Potable water pressure

BradleyD

New member
Joined
Jul 7, 2018
Messages
2
Fluid Motion Model
R-21 EC
Hull Identification Number
Fmlc2819i617
I recently ran the water tank dry. After refilling the tank with water and operating in the sinks around the boat there seems to be a more severe surging in the water pressure. Is there an accumulator or shock obsorber in the system or should the water out of the sink be surging as the pump cycles on and off? It’s cycles approximately six times per second with a rather severe spitting. There is not air in the system it is just water.
 
A few things. There could still be air in the system and it has to work out, but that should not take long. Did you mess at all with the filter screen at the pump? If you did, it may not be seating correctly and sucking in air. There is a small "O" ring on the cap. Make sure it is in place.
 
When the pump ran dry likely it lost its prime and just pumped air which it sounds like it’s still doing by the rapid operation and spitting. It can be harder than you would think to get a pump to reprime but once it is primed it’s fairly straightforward to get rid of the air and stop the spitting.

The good news is once the prime returns to the pump you’ll be fairly easily able to tell as the sound will slow and become deeper as the pump bites down on water.

The efforts for priming and purging go hand in hand, you may need to kinda push water into the pump any way you can. Make sure the water tank is fully full, this will create any head pressure that it can and connect a garden hose to the water system pressure inlet on the side of the boat and pressurize that.

You’re ensuring water on the inlet side of the pump and next dropping pressure on the outlet side of the pump.

Then while running the pump, open outlets anyway you like, try close to the pump and work your way away, open furthest outlets and work your way closer, try them one at a time, try them all open at the same time. It’s kind of a crap shoot here, you just keep pumping and flowing until you hear that change of tone in the pump that means you’ve succeeded!

More good news is these diaphragmatic pumps won't’ be damaged while awaiting water like the raw water pumps with their impellers. Hope this helps.
 
Water tanks sometimes have a small amount of manufacturing dust in the very bottom - that is sucked into the screen before the pump when the tank runs dry.

If priming doesn't help, remove and clean the "pump protector" or inlet screen - it is a good idea to do this when the boat is a year or so old in any case.
 
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