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Water Pump Sensor
This may be a converter thing, but:
If the PSI coming in from city water is equal to or greater than the PSI your water pump would provide, is there a sensor somewhere near the water pump that would tell the water pump not to come on? Or, regardless of the PSI coming into the coach from city water, the water pump will over-ride the city water and drain the fresh water tank?
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22 Replies
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If you rely on city water you can turn off the switch to the water pump, but if the city water is not consistent with flow or pressure you can leave it switched on and the water pump pressure switch will bring it on when the pressure in the system drops below the cut in pressure.
Some coaches were or are equipped with a pressure limiting device on city water to protect coach components from excess pressure, On my coach it is 45 PSI which is just a few pounds over my pump cut in pressure. If you intend to use city water in lieu of the pump / tank then make sure you have no pressure limiting devices, but also be aware you have no over pressure protection from incoming water.
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Tim, why would you want to ? Just use the source to replenish. We use to fill then shut off, no worries about over or under. Geo.
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Hmm,
What’s the downside of using the city water psi, except if its low psi, then using the water pump?
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City water is a misnomer in the sense you are drawing from the RV park water distribution system. The municipal water delivered to the RV park may be constant, but with the length of lines, size of lines and sharing of water flow with other RVs the delivery of water to your coach can vary in pressure and volume. That is not much of a big deal if you are rinsing some dishes or maybe taking a shower, but if you are doing laundry, showering and maybe flushing a toilet you may not get the flow you need, especially if your coach has been set up with a pressure limiting device. Conversely, there are some very high pressure municiapal water systems and unless you have a pressure limiting device you could have the potential for problems.
Our coaches have been built around a water pump system the converter has determined will deliver the volume and pressure which makes our house plumbing system work best.
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Jon,
From your experience, what’s been the life expectancy of your water pumps? I would think they should last around 10 years.
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My first coach was 17 years old when I sold it, original pump.
My second coach was about 10 years old when I replaced the pump.
My existing coach is 11 years old, original pump.
All my pumps were large and robust and the failure of the second pump was a failed control that allowed the pump to run continuously until the water tank was dry at which point it burned itself up. I suspect, but don’t know that smaller RV type pumps might have a shorter lifespan, but they are cheap and small and easy to replace.
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Jon and I always disagree on this Tim, but if I have good city water and pressure, I use with the pump off. Why run the pump if you don’t have to…
My Headhunter Mach 5 doesn’t like to have the city water inlet valve open, even with city water pressure present, when running the pump and will sometimes cycle continously. Don’t ask me why, my 01 Liberty did the same thing.
If I had crappy city water pressure, less than 45 psi, I would use the pump and forget city water.
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My city water connection has been working fine for the last few days. Leaving the pump turned off. Have plenty of pressure in Shower and toilet flushes fine. I do not know if I have an onboard regulator. But I am going to get one that has a gauge to hook up between water supply and coach. To keep from getting over pressure. Amazon has several quality ones to choose from. Although I think the problem with a lot of parks will be low pressure. I prefer to use the city water connection whenever possible. Our pump is loud and seems to kick on and off a lot during a shower. It is a new pump just like the original that was installed in the coach from Liberty. It took a few days to locate one at a cost of 25000 from a yacht supplier. I figured the original one lasted 20 yrs, and wanted a drop in replacement. To keep from having to re plumb. The old pump did not fail, it just developed a drip around the shaft. I will repair that and have a spare. By using the city water connection, my fresh water tank stays topped off and ready to hit the road. My auto fill switch does not work at this point. But i can see that would be a nice option to have.
How much air pressure should be in the blue pressure tank ?Safe travels, Rocky
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Most pump short cycling and frequent pump operating cycles are related to an issue with the accumulator tank (the blue tank Rocky mentioned) The coach water system should be at zero PSI, and a valve left open, such as a faucet and the accumulator tank should be pressurized to about 2 pounds above the coach water pump cut in pressure.
If the accumulator has failed typically the bladder pressure will not hold very long and eventually it becomes water logged and the pump short cycles. The tanks are cheap and you can get them on line or at big box stores.
On coaches with a Raritan type HW tank it is critical the accumulator tank be in good operating condition and properly charged with air. If it is not the coach water system has no means of dealing with expansion of water in the HW tank as it heats, and over time, (especially if the HW tank has been fit with the wrong pressure/temp relief valve) the HW tank ends begin to bulge. Over time the HW tank literally bulges so much it gets wedged between the bay ceiling and floor and then tank removal requires the use of a sawzall.
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Rocky, wow! $2500? I am either naive to how much better the equipment is in a Liberty or you fat fingered the zero key. I think it should be set at 2lbs below cut in pressure with no water pressure when checking. Jeff
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That’s what I’ve been doing Tom, to save on wear & tear, but it’s always good to hear other’s opinions.
Low psi only effects us when we take showers (laundry, fridge & faucets work fine) so we’ll turn it on then; however, when the city water has good psi, then the pump won’t activate, which goes back to my original question.
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I was visiting with some local to me RVers and they were telling me they had 100 psi where they were at because the local water tower was nearby? IMO, 100 psi would mess up the plumbing. Use the house pump and refill when necessary is what I do.
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That’s why I have an external pressure regulator, as well as my coach has an internal pressure regulator. Both set at 45-50psi.
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Rocky is correct on the pump price. It is a DC powered pump, very robust and it will deliver a lot of water at high pressure. I guess I am trying to get my brain wrapped around why the resistance to using the pump(s) the coach came with for the house water system.
I know all converters use different pumps and set up the water systems a little differently, but regardless it seems those who are afraid to run the house pumps seem concerned about pump life. Do the pumps fail that often if used?
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Tim
Marathons are set up with Grundfos water pumps and Shurflo backup pumps. You have a half inch commercial grade shore water inlet with a 45 psi reg on it. They also install a accumulator which many other convertors did not.
This setup is made to have shore water enter the bus not needing to run your expensive Grundfos. We do this because we can, not because we are afraid to have a pump go down even though we have a back up pump.
In the summer I will not hear my pump run for 3 months when hooked to water.
Later
bv
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