water pump question

[Intuition]

New R25 - maiden voyage last weekend. the forward fresh water pump - Johnson WPS - pumps water ok, but, when the faucets are off, the pump keeps trying to operate. Is this indicative of a hole in the diaphram? or other problem? is this normal? (I don't think so). Also - there is a brass item about 6" from the pump in the discharge line - what is this? could it be the problem?

 

[captain's cat]

There's a leak somewhere. The pump shuts off when it builds up pressure. Could be that the switch that shuts it off (pressure switch) is defective too.

Charlie

 

[CaptMac]

Yep - sounds like a leak. Could be a loose hose clamp. You may get lucky and see water dripping into the bilge to trace the source. Otherwise, it's time to ask Andrew!

The metal valve located close to the pump might be the check valve which is used when you connect to shore water

Mac

 

[henrym]

My Johnson fresh water pump picked up some foreign matter from the water tank that clogged some of the valves in the pump causing it to continue to run with the faucets off. Fresh water will start to rise in the bilge if a leak is causing the pump to continue running with everything off. I also had a slow leak at the hot water heater that cause the pump to cycle on and off.
Henry

 

[CaptMac]

Just thought of another possibility. The built in pressure switch on ours flooded and corroded away. We had to replace the pump to fix it. Since we were cruising at the time it failed, we had to just keep turning the pump on and off by the switch when we wanted water. A real pain, but fairly easy to fix (with a new pump).

 

[Andrew Custis]

Very rarely have I seen the pump actually have good pressure at a faucet with a leak. I would have to go with the pressure switch. What I have found lately was little plastic shavings inside the pump that were causing this not to close all the way. I pulled one apart in about 20 mintes the other day and had it fixed. Did I mention that being thin with long arms is a benefit for working on boats?

Remember this. You have an inspection port at all of the breaks in the fresh water system. The pump is located behind the cabin heater. We install the cabin heater with hoses long enough that you can just pull it out of the way without disconnecting anything.

 

[Intuition]

problem fixed.
it was plastic shavings from the original manufacture got to the diaphram and caused the problem. Llike andrew said - cleaned it out and no problem.
thanks