IS MY FRESH WATER PUMP A GONER?

[T25Hugh]

Hi All! So I finally got the (correct!) leisure battery installed and everything hooked up. Interior lights are now working as is the Zig control panel HOWEVER it appears my fridge is kapput and ... the jury's out on the in-line fresh water pump from the tank to the sink tap. I'll get on to the fridge in a future post but, for now, any advice on this water pump would be much appreciated! It looks like the original that would have been fitted (over 30 years ago now) in the Holdsworth factory. This is the first time I've seen it in action ... almost! OK, here's my dilemma: it appears to work. There's power running to the unit and, when I depress the button for the tap, the motor spins and it SOUNDS like it's all working .... but no water is being drawn from the under-slung tank (and yes, it's full!) I undid the jubilee hose clips and, using my mouth(!), I took a (very!) deep breath and literally blew down the hose into the tank (which emitted a gurgling, bubbling sound from the tank directly below me!) Similarly I blew up the hose to the sink and could hear air (my breath!) coming out of the tap end (again, in a very primitive way I admit, proving that this hose section wasn't blocked either). So then I dismantled the top section of the pump (the metal cylinder containing the motor & solenoid is sealed). Removing the four screws to the top section revealed the centrifugal bushes and the spindle from the motor. Here's the thing though, the spindle (NB: with & without bushes) is powered and spinning freely (and at great speed!) Were it not I'd think the pump was knackered but the fact that the mechanism is spinning as I'd expect it to when powered is making me question what's happening here. (NB: I am new to this camper van and have never witnessed the pump working in the (short) time I have owned the vehicle). Can anybody shed any light here as to why this pump isn't drawing water? When I reassembled & reconnected, it behaved exactly the same way ie: it 'sounded' like it really should be serving it's purpose but ... it wasn't! There was no water being pumped through to the tap. Looking at the diagram regarding this water system in the manual it really doesn't look like rocket science (in fact, when it comes to diagrams, it couldn't look any simpler!) Any thoughts as to where things are going wrong here on this front? Our first trip away over the Easter holiday involved the transportation & consumption of numerous bottles of water which seems to defeat the object when there's and in-built water tank strapped to the under carriage directly below!   

[Mocki]

Can i just state the obvious here ….. is the pump wired the correct way ?
It’s just a motor, so if you reverse the wires it will spin the other way …..
Could it be blowing and not sucking ?

[T25Hugh]

Can i just state the obvious here ….. is the pump wired the correct way ?
It’s just a motor, so if you reverse the wires it will spin the other way …..
Could it be blowing and not sucking ?

Hi Mocki! Looking at the connections the red wire is wired to the '+' terminal & black to '-'. When I removed the hoses and placed my fingertips over the connection holes there was no blowing nor sucking to speak of - no suction at all really. Certainly not the amount of suction I would have thought was needed to draw the water up the hose from the tank into the pump then out & up to the sink tap = very strange! Like you say, it's 'just a motor' so who's to say replacing the pump with another is going to make any difference here? I'm rather stumped as I've not witnessed this performing as it should and I have no prior experience nor reference points with water pumps!     

[Forden341]

I generally have a similar problem after I drain my Gipsy down for the winter, this type of pump will not pump air and will need priming with water somehow, my solution is to open the tap so the microswitch activated the pump and suck on the open end, once the pump body fills with water the sound will change and you should get water at the sink.
Hopefully you’ll get some success!

[T25Hugh]

I generally have a similar problem after I drain my Gipsy down for the winter, this type of pump will not pump air and will need priming with water somehow, my solution is to open the tap so the microswitch activated the pump and suck on the open end, once the pump body fills with water the sound will change and you should get water at the sink.
Hopefully you’ll get some success!

Thanks for the info Forden! OK, so you need to actually suck the tap until (or in the hope that!) water from the tank makes it to the pump? Hmm!!! That's a whole lotta sucking! I'm guessing if you laid it out the combined hose length from tap to tank would be about 10 foot. If I'm following what I think you're suggesting I just hope my lungs are up for the challenge!  

[Forden341]

You’ve got it. Once the water reaches the pump then that will take over.
It’s the free option and you have nothing to lose!!

[slowcoach]

Yep i have the same setup ish. The pump will just spin, if there's no water in it. I put an inline priming pump 'bulb' before the tap, so I could pump water up past the tap. I finally got tired of sucking on the pipe !works, and oy a few quid. As said though,try the 'manual' method first

[T25Hugh]

Eureka - it worked! Thanks so much for all your help. We now have running water. This forum's great

[Forden341]

Eureka - it worked! Thanks so much for all your help. We now have running water. This forum's great

Excellent stuff. I find I have to do that once a year so no real dramas.

[Mocki]

The answer to this problem is either relocate the pump below the full level of the tank , so when you fill the tank to full the pump has primed , or install a submersible pump in the tank . Then whenever the tank is drained the pumps will self prime when the tank is filled .

[Stesaw]

I'd get one of the submersible Whale pumps, got one in my water tank that you just drop in and it does the job, good output as well can reccomend.

[Piratepete]

Hi Hugh
I know that you've now got your pump to work but you said something interesting in your first post. I think you said that you were able to blow down the pipe into the tank. This suggests to me that your non return valve is faulty. The output from your tap should be instant, even after weeks of standing. If it's not, I suggest replacing the valve. Got mine off Amazon for a couple of quid. My pump did appear to self prime though it used to take a good few seconds for water to arrive. It's instant now.
Cheers!
Pete

[T25Hugh]

Hi Hugh
I know that you've now got your pump to work but you said something interesting in your first post. I think you said that you were able to blow down the pipe into the tank. This suggests to me that your non return valve is faulty. The output from your tap should be instant, even after weeks of standing. If it's not, I suggest replacing the valve. Got mine off Amazon for a couple of quid. My pump did appear to self prime though it used to take a good few seconds for water to arrive. It's instant now.
Cheers!
Pete

AHH! Still in the same boat here at time of writing so that's great info Pete, thank you so much! Where in line does this valve go then? All I can see is the filter coming off the tank. If it's not too much hassle could you maybe drop me the link to the valve you got that did the trick for you? THANK YOU

[Piratepete]

Hi, Sorry, I don't login every day.
The reference is B08HQ6785R . Put that in Google and it'll show up in an Amazon link.
In my system there is NO filter. The non return valve is situated just after the tank outlet. If that's where your 'filter' is, maybe it's not a filter but a faulty non-return valve.
Cheers!
Pete

[T25Hugh]

Hi, Sorry, I don't login every day.
The reference is B08HQ6785R . Put that in Google and it'll show up in an Amazon link.
In my system there is NO filter. The non return valve is situated just after the tank outlet. If that's where your 'filter' is, maybe it's not a filter but a faulty non-return valve.
Cheers!
Pete

AWESOME! Thanks SO much Pirate Pete. On order!