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Shurflo pumping?


Fruity

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When I apply power to my Shurflo water pump it sounds like it's running without any water load, yet the water tank is full. It may not be relevant but this follows a problem when my stove was out all yesterday and last night when the temperatures plummeted. Could it be frozen water in the inlet pipe so not reaching the pump? Or perhaps crud in the water causing a blockage? Or a failure within the pump itself?

 

Grateful for any useful suggestions...

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Frozen tank connection pipework is feasible given what you say. In November 2010 I found it necessary to pull the front step out slightly to let some warmth under the front deck even when we were living aboard and keeping the stove going 24/7. It got very cold under there where our water pump is until I started doing this. Mind you we did see -16C some nights and some days stayed well below zero over a period of about 8 weeks that time!

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When I apply power to my Shurflo water pump it sounds like it's running without any water load, yet the water tank is full. It may not be relevant but this follows a problem when my stove was out all yesterday and last night when the temperatures plummeted. Could it be frozen water in the inlet pipe so not reaching the pump? Or perhaps crud in the water causing a blockage? Or a failure within the pump itself?

Something you cannot eliminate!

Even with plastic piping and a fire 24/7, it only needs a catalyst to cause an amazing freezing event, in my case the bathroom tap sat underneath the vent!

 

Strangely, my pump area under the step is well insulated and rarely freezes, but the area where the piping comes through into the cabin is obviously a weak spot! I find -5 is ok, but as soon as it gets down to -10, its time to give up.

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The cold conditions were misleading... I braved a pump removal and strip down today. Lots of little white plastic pipe shavings were in the filter slots. All cleaned out and reassembled and it now runs better than it ever has as long as I've had the boat. Tickled pink, the dog dragged me up the pub for a bag of crisps to celebrate :rolleyes: Thanks for your input guys and the stripdown/clean/rebuild turned out to be a job far easier than I thought it'd be :cheers:

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Our Shurflo does not self prime very well, need to bleed the pipe connections right up to the pump and get a bit of the wet stuff into it, then it is fine.

Mine is the same, I've found that cracking the PRV on the water heater helps. I think the taps and shower mixer have sprung non return valves which don't allow air to pass easily.

 

I've also got one of those plumbing flexibles attached to the PRV outlet, if things are still tricky I can carefully and gently suck some air through (when the heater isn't hot!)

 

When I get around to it I'll put in a tee just before the pump with a valve that can bleed water off say to the shower tray.

 

To monitor water use I've wired a quartz analogue alarm clock so it runs while the pump is running. The tank is a bit small so only lasts for just over an hour of pump run time, but the clock gives a pretty good guide to when it's getting empty. I just turn it to the hour soon after filling and time it from there. :)

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

Edited by smileypete
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