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Back-up Water Pump
Over the years a lot of what I have done to my coaches has been to examine the systems, and try to determine if something failed, how I would cope. We never have a failure of anything as we back into the garage after a trip. All problems occur as we start a trip. So I have developed a game plan for how to cope with a failure. Every pilot on this forum knows exactly how important that process is.
One weak point a whole lot of us has is the water pump. Like a lot of others, my coach has a single water pump. In 22 years I have had one fail. And contrary to my theory on when things fail, that failure happened in my garage between trips. So having a back up plan is important regarding water, and in my coaches the back up plan was to install and have ready a back-up pump.
I just competed the project which was more difficult than I first thought due to space limitations, but it only took a little more care to provide clearances and the end result is now I have peace of mind. I will not have to share toilets or showers with 10,000 of my closest freinds if the main pump fails on a trip.
The small Shurflo located just in front of the big Headhunter pump now stands ready in case the other pump fails. Food for thought to those of you that need some peace of mind.
The pump has shut off valves ahead of and behind it so it is isolated from the system until I need it. It has to be plugged into the outlet so there is no danger it will kick on when it is not wanted because it will be unplugged until needed. I will exercise it periodically to verify it still works. The pump was only $53.
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4 Replies
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Maybe I see it Al, the electric receptical appears to be pointing up (not sure though) if so water and dirt could get into it, not a good thing. I change my mind, that is probably a junction box only and the plug is up and out of sight.
I think Al is more inclined to want polished copper.
Nice job Jon, looks just like it might have come from Liberty.
Wondering, about your old pump, what was the cause of failure and what was the remedy?
JIM
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Country Coach, at least in 99, installed two water pumps as standard equipment. I guess the only problem is that if one pump failed I’d probably not know it until the second failed. For us, a water pump would generally only be a minor inconvience as we are almost always connected to site water.
Nice work!
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Nice job, looks like A-1 approved… One question.. I thought the big mega Headhunter had to have mucho water pressure to operate the toilet.
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The coach has an expansion or accumulator tank so that provides the initial volume and push to water flow and the replacement pump is a 60 PSI pressure cut out, same as the Head Hunter. To get a good flush with the small pump I just have to make sure the pump has cycled off so the system pressure is at its maximum. I installed a back up pump in our 97 also, and while it never delivered the water flow of the Groco or our current Headhunter pumps it did allow us to use the toilet as normal as long as we were sure the pressure was at the max.
Gil is right about having two pumps is false security unless you know when one has failed. If I had two pumps I would try to set up the system so only one was on at a time or I had some warning system in the event of a failure. It might just be easiest to just carry two spares as long as changing them out is easy.
There are no electrical recepticles pointing up. From past experience when there is a catastrophic failure water does not build up to any appreciable depth but leaks from the floor of the bay rapidly out the bay door seals and the water hose inlets which are rubber flaps. I know because the previous pump failure was a pressure switch failure that did not turn the pump off, but allowed pressure to build until the main discharge hose separated. At that point the pump drained the entire contents of a near full water tank and then self destructed by running dry. As long as there was water available to pump it was spraying everywhere so inside the water bay there is really no safe place for anything electric if there are concerns about water.
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