How long does a water pressure pump last

[Ssscrudddy]

As per the title, how many years would you expect a water pressure pump to last for a liveaboard?

 

Reason for asking, 1st pump (shurflo) was already 7 years old when we got the boat (previous owners just leisure cruisers) & it lasted another 2 years & 9 months. I replaced it with a whale watermaster which has only lasted 2 1/2 years. 

Edited January 30, 2019 by Ssscrudddy

[BruceinSanity]

3 minutes ago, Ssscrudddy said:

As per the title, how many years would you expect a water pressure pump to last for a liveaboard?

 

Reason for asking, 1st pump (shurflo) was already 7 years old when we got the boat (previous owners just leisure cruisers) & it lasted another 2 years & 9 months. I replaced it with a whale watermaster which has only lasted 2 1/2 years. 

In my experience, anything from two to four years of continuous use.

[rusty69]

Just now, BruceinSanity said:

In my experience, anything from two to four years of continuous use.

blimey, that is good,ours gets intermittent use,and usually, our shurflos would last 2 years before leaking.Our current jabsco is 2.5 years and still going strong. Dunno if water hardness effects longevity.

[dmr]

The Jabsco usually does better than the shurflo, dunno about the whale, I reckon 3 to 4 years, but its all very variable. Stuff that used to be made "at home" is now made overseas etc etc and quality may vary.

 

Get a jabsco and carry a spare. If its the switch that fails you could fit an external switch but they are not cheap. I reckon its either the switch failing or leakage that does for them, the motor appears reliable.  I think some shurflos died from motor failure.

 

..............Dave

[Rebotco]

10 minutes ago, Ssscrudddy said:

As per the title, how many years would you expect a water pressure pump to last for a liveaboard?

 

Reason for asking, 1st pump (shurflo) was already 7 years old when we got the boat (previous owners just leisure cruisers) & it lasted another 2 years & 9 months. I replaced it with a whale watermaster which has only lasted 2 1/2 years. 

Mine have always lasted until they bust.

Hope that helps.  ?

[dmr]

and.....if the pump fails due to the switch failing and runs continuously, or due to a slight leak, then don't throw it away. An old pump can be used for various pumping jobs. I just used mine to drain the calorifier.

 

.................Dave

[Sea Dog]

And, if you haven't already, whilst you've got the pipes off fit a strainer between the tank and the pump inlet.

[ditchcrawler]

30 minutes ago, dmr said:

The Jabsco usually does better than the shurflo, dunno about the whale, I reckon 3 to 4 years, but its all very variable. Stuff that used to be made "at home" is now made overseas etc etc and quality may vary.

 

Get a jabsco and carry a spare. If its the switch that fails you could fit an external switch but they are not cheap. I reckon its either the switch failing or leakage that does for them, the motor appears reliable.  I think some shurflos died from motor failure.

 

..............Dave

I have fitted a 4 Bar pump this time and an external pressure switch cutting off at 2 Bar in a hope that it lasts a little longer

[dmr]

6 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I have fitted a 4 Bar pump this time and an external pressure switch cutting off at 2 Bar in a hope that it lasts a little longer

That's interesting.  I wonder how much pressure a standard pump could make? is it limited by pump design or the pressure switch?

 

I would quite like a bit more pressure on a few occasions but am obviously limited by calorifier safety....and don't have the space for two pumps.

I do however like using the standard Jabsco as they are cheapish and readily available.

 

..............Dave

[frahkn]

I have never had a shurflo last a year so I changed to Jabsco which (so far) have lasted just over two. I should mention that we are on the boat for only about half the year.

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, dmr said:

That's interesting.  I wonder how much pressure a standard pump could make? is it limited by pump design or the pressure switch?

 

I would quite like a bit more pressure on a few occasions but am obviously limited by calorifier safety....and don't have the space for two pumps.

I do however like using the standard Jabsco as they are cheapish and readily available.

 

..............Dave

This is what I bought https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SEAFLO-24v-DIAPHRAGM-WATER-PUMP-60psi-15LPM-boat-caravan-RV-motorhome-fishing/153243837677?epid=6025450755&hash=item23ae0b64ed:g:1FUAAOSwoVZb2VXa:rk:1:pf:1&frcectupt=true

[dmr]

29 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

This is what I bought https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SEAFLO-24v-DIAPHRAGM-WATER-PUMP-60psi-15LPM-boat-caravan-RV-motorhome-fishing/153243837677?epid=6025450755&hash=item23ae0b64ed:g:1FUAAOSwoVZb2VXa:rk:1:pf:1&frcectupt=true

Thanks, that's very interesting. Good to see a fairly detailed specification too. Does it work well and sound ok????

Looks like a fairly new Chinese company. I reckon surflo moved their production to China and a chinese bloke in the factory thought "I can make one of them better and cheaper".

 

..................Dave

[ditchcrawler]

14 minutes ago, dmr said:

Thanks, that's very interesting. Good to see a fairly detailed specification too. Does it work well and sound ok????

