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Shower pump help


LadyR

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Hi guys, I wonder if anyone can offer me any advice. I picked up my boat yesterday and started the 100 mile journey to her new home.  Everything was working fine, but I’ve just come to get a quick shower and the shower pump isn’t working. Everything is switched on at the control panel and it was working when the the previous owner showed it to me last week, but nothing. I am moored up at the side of the canal, so not on a hookup, would this make any difference?  I ran the shower, before attempting to put the pump on, now I have water sitting in the base. Any ideas, feeling stressed after a full day of it. Cheers guys x

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Yes, there is a switch near the shower and it’s working. I can’t get in touch with the brokerage where I bought the boat from as I don’t have the owners telephone number to hand.

Just now, LadyR said:

Yes, there is a switch near the shower and it’s working. I can’t get in touch with the brokerage where I bought the boat from as I don’t have the owners telephone number to hand.

Not working sorry

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5 minutes ago, LadyR said:

Yes, there is a switch near the shower and it’s working. I can’t get in touch with the brokerage where I bought the boat from as I don’t have the owners telephone number to hand.

 

Can you post a pic. of your control panel. Some have a fuse/breaker adjacent to each individual circuit switch.

Edited by The Happy Nomad
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Hi. The fuses are all fine thanks. They are all lit and I’ve checked the shower pump fuse and it’s good. Would it make any difference that I’m not in mains hookup?  Baffled. 

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Just now, LadyR said:

Hi. The fuses are all fine thanks. They are all lit and I’ve checked the shower pump fuse and it’s good. Would it make any difference that I’m not in mains hookup?  Baffled. 

 

Lack of mains shouldn't normally make any difference. They are 12v.

 

If you put lights on do they dim ever so slightly if you switch the pump on at its switch?

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9 minutes ago, LadyR said:

Yes, there is a switch near the shower and it’s working. I can’t get in touch with the brokerage where I bought the boat from as I don’t have the owners telephone number to hand.

Not working sorry

Mains hookup should be irrelevant in a 12v shower pump circuit. Although you say the fuse board is lit up, have you tried to reset the switch for the shower? Picture of said switch could be worth a thousand words...

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So there was a fuse next the the switch (on same socket if that makes sense and I’ve just changed it and it’s working now. Does that mean the fuse on the control panel is irrelevant. Sorry, I’m soooo tired and desperately need a shower. I’ll have to check this out more tomorrow once I’ve had some food and sleep - it’s been a long day. I was going to give up but so glad we’re sorted now. 🤗

4 minutes ago, booke23 said:

Remember as a stop gap you can always bail the water from the shower tray using a mug and saucepan, then chuck it in the canal. I recommend you do this when you have finished showering!

Thanks so much!!

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5 minutes ago, booke23 said:

Remember as a stop gap you can always bail the water from the shower tray using a mug and saucepan, then chuck it in the canal. I recommend you do this when you have finished showering!

On a boat it is generally easier to empty it into the bathroom sink. It still ends up in the canal. (Unless your bathroom sink drains into the shower tray - it's not entirely unknown!)

Edited by David Mack
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9 minutes ago, LadyR said:

So there was a fuse next the the switch (on same socket if that makes sense and I’ve just changed it and it’s working now. Does that mean the fuse on the control panel is irrelevant. Sorry, I’m soooo tired and desperately need a shower. I’ll have to check this out more tomorrow once I’ve had some food and sleep - it’s been a long day. I was going to give up but so glad we’re sorted now. 🤗

 

 

Excellent news, glad you got it sorted. Your mug and saucepan can rest easy!

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8 minutes ago, LadyR said:

So there was a fuse next the the switch (on same socket if that makes sense and I’ve just changed it and it’s working now. Does that mean the fuse on the control panel is irrelevant. Sorry, I’m soooo tired and desperately need a shower. I’ll have to check this out more tomorrow once I’ve had some food and sleep - it’s been a long day. I was going to give up but so glad we’re sorted now. 🤗

Thanks so much!!

 

 

Pleased that you got it pumping out.

You had a shower yesterday after you picked the boat up, and you are now desperate to have a shower today, I think that a life of boating may come as a shock to you, when you realise that you don't have an endless supply of water, and wll have to learn to have a 'boat shower' (get wet, turn off the shower, get soaped up, turn on the shower and rinse, turn off the shower). You probably will only have the water running for 2 minutes, there should not be much to have to pump-out.

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Just now, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

Pleased that you got it pumping out.

You had a shower yesterday after you picked the boat up, and you are now desperate to have a shower today, I think that a life of boating may come as a shock to you, when you realise that you don't have an endless supply of water, and wll have to learn to have a 'boat shower' (get wet, turn off the shower, get soaped up, turn on the shower and rinse, turn off the shower). You probably will only have the water running for 2 minutes, there should not be much to have to pump-out.

No I didn’t have a shower when I picked the boat up yesterday, I had one at home before I left the house 🤗

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5 minutes ago, booke23 said:

 

Excellent news, glad you got it sorted. Your mug and saucepan can rest easy!

Yay- so can I now I know it’s working, I probably wouldn’t have slept 🤪

Just now, Alan de Enfield said:

 

So the water that would not pump out was at home, or was that 'todays shower' that you are still 'desperate for' ?

 

I'm a bit confused.

The water that I couldn’t pump out was what went into the shower tray (on my boat) before I managed to get in the shower because the pump didn’t want to work, so I pissed about for 2 hours trying to figure it out, which is now working and luckily I’ve had a “boat shower” now. I hope that helps to clear up the confusion 😃

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1 hour ago, David Mack said:

On a boat it is generally easier to empty it into the bathroom sink. It still ends up in the canal. (Unless your bathroom sink drains into the shower tray - it's not entirely unknown!)

