water pump

[moggyjo]

My water pump has just started to come on for a short burst every half hour or so, I can't find any leaks and no dripping taps anywhere. Its a Sureflo pump about 4 years old, any ideas please?

[bargiepat]

Hi, I would have another look for leaks................ are you sure there are no fittings that are hidden and unable to check.

Regards Patrick.

[fab]

My water pump has just started to come on for a short burst every half hour or so, I can't find any leaks and no dripping taps anywhere. Its a Sureflo pump about 4 years old, any ideas please?

 

Mine was doing the same... again no leaks. Only found a leak after the calorifier had cooled down, from a faulty pressure relief valve. Worth checking.

[Tony Brooks]

Hi, I would have another look for leaks................ are you sure there are no fittings that are hidden and unable to check.

Regards Patrick.

 

 

If you have calorifier water heating you might find the pressure relief valve that is normally close to or mounted on the calorifier is leaking a little. If so give the knob on top a few twists and hope the resultant rush of water will flush whatever is holding it slightly open away.

 

If might be a valve in the pump back-leaking slightly. If so get a plumbers non-return valve and a water/bilge pump in-line strainer and fit these between the tank and pump. Strainer tank side of valve.

 

Otherwise its as Patrick says - have another look for leaks and dripping taps.

[David Schweizer]

The pump on my boat used to do that, and I followed all the percieved wisdom about leaks (including new gaskets on the pump) etc. It made no difference, so decided to completely dismantle the pump and investigate. The problem was a build up of limescale in the pressure switch, I cleaned that out and assembled the pump. I re-fitted it and it is still working ok.

Edited November 7, 2007 by David Schweizer

[Patterdale]

I had a pin-hole leak in my calorifier. The water was building up in the lagging so it took me some time to find it.......

[Cris P]

Check the strainer by the pump isn't leaking, or about to crack.

[DHutch]

Or else we've had a pin hole in the presure switch diafram giving the same affect.

 

 

Daniel

[pagan witch]

Agree with everyone on here.

 

It hasn't started doing this for no reason and every 1/2 hour or so will be losing a fair bit of water somewhere. Once our accumulator is up to pressure you can draw a good pint or more before the pump kicks in so I'm guessing you are leaking at least this much somewhere in the system every 1/2 hour.

[blackrose]

If might be a valve in the pump back-leaking slightly. If so get a plumbers non-return valve and a water/bilge pump in-line strainer and fit these between the tank and pump. Strainer tank side of valve.

 

Yes, as Tony says if you think of the upstream (tank) side of the pump being low pressure and the downstream (tap) side being a higher pressure then the pressurised water would like to be able to move back through the pump to release that pressure & equalise. This sometimes happens if the valve in the pump is leaking.

 

I once searched high & low for leaks when my pump went off in the middle of the night. This happened over a few nights until I finally realised it was the hot water in the calorifier which had cooled and lowered the pressure (Although this wouldn't make your pump go off every half hour of course.)

 

One other thing: When you're onboard you can at least hear that there's a leak or other problem, which should be enough to demonstrate to most intelligent boaters that it's probably a wise idea to switch the water pump off when you go out. I've never seen a steel narrowboat which has been flooded with canal or river water, but I've seen plenty flooded with freshwater.

 

I used to switch the pump on & off at my 12v trip switch panel, but I was told by an electrician that if I did this everyday I'd probably wear out the switch and need a whole new panel, so I wired in a separate switch.

Edited November 8, 2007 by blackrose

[Dave-Shrop]

Put a valve on the outlet of the pump and turn it off, this will tell you where the leak is, ie on system or pump.

[honey ryder]

my pump kept coming on every now and then for no apparent reason not so long ago. I think the culprit was low pressure in our accumulator. since we pumped the accumulator up, the pump never comes on unless we turn a tap on.

 

if the accumulator is low on pressure the pump will pump rapidly in short bursts when a tap is turned on.

 

all avenues are worth checking

[David Schweizer]

This is a shurflo pump, and they do not last for ever. Assuming that you have checked the Accumulator pressure, the most likely cause is a fault in the pump pressure switch which measures the difference betwen cut in and cut out presure, a short two or three second burst every half hour is a good indication of a fault in the switch.

 

Some boat fitters bypass the pump switch with a (more reliable) external pressure switch to overcome this problem, but I guess you would have noticed whether one of these has been fitted - a usually grey box about 5" x 3" x 3" connected to the water pipes close to the pump, with several wires coming out of it. If you do have one of these then leaks in the system are a more likely cause.

 

It is a good idea to have a spare pump on board in case of total failure, so it might be an idea to buy a replacement and fit it, if the problem disappears you can then strip down the old one at your leisure and replace/clean the faulty parts. Then only if the problem persists do you need to start looking for leaks.

