Water pump and a surprise!

[DogHaus]

Our window leak repairs are still looking good, I've driven it on the open road all by myself, and the inside electrical system seems to be working too now that we replaced the battery. Started in on the water system today and found that we have no gray water tank! Guess we'll have to adapt to that.
We have not been able to get the water pump to start. When we toggle the switch (it's a 2005 13' Scamp) beside the sink, the water pump makes a brief noise, but quits immediately. Hubby thinks it's either seized, or needs a good thumping. Any suggestions?
I am having terrible luck searching the forums for water pump repairs. There have got to be some threads out there, but search just doesn't seem to be working for me. I use Firefox. Any tips on that? - Heidi (countdown to first Scampout: 7 days)

[Bill K]

This is hard to answer without sounding condescending, but I will try anyway.

If you have water in the water tank and the piping is full of water to the faucets the pump will come on till it builds pressure and the pressure switch shuts it off.

If everything is working ok then when you open a faucet the pump will start running until you close the faucet and it will stop again.

Bill K

Originally Posted by Doghaus

Our window leak repairs are still looking good, I've driven it on the open road all by myself, and the inside electrical system seems to be working too now that we replaced the battery. Started in on the water system today and found that we have no gray water tank! Guess we'll have to adapt to that.
We have not been able to get the water pump to start. When we toggle the switch (it's a 2005 13' Scamp) beside the sink, the water pump makes a brief noise, but quits immediately. Hubby thinks it's either seized, or needs a good thumping. Any suggestions?
I am having terrible luck searching the forums for water pump repairs. There have got to be some threads out there, but search just doesn't seem to be working for me. I use Firefox. Any tips on that? - Heidi (countdown to first Scampout: 7 days)

[DogHaus]

Thanks Bill, I was so hoping your answer was going to be THE answer. But my dear hubby who is pretty savvy and grew up with motor boats which have similar systems apparently, says that he did have it open, also tried to flush the toilet, and he removed some hose connection to see if water would come out directly from the pump. All resulted in that short attempt to do something, then it quit. He described it like a car starter motor that gets stuck...needs a little help...then it goes.
p.s. your answer did not sound condescending at all. I am a rank newbie!

[Donna D.]

Heidi, I don't know ifyou have a Shurflo pump or not, but see if this troubleshooting guide in the Document Center may help: Fiberglass RV - Document Center - ShurfloWaterpumpTroubleshooting

[DogHaus]

Thanks Donna D., will do.

[DogHaus]

Not quite sure how this happened, but our water pump came to life! We hooked up to the house hose bib and the sink faucet wouldn't work. Simple washer replacement later (we even had the right size hanging around in the basement ) and voila, it worked! So did the toilet. So we went back to the holding tank and water pump system, and that works too. I think you were on the right track Bill. As a bonus, we also found mud daubers had completely plugged the freshwater tank overflow pipe, and the fill pipe for that tank has a leak that has apparently been leaking into the compartment for a while. More carpet pulled up...
-Heidi and the increasingly happier Scamp

[Kevin A]

We had an issue where we had no water coming out our gray water outlet. After much head scratching and checking of the pipes, I found that spider had built a web inside the waste water outlet after I left the cover off for a few days. It was surprising how much resistance that web gave! I stuck a piece of coat hanger in the inlet and pulled out the web... voila! The grey water came out fine again! I also remember to put the inlet cover on every time now, too! It's interesting what a bunged up washer, clogged faucet strainer, or spider's web can do to your system.

[DogHaus]

At least we haven't had any mice find their way in yet. They are very pugnacious around here.