having the best few days of boating I can remember I have tracked down the pump, it's located under the stairs, I have also found the switch in the galley that seems to power the pump, the problem now is I only get a serge of water - maybe 3-4 seconds then the pump cuts off, waits a further 6-10 seconds and pumps again, I have cleaned the filter on the pump and no change, wondering if the pressure sensor is busted? attach the pics of the switch and pump not sure if the sensor is on the front as I tried to bypass the two red wires going into the front of the pump and it did not seem to stop the serge

[Huddo007]

[ATTACH][/ATTACH][ATTACH][/ATTACH][ATTACH][/ATTACH]Whilst searching through the boat I also found the following two items I have no idea what they are for, ok so the cushion looks like for a seat?? But where every seat is covered and the sun decks have there own cushions, then this extra folding board found it stashed under the fwd bed ??

[Mike S]

I have the exact same pump o my 2400SE. It too, would cycle on and off every few seconds. I always susected a leak but could not find one. Finally, i quit altogether. I checked to make sure it had power at the pump (it did) so determined it was toast and replaced it. Replacement was very simple and that cured all ills. It no longer cycles on an off, so I presume that if you don't have a leak somewhere in the system, your pump is about to fail. Mike

[Huddo007]

Mike S, thanks for that, I think you are right as the more I have played with it the longer in getting water and the shorter time waiting for flow, I have checked for leaks so think im on the path to failure as you mentioned - now off to find a supplier for the pump unit

[Huddo007]

Alright everyone some serious help is required now, I have gone and replaced the water pump unit, it still surges but when I turn on ALL water outlets (kitchen sink, toilet, rear wet bar) it will continue to flow BUT as soon as I turn one tap off it goes back to surging on and off!! Where can the back pressure be coming from to cause this?

[shrew]

Originally Posted by Huddo007

[ATTACH][/ATTACH][ATTACH][/ATTACH][ATTACH][/ATTACH]Whilst searching through the boat I also found the following two items I have no idea what they are for, ok so the cushion looks like for a seat?? But where every seat is covered and the sun decks have there own cushions, then this extra folding board found it stashed under the fwd bed ??

You'll have better luck if you start a unique thread per topic. You have essentially hijacked your own thread with an unrelated post. This looks like the conversion parts for the after cabin. In your model the aft cabin is a solon and a berth correct? These look like the parts that convert the solon to a berth. Look to see if the settee converts to a berth as well. It might be for that, however they usually use the table for the center support on the settee. Some models will allow you to convert the cokcpit into a sunbed, but that is usually with marine vinyl inserts, not cloth. Cloth is usually reserved for the cabin.

[shrew]

Originally Posted by Huddo007

Alright everyone some serious help is required now, I have gone and replaced the water pump unit, it still surges but when I turn on ALL water outlets (kitchen sink, toilet, rear wet bar) it will continue to flow BUT as soon as I turn one tap off it goes back to surging on and off!! Where can the back pressure be coming from to cause this?

Have you tried this on both the hot side and the cold side? You say that if you turn off one faucet the problem happens. Is this the same faucet or ANY one faucet? How long does the pump cycle on for before it shuts off? Did you check the transom shower? My transom shower has a hot and cold faucet, but it also has a push button shutoff on the hand shower unit as well. The push button shut off does not work well. We MUST shut off the transom shower faucets themselves. We use the button to conserve water while we're rinsing off, but don't rely on as a valve. If I have either hot or cold faucet turned on on my transom shower, my pump does the same thing as water leaks out of the shower handset. This behavior sounds very much like a leak somewhere in the system.

[Huddo007]

Shrew I will do my best to answer as I want to sort this out, I tried the water on hot but not all taps on "hot" and it surges, I disconnected the outlet pipe to the pump and it goes non stop, I tried turning off each faucet one by one and it did not matter which one I turned off by shutting one the problem comes back, this is leading me down a path of semi blocked line, would this cause an early back pressure? Hence shutting the pump down early.
The only other thing I have noticed is that the kitchen and the bathroom faucets seem to be lower pressure than the upper wet bar? As I have not owned the boat with it working I'm not sure if that's normal.

[mcoffey]

Could this be a simple case of the pump pushing water faster than the pipes can discharge? I mean the pump is designed to turn off when pressure builds up so if it can pump faster than the faucets can drain it, it will surge like this, right? Sorry, I have an RV with a similar system but rarely run on the 12v pump system, normally connected to city water.

[Huddo007]

This was my line of thinking, but since the pump is supposed to supply 12.5 l/min I was thinking that with semi blocked lines it would act in the same fashion, I did empty the strainer on the tank side and it had a white cake like substance in it, if this is blocking at a connector could this cause the problem? And is there a product I can send down the lines to clean them?

[Huddo007]

The plot thickens I called in after work with a multimeter and it would appear I have a pulsing power supply that starts at 12v and cuts off after dropping to 11v???

[Huddo007]

Forgot to say checked it at the galley switch and it'd the same

[shrew]

I suppose a blocked line could cause this to occur. If I turn the head faucet down too low, the pump will 'pulse'. But this is more of an even rhymic pulse, not quite the short cycling you seem to be describing. The pump should have a pre-filter on it. Check to see if the pre-filter on the pump is clogged. This might be an issue where you can't draw enough. Though I'd think the more faucets you open the WORSE this would get, not better. There's really not much to get blocked in a freshwater system, since the pump should be filtering any large particulates from the water tank before it hits the pump. I'd still be more inclined to suspect a leak before a blockage. Do you have a shore water inlet? This can leak as it geets back pressure when the valve is closed. Pull the faucet in the head and make sure it's not leaking internally behind the bulkhead. This would go straight into the bilge and my not be noticable.

Some had suggested a short while ago (I think it was Pacavone and might have been in another thread) Toss a few gallons of pink Propylene glycol (Marine/RV antifreexe) into the holding tank, run each faucet until pink is coming out, then wait a bit and lter, start searching for pink leaks. If you've replaced the pump, then the only thing left is the system itself. Connectors will leak over time.

Just a couple of thoughts.

[Huddo007]

Thanks shrew but my problem still seems to be this cut out/ drop in voltage, the owners supplement states that the system should have a ballast tank, for the love of me I can not find this thing, I would assume It needs to be on the pressure side of the pump and have traced every line and cannot find.

I have taken the fuse panel out "under steering wheel" and disconnected the freshwater pump which I have now found is not going to the correct fuse, does anyone know if I can find out the numbering system of the wires? On the back of the fuse panel each wire has a little number tag I would like to know the number - item list?

Thanks guys

[shrew]

I don't have any numbering. There shouldn't be that many fuses. You could pull and replace one at at time until you find the one for the pressure water pump. You could look to see is the fuses or the fuse bus itself has corrosion. Also look at the negative wire on the pump to see if there is black corrosion on the wire itself. Heavy corrosion in the circuit could see a voltage drop when there is draw placed on it.

[Huddo007]

OH YEAH it's fixed, ok so turns out the wiring on the back of the fuse panel was a little bit out, finally found the correct wire, was slightly corroded and also is only 6amp now the old pump was 7amps and slightly on the old side so was probably drawing a bit plus the corrosion hence cutting out, the new one is 9 Amps max so have upped the fuse to 10 - funny enough it was not tripping out enough to "throw" the fuse but enough to stop it, the reason for all taps on working would have been the very low load on the pump !!!!!! I now have water and more importantly a shower - thanks everyone