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05-27-2012, 10:27 AM
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#1
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Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 27
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Shurflo water pump intermittently on/off
Bought my new to me trailer over a year ago ( 2007 Silverback 33' Forest River 5th wheel) and notice the pump cycles about onces every 15-30 Mins. I cant find any leaks. The dealer installed a new pump at time of purchase last year. Its a shurflo and problaley the cheapest one the dealer could get. Could the pump internally be passing? Causing it to pressure up again then stop then flow back then pressure up again. Also brought my trailer out of a winter sleep a few weeks ago and was testing everything and noticed it cycles a alot more this year. Like about once every 5 minutes now. Water pressure seems lower than normal too.
Thanks
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05-27-2012, 11:00 AM
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#2
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Keller, Texas
Posts: 6,090
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Swinks
Bought my new to me trailer over a year ago ( 2007 Silverback 33' Forest River 5th wheel) and notice the pump cycles about onces every 15-30 Mins. I cant find any leaks. The dealer installed a new pump at time of purchase last year. Its a shurflo and problaley the cheapest one the dealer could get. Could the pump internally be passing? Causing it to pressure up again then stop then flow back then pressure up again. Also brought my trailer out of a winter sleep a few weeks ago and was testing everything and noticed it cycles a alot more this year. Like about once every 5 minutes now. Water pressure seems lower than normal too.
Thanks
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We have a 2012 29rk and our Shurflo 12v pump comes on everytime you open a faucet. It runs a short time and then turns off until you draw water again. I was told it is a "demand" type pump (meaning it runs only when it is "demanded" to.
Have you checked for any small leaks that may not be visible at first glance? I recently posted about our Shurflo pump that had a loose strainer holder that was leaking, but the leakage was very visible.
The Shurflo manual that came with our unit has a section telling how to adjust the pressure regulator, but I haven't done that yet.
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05-27-2012, 11:20 AM
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#3
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Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Moose Jaw, Sask. Canada
Posts: 69
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If you have checked for leaks and there are none -probally back check valve has something loged in it or the valve is falty.
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05-27-2012, 11:21 AM
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#4
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Winston-Salem, NC
Posts: 2,381
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The pump works on pressure, and has a pressure off switch. Since you can't compress water, it doesn't take much of a leak to make it turn back on. There is usually a small air pocket in the water heater, normal, but very small, so any amount of water loss is going to cause the pump to run, (air can be compressed). Sounds like a leak somewhere. Checked the outside shower if you have one? Turn the pump off, and relieve the pressure. Dry all the sinks, tubs, showers, and drain the toilet, and dry it. Either lay newspaper, or paper towels in everything, just one layer, and place the same under all the fittings and lines you can see under cabinets, etc. Don't forget behind the water heater. Now power up the pump, and go away for a few hours. Come back and start checking the paper and see if you can locate a leak. Sounds small, so might be hard to find, but needs finding. Since you said it is worse this year, it ain't gonna fix itself.
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LadyWindrider
2012 Ford F250 ext. Cab 4x4
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05-27-2012, 11:40 AM
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#5
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Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 27
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ayotte
If you have checked for leaks and there are none -probally back check valve has something loged in it or the valve is falty.
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I forgot all about the check valve on these. I'll install another one at the pump and pressure it up then wait....If the pump cycles back on, then it most likely is a leak. - Just to clarify Im not talking about the pump running when I'm using water. Its when I'm not using water and the pump intermittenly turns on to pressure the system back up.
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05-27-2012, 12:11 PM
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#6
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Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 79
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Sounds very much like the issue we had, I fixed it easily by opening up the pump and there there is a diaphragm check valve in there on the discharge of the 3 pump chambers, cleaned the PTFE (or the like) disc and elongated the spring a little by hand to increase the shut off force. Hey Presto no more cycling ..... pretty easy to do if you remove the pump and do it on the bench. I wish I had taken photos as a lot of people are having the same issue.
