Cant prime water pump

[farmboy6180]

2019 27dbh Cherokee. Cant get water pump to prime. Any recommendations? I even hooked up city water to help. No luck.ive owned many campers. Winterazion valve is off.

[fonzie]

Make sure you have enough water in fresh water tank. Check strainer bowl screwed in properly. Open cold faucet, start pump, move trailer winterization valve by water pump open-close and hope it primes.

[farmboy6180]

Tank full. Strainer new at dealer. I'll try cold. Thank you.

[chickenwing]

Make sure inlet to pump is tight so no air leaks in.

Also had a pump that would not prime one time. Turns out something got lodged in the pump diaphragm. I fixed it by hooking up a 2' length of pipe to the pump inlet, held the pipe up, filled it with water, turned on the pump and gently blew into the pipe. That cleared the debris and the pump then worked fine.

[iflyos]

One other thing to check is the vent line on the tank. On my 17RP, the vent was closed at the tank, and the pump ran fine, but would not pull water until I opened the the vent valve on the tank.

That's now on my "boondocking" checklist

[farmboy6180]

Thanks all. after I filled the tank and walked away for the evening it siphoned all the water out and there was no water in the tank

[fonzie]

So does it works now?

[farmboy6180]

Like a champ

[chickenwing]

Originally Posted by farmboy6180

Like a champ

Good news!

[5picker]

So... is there an issue with your vent/overflow that it siphoned the tank dry?

[farmboy6180]

Good question. Didn't do it this last fill up

[pmsherman]

It's not uncommon that the fresh water tank overflow pipe is inserted well into the tank during manufacture. If this was done and you get a water slosh when the tank is full, or you overflow the tank, water will start draining through the overflow. It will then siphon water from the tank until the water level drops below the end of the overflow pipe.


I had this problem with my 2011 Grorgetown and fixed it by drilling a 1/8" hole in the top of the overflow pipe at its highest point after it left the tank. I'm not concerned about water exiting through the hole because the overflow (plastic) pipe is over an inch in diameter and, with the bottom end not sealed, will never fill up with water. The hole I drilled is under the clamp that attaches the pipe to the top of the compartment which also helps keep dust and dirt out of the overflow pipe. This little hole breaks the vacuum that's necessary for siphoning to occur and I've had no siphoning issues since I did this.


Phil

[farmboy6180]

Good write up. Thank you