Looks like a fairly new Chinese company. I reckon surflo moved their production to China and a chinese bloke in the factory thought "I can make one of them better and cheaper".

 

..................Dave

Its so much a copy it has the same mould marks just the plastic is a different colour, also they have a much longer warranty in the USA than here

[dmr]

5 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Its so much a copy it has the same mould marks just the plastic is a different colour, also they have a much longer warranty in the USA than here

I wonder if companies consider this when they move their manufacturing to China?  The factory making their stuff will have no scruples about producing identical parts for a local start-up.

I was looking for new injectors a couple of years ago and I saw a huge number of very cheap injectors available from China, I then read that Stanadyne had recently moved their injector production to China. Interestingly the Chinese injectors had part numbers corresponding to the obvious number on the Stanadyne unit...but these are actually the part number of just the mounting bracket, the injector number themselves are hidden and requires slight disassembly to find, so I assume all the Chinese injectors have the same internal parts. I expect they run but probably miss performance and emissions specs.

 

.................Dave

[Sea Dog]

43 minutes ago, dmr said:

Does it work well and sound ok????

What's your version of sounding OK for a fresh water pump? I think many look for something as quiet as possible, but I want to hear mine when it kicks in so I know if it runs when it shouldn't be: better that than to find the tank contents in your bilge!

[rusty69]

3 hours ago, rusty69 said:

blimey, that is good,ours gets intermittent use,and usually, our shurflos would last 2 years before leaking.Our current jabsco is 2.5 years and still going strong. Dunno if water hardness effects longevity.

Update. I know I should have kept quiet. The 2.5 year old Jabsco has just started playing up, not switching off. Time to wire up the square d and bypass the internal switch.

[ditchcrawler]

12 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

What's your version of sounding OK for a fresh water pump? I think many look for something as quiet as possible, but I want to hear mine when it kicks in so I know if it runs when it shouldn't be: better that than to find the tank contents in your bilge!

People say to me , why dont you mount that in a box with soundproofing, my reply is I want to know its running.

[rusty69]

People say to me, why don't you mount that in a box with soundproofing, my reply, can you speak up a bit please, I can't hear you over the noise of the pump.

[dmr]

26 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

What's your version of sounding OK for a fresh water pump? I think many look for something as quiet as possible, but I want to hear mine when it kicks in so I know if it runs when it shouldn't be: better that than to find the tank contents in your bilge!

I like to hear mine too, at night I can just hear it from the bedroom (back cabin) but its not loud enough to wake me, I reckon that's about right.

When the pressure switch starts to go it sounds wrong, slows down and hesitates a bit before turning off, but a good one turns off cleanly.

 

...................Dave

[Keeping Up]

I had a few Shurflow pumps; the first couple had metal bodies and lasted about 5 years each, then they changed to plastic bodies and they lasted only 2 years each. Then I started using Jabsco pumps and they have usually lasted 5 years. I always cut the wires to their switch and use a Square-D witch which has lasted 28 years so far.

 

When they introduced pumps which supposedly didn't need an accumulator, used with an accumulator I found they gave all sorts of problems including cycling on and off, but they work fine with the external switch.

[dmr]

8 minutes ago, Keeping Up said:

I had a few Shurflow pumps; the first couple had metal bodies and lasted about 5 years each, then they changed to plastic bodies and they lasted only 2 years each. Then I started using Jabsco pumps and they have usually lasted 5 years. I always cut the wires to their switch and use a Square-D witch which has lasted 28 years so far.

 

When they introduced pumps which supposedly didn't need an accumulator, used with an accumulator I found they gave all sorts of problems including cycling on and off, but they work fine with the external switch.

My Jabsco works fine with an accumulator so maybe its sensitive to layout details. We have a very long run from water tank to pump, then the pump right next to the accumulator.

 

As you have the remote pressure switch how do your pumps fail when they die, is it motor failure, valves, or leakage???

 

................Dave

[Keeping Up]

1 minute ago, dmr said:

My Jabsco works fine with an accumulator so maybe its sensitive to layout details. We have a very long run from water tank to pump, then the pump right next to the accumulator.

 

As you have the remote pressure switch how do your pumps fail when they die, is it motor failure, valves, or leakage???

 

................Dave

I've never had a motor fail. Probably about half because of leakage and half because of valve failure - I did change the valves on a couple of Shurflows but they failed by leakage soon afterwards anyway.

[Jim Riley]

I've had a seaflo 12v fitted, now on 4th year, part time usage. Happy with it. 

[DandV]

We were obviously lucky. Shurflow pump was already a couple of years old when we got our boat. I think it was a plastic body. Still working perfectly five years later, six months occupancy per year and washing machine on board. Pressure switch needed adjusting after replacing the PRV and once a leak on the connecting pipework when the mounting screws had worked loose. Is their life impacted by the quality of the water at the pump inlet? We had a stainless steel tank, no line filter and no accumulator. I saw one in bits, looked well engineered but a shame if the internal pressure switch is of such variable durability.

[Dalesman]

We bought are boat in 2001 and sold it in 2017, never had a new water pump or a new shower pump either.