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05-27-2012, 12:30 PM
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#7
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Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 27
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Quote:
Originally Posted by buzzmonster
Sounds very much like the issue we had, I fixed it easily by opening up the pump and there there is a diaphragm check valve in there on the discharge of the 3 pump chambers, cleaned the PTFE (or the like) disc and elongated the spring a little by hand to increase the shut off force. Hey Presto no more cycling ..... pretty easy to do if you remove the pump and do it on the bench. I wish I had taken photos as a lot of people are having the same issue.
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Also when we boondock camp ( most of the time ) I pump water out of lakes/creeks to fill trailer whenever I can. Its always clear/clean looking water but not filtered. Could be some crap logged in the pump/check valve. We NEVER drink, cook, make coffee, etc. from water out of the taps. Used just for showering and toilet. Bottled water is cheap and lots of it in our trailer.
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05-27-2012, 12:34 PM
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#8
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Keller, Texas
Posts: 6,090
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Quote:
Originally Posted by buzzmonster
Sounds very much like the issue we had, I fixed it easily by opening up the pump and there there is a diaphragm check valve in there on the discharge of the 3 pump chambers, cleaned the PTFE (or the like) disc and elongated the spring a little by hand to increase the shut off force. Hey Presto no more cycling ..... pretty easy to do if you remove the pump and do it on the bench. I wish I had taken photos as a lot of people are having the same issue.
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buzz - it sounds like you did what the Shurflo manual says to do regarding the By-Pass adjustment of the pump, e.g. screwing the iswitch screw in clockwise will raise the shutoff pressure and unscrewing the switch screw counterclockwise will lower the pressure at which the bypass starts.
The manual does caution you to be careful when doing this as the pump will not turn off if full bypass is reached before the shut-off setting.
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05-27-2012, 02:05 PM
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#9
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Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Ottawa Ontario Canada
Posts: 930
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dont take anything apart ... and if you see no leaks .. its not leaking.
most likely it could be one of your bypass valves is not fully open, fooling the the pump into thinking its reached its maximum pressure when the water is running then turns itself off. check all the valving and sure they are in the fully on mode.
d-mo
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2008 Nissan Frontier 4x4
2011 Rockwood A122
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05-27-2012, 02:15 PM
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#10
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: NEPA
Posts: 1,477
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Swinks
Also when we boondock camp ( most of the time ) I pump water out of lakes/creeks to fill trailer whenever I can. Its always clear/clean looking water but not filtered. Could be some crap logged in the pump/check valve. We NEVER drink, cook, make coffee, etc. from water out of the taps. Used just for showering and toilet. Bottled water is cheap and lots of it in our trailer.
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Do you use an external pump (like a 12V bilge pump or the like) to fill your FW tank from a lake or creek? However you do it, it might not be a bad idea to draw that water through a whole-house water filter before it hits your FW tank...that way, it'll remove any large particles that might cause issues with your water pump. Its not going to make biologically unsafe water suddenly drinkable, but that's not an issue for you anyway with the bottled water usage. Just an idea.
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05-30-2012, 08:31 PM
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#11
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Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 79
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B47 no I did not adjust the on off switch setting I left that as it was. I simply cleaned the seat of the check valve and stretch the spring slightly so that it seated again. The shut of head of the pump I don't think would be adjusted but to be honest I cannot remember where or how the pressure was sensed but it was down stream of the check valve.
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2011 F150 Ecoboost Screw 4x4 c/w max tow
2010 Roo 21RS
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05-30-2012, 09:13 PM
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#12
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Keller, Texas
Posts: 6,090
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Quote:
Originally Posted by buzzmonster
B47 no I did not adjust the on off switch setting I left that as it was. I simply cleaned the seat of the check valve and stretch the spring slightly so that it seated again. The shut of head of the pump I don't think would be adjusted but to be honest I cannot remember where or how the pressure was sensed but it was down stream of the check valve.
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Good - as I said earlier, the Shurflo manual does provide instructions for adjusting the switch but they also caution against not having it done by a pro.
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