And it saves having to put cloths on first

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1 hour ago, LadyR said:

So there was a fuse next the the switch (on same socket if that makes sense and I’ve just changed it and it’s working now. Does that mean the fuse on the control panel is irrelevant. Sorry, I’m soooo tired and desperately need a shower. I’ll have to check this out more tomorrow once I’ve had some food and sleep - it’s been a long day. I was going to give up but so glad we’re sorted now. 🤗

Thanks so much!!

 

No, it does not make much sense. Shower pump switches are not normally on sockets and  as it will tend to be in a damp/wet environment I would not expect a fuse close to the switch. I think it would be good if you post a photo, so we can see exactly what you have got. It sounds very odd to me.

 

I wonder if the fuse and/or holder are corroded so when you moved it, it made contact again.

Edited by Tony Brooks
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12 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

No, it does not make much sense. Shower pump switches are not normally on sockets and  as it will tend to be in a damp/wet environment I would not expect a fuse close to the switch. I think it would be good if you post a photo, so we can see exactly what you have got. It sounds very odd to me.

 

I wonder if the fuse and/or holder are corroded so when you moved it, it made contact again.

 

Im imagining the 12v shower has been wired through a 240v fused spur??

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9 hours ago, LadyR said:

Yay- so can I now I know it’s working, I probably wouldn’t have slept 🤪

The water that I couldn’t pump out was what went into the shower tray (on my boat) before I managed to get in the shower because the pump didn’t want to work, so I pissed about for 2 hours trying to figure it out, which is now working and luckily I’ve had a “boat shower” now. I hope that helps to clear up the confusion 😃

 

F09EC6A4-1205-44C6-A29D-8CF4696061E7.jpeg

196796E3-9390-4DF8-AA0A-D3D67A4CC489.jpeg.171789f30b5f1279997dee80e66773a9.jpeg

Not the best photo of the switch. It seems to be working again this morning. It’s definitely something I will take a look at when I get the boat home.

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8 hours ago, The Happy Nomad said:

 

Im imagining the 12v shower has been wired through a 240v fused spur??

 

 

It looks that way, but I have tried enhancing the photo to see exactly what the working parts are, but with little improvement.

 

16 minutes ago, LadyR said:

 

Not the best photo of the switch. It seems to be working again this morning. It’s definitely something I will take a look at when I get the boat home.

 

It looks as if that is a 230V AC (mains) switch and if so you need to be aware that using  it to switch off an inductive 12V DC load like a shower pump motor has the potential to burn out the switch contacts. When it eventually fails, think about seeing if you can find a blank face plate to match and fit a proper 12V switch in that. With the dedicated fuse on the fuse panel, I don't see why you need a fuse in the switch plate as long as the panel fuse is rated for the thinnest cable in the circuit - possibly between the boat's wiring and the motor.

 

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8 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

 

It looks that way, but I have tried enhancing the photo to see exactly what the working parts are, but with little improvement.

 

 

It looks as if that is a 230V AC (mains) switch and if so you need to be aware that using  it to switch off an inductive 12V DC load like a shower pump motor has the potential to burn out the switch contacts. When it eventually fails, think about seeing if you can find a blank face plate to match and fit a proper 12V switch in that. With the dedicated fuse on the fuse panel, I don't see why you need a fuse in the switch plate as long as the panel fuse is rated for the thinnest cable in the circuit - possibly between the boat's wiring and the motor.

 

This is the sort of thing that Tony is describing. The top switch is used on my boat to turn off the solar panels. A standard mains pattress blanking plate, here is a brass finish one, which has a proper 12V DC switch fitted. Toggle switches are easier to fit as it just needs a round hole drilled in the plate. A rocker switch generally needs a rectangular hole, which is more time consuming to make (there are exceptions). Make sure, for a shower pump, the switch is rated for at least 5A at 12VDC. Switching high current low voltage DC actually needs specially designed switches to last a long time. You can get away for years with using a mains switch, but ultimately, it will burn out the contacts. Someone will reply shortly to say that they have run a whale gulper for 127 years with a mains switch and it is still fine. 😃

switches.jpg.8c6c43b96e0daf2de049d7701747f9f9.jpg

 

10 hours ago, LadyR said:

The water that I couldn’t pump out was what went into the shower tray (on my boat) before I managed to get in the shower because the pump didn’t want to work, so I pissed about for 2 hours trying to figure it out, which is now working and luckily I’ve had a “boat shower” now. I hope that helps to clear up the confusion 😃

Not sure if I should say this, or not, but pissing in a boat shower will mean it ends up in the canal when the pump works. 😃

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36 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

This is the sort of thing that Tony is describing. The top switch is used on my boat to turn off the solar panels. A standard mains pattress blanking plate, here is a brass finish one, which has a proper 12V DC switch fitted. Toggle switches are easier to fit as it just needs a round hole drilled in the plate. A rocker switch generally needs a rectangular hole, which is more time consuming to make (there are exceptions). Make sure, for a shower pump, the switch is rated for at least 5A at 12VDC. Switching high current low voltage DC actually needs specially designed switches to last a long time. You can get away for years with using a mains switch, but ultimately, it will burn out the contacts. Someone will reply shortly to say that they have run a whale gulper for 127 years with a mains switch and it is still fine. 😃

switches.jpg.8c6c43b96e0daf2de049d7701747f9f9.jpg

 

Not sure if I should say this, or not, but pissing in a boat shower will mean it ends up in the canal when the pump works. 😃

Naughty naughty 🤣

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