Edited November 8, 2007 by David Schweizer

[moggyjo]

This is a shurflo pump, and they do not last for ever. Assuming that you have checked the Accumulator pressure, the most likely cause is a fault in the pump pressure switch which measures the difference betwen cut in and cut out presure, a short two or three second burst every half hour is a good indication of a fault in the switch.

 

Some boat fitters bypass the pump switch with a (more reliable) external pressure switch to overcome this problem, but I guess you would have noticed whether one of these has been fitted - a usually grey box about 5" x 3" x 3" connected to the water pipes close to the pump, with several wires coming out of it. If you do have one of these then leaks in the system are a more likely cause.

 

It is a good idea to have a spare pump on board in case of total failure, so it might be an idea to buy a replacement and fit it, if the problem disappears you can then strip down the old one at your leisure and replace/clean the faulty parts. Then only if the problem persists do you need to start looking for leaks.

[Rock]

My water pump has just started to come on for a short burst every half hour or so, I can't find any leaks and no dripping taps anywhere. Its a Sureflo pump about 4 years old, any ideas please?

 

 

I know this will be of no help to the post on 07/11/2007 but I have just taken delivery of a new boat and the Sureflo pump kept pumping evey few minutes. The builder changed the pump and the new on was going off every few seconds. A third one was fitted and this is in perfect order. If there are no leaks on the system then rersevere with the pump.

[dor]

Well at least resurrecting this thread allowed me to reacquaint myself with Patterdale's avatar.

[denboy]

Well at least resurrecting this thread allowed me to reacquaint myself with Patterdale's avatar.

 

Pervert

[BlueStringPudding]

Our waterpump has a separate wall-mounted switch in the galley. We turn it off when we're not using it as a matter of coarse. Only a few times have I been caught out with a handful of soap in the bathroom at the other of the boat, turned on the tap and and thought "B*gger - the water pump's still switched off at the wall"!!!

[mikevye]

Had a similar problem turned out to be a pinhole in the calorifier which didn't show up until the volume of water could not be retained by the lagging.

 

PS is it possible to slow an avatar down? watching Patterdales is making me giddy!

[kayDee]

Hi all...

Ours does this occasional burst for a few seconds every other day approximately; when we're not using the water. Couldn't see any leaks but I can't get the bath side off to check the pipes under the bath! I think we're going to have to get that side off as we need to change the bath mixer tap/shower thing anyway... Bugger!

 

Yep, that is quite an avatar!

 

Kay

x

Edited March 6, 2009 by kayDee

[Purple Fairie]

We also had this, couldn't find any leaks anywhere, 6 months later water was soaking UP through the carpet in the rear cabin, the 'dry' bilge was full!

An 'o' ring in the pump had split from over tightening and slowly dripping through the floor.

 

Just another thought to add to the list!

[alan_fincher]

Of course it's always possible in these cases of unexpected pump cycling that it's a pump fault, as someone has suggested. The integral pressure switches don't seem to enjoy the best of reputations. However generally the pump switching on means the water pressure has dropped, and that may well mean some is leaking out somewhere.

 

From what I've seen just of postings on here, usually it seems to me that something like 90% of the time there is a genuine problem, just that it's usually somewhere hidden.

 

I'd say you ignore a cycling pump at your peril, because once the underfloor bilge area has got seriously wet, it can be a hell of a job to get it dry again.

[David Schweizer]

Hi all...

Ours does this occasional burst for a few seconds every other day approximately; when we're not using the water. Couldn't see any leaks but I can't get the bath side off to check the pipes under the bath! I think we're going to have to get that side off as we need to change the bath mixer tap/shower thing anyway... Bugger!

 

Yep, that is quite an avatar!

 

Kay

x

Please see my earlier post on this thread :- "The pump on my boat used to do that, and I followed all the percieved wisdom about leaks (including new gaskets on the pump) etc. It made no difference, so decided to completely dismantle the pump and investigate. The problem was a build up of limescale in the pressure switch, I cleaned that out and assembled the pump. I re-fitted it and it is still working ok."

 

It is still worth checking the pressure switch for limescale (or a bit of fgrit) before dismantling the water system. Mind you omne small burst every couple of days could justb be down to a gradual drop in pressure, or a tap washer beginning to go.

Edited March 6, 2009 by David Schweizer

[kayDee]

Please see my earlier post on this thread :- "The pump on my boat used to do that, and I followed all the percieved wisdom about leaks (including new gaskets on the pump) etc. It made no difference, so decided to completely dismantle the pump and investigate. The problem was a build up of limescale in the pressure switch, I cleaned that out and assembled the pump. I re-fitted it and it is still working ok."

 

It is still worth checking the pressure switch for limescale (or a bit of fgrit) before dismantling the water system. Mind you omne small burst every couple of days could justb be down to a gradual drop in pressure, or a tap washer beginning to go.

 

Yes, I read that David. Its just my luck that the problem is under the bath and has been leaking into the bilge for gawd knows how long!

Kay

x

[Barry]

I prefer yours though KayDee

 

KDAFC Hon Sec