Water Pump

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grashley

grashley

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Joined
May 7, 2015
Posts
6,610
Location
Western Kentucky
I am getting lots of things fixed, but would like suggestions on this one.  When on city water, everything works fine.  Decent pressure and flow, no air in the lines after purging.  When I switch to the pump, low, inconsistent pressure, stop and go like purging air, but no burp.  I suspect the pump has an air bubble it does not want to give up.

I just added about 25 gal to the fresh tank, so it is not a low water issue.  I know it is not sucking air from the winterize valve.  I stuck the input hose in a gallon jug of water for a couple days with no level change.

How do I purge the bubble??

On my rig water piping goes from the fresh tank  to the tee / winterize valve    to the pump  to a tee where city water enters the system .......

Can I hook pressurized water to the winterize hose and push it out???      Can I also fill the fresh tank this way???
 
More likely there's a small crack in the line or at a fitting between the tank and the pump, not large enough for the unpressurized water to leak out, but enough to let the pump suck in air as it's pumping water out of the tank.

Or a flapper valve in the pump that's not seating fully, letting pressure in one chamber bleed off.

The pump is self-priming, and there really isn't any place for an air bubble to form.
 
As Lou says, there is no place for a bubble.

You say the pump cycles on/off continuously but flow and pressure are poor?  Does it have a pump bypass valve that enables filling the tank from the city inlet? If so, odds are that valve is open or leaking badly enough that the pump is mostly circulating water right back into the tank via the fill bypass.
 
1.  The pump does not cycle, it runs continuously, until I turn it off.

2.  By design, the fresh tank is gravity fill only.  The fresh tank gravity feeds the pump.  This line contains a tee, connecting a valve to the hose to suck antifreeze to winterize.  This valve is not leaking as I stuck the hose into a gallon jug of water and the level did not change.

3.  I am not getting air out of the faucet, just water flow similar to purging air.  Low flow, no flow, moderate flow, low flow, moderate flow, stop, low flow....

Pump is a Flojet  Model  03526-144
 
I had a pump years ago that was acting up. Don't remember what it was doing but I ended up removing the end cap and found that all the screws holding the diaphragm were real loose.
 
You guys let me down a little bit!  :-\  Looking on YouTube for how to take the pump apart, I found a video suggesting CLEANING THE FILTER.  By the looks of it, this was its first cleaning.  It was 90 % blinded!  Runs MUCH better, but still not good enough.  I let it build up some pressure, then opened the kitchen faucet.  I got decent flow, but in 10 sec you could see the pressure dropping.  I guess it is time to do what Rene said.  :eek:  It has been so hot and humid that by the time it is cool enough to work outside, it is too dark to see well in the bay and too small an area for a light.
 
grashley said:
I found a video suggesting CLEANING THE FILTER.  By the looks of it, this was its first cleaning.  It was 90 % blinded!  Runs MUCH better, but still not good enough.
Click to expand...

That was the next idea I was going to mention  . ;D :D ;)
 
It probably needs a good cleaning but the parts are cheap enough I would probably just replace the diaphram and check valve. The youtube vids are great for showing how and how to adjust the pressure switch afterwards. If the inlet screen was that plugged the check valve and diaphram are probably gunked up too. For a quick fix you can run some vinegar into the pump through the winterizing tube and let it sit for 20 minutes or so then run it for a few seconds and let it sit again. That may dissolve more calcium but ultimately replacing those parts are a better long term solution.
 
Actually, I did run 7 GAL of  straight vinegar thru the pump when I cleaned the water heater last month.  That probably broke open the hole in the gunk I found!

When looking for parts, I found none for this pump.  As one video suggested, if the parts cost half the price of a new pump, buy the new pump!  I think this $50 pump fits that category.  I will examine the pump more closely before I go that route.
 
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