# Water Pump Problems



## bearlyrunning (Sep 10, 2005)

Hi everyone. I have been having a problem with my water pump not working. I can hear the pump running, but no water. I looked at the pump, the connections seem good. Is there a screen somewhere that could be clogged? The system worked fine with city water hooked up last weekend. I opened a faucet for 5 minutes, hoping it was air, but cannot hear any air gurgling.
Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I had to skip dry camping this weekend and instead stay in a motel in Fresno








, reminded me why I like to Outback it now..








Thanks,
John


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## PDX_Doug (Nov 16, 2004)

John,

Check the various valves in the lines around the pump. It sounds like you may have the winterizing bypass open. The city water is a whole different system, so it working is not an indication that the pump portion is right.

Happy Trails,
Doug


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## ee4308 (Aug 23, 2005)

bearlyrunning said:


> Hi everyone. I have been having a problem with my water pump not working. I can hear the pump running, but no water. I looked at the pump, the connections seem good. Is there a screen somewhere that could be clogged? The system worked fine with city water hooked up last weekend. I opened a faucet for 5 minutes, hoping it was air, but cannot hear any air gurgling.
> Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I had to skip dry camping this weekend and instead stay in a motel in Fresno
> 
> 
> ...


John,

Did you fill the "fresh water tank" before trying to use the water pump?


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

I have to ask...is the fresh water tank full?









If so, and you're still not geting water, I would recommend do a little test with the pump to see if it's pulling/pumping water.

1) Locate the water pump and remove the intake line from the fresh tank (like you're going to winterize)

2) Place this hose into a small container of water and have someone turn on the water.

3) Does the pump pull the water out of this container?

4) If not, then you need to get the pump fixed. Seeing how you have one hose off, just remove the rest and take it to a service facility (rather then taking the trailer in)


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## sircarryalot (Jun 23, 2005)

bearlyrunning said:


> Hi everyone. I have been having a problem with my water pump not working. I can hear the pump running, but no water. I looked at the pump, the connections seem good. Is there a screen somewhere that could be clogged? The system worked fine with city water hooked up last weekend. I opened a faucet for 5 minutes, hoping it was air, but cannot hear any air gurgling.
> Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I had to skip dry camping this weekend and instead stay in a motel in Fresno
> 
> 
> ...


What they all said. If I could add, you may want to check the fuse. Remember replace with the same one.

Strikey Mikey


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## sircarryalot (Jun 23, 2005)

[quote name='bearlyrunning' date='Mar 12 2006, 09:08 PM']
Hi everyone. I have been having a problem with my water pump not working. I can hear the pump running, but no water. I looked at the pump, the connections seem good. Is there a screen somewhere that could be clogged? The system worked fine with city water hooked up last weekend. I opened a faucet for 5 minutes, hoping it was air, but cannot hear any air gurgling.
Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I had to skip dry camping this weekend and instead stay in a motel in Fresno







, reminded me why I like to Outback it now..








Thanks,
John
[snapback]90194[/snapback]​[/quote







Sorry I missed the part where you said I can here the pump running.

Strikey Mikey


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## bearlyrunning (Sep 10, 2005)

It has water to the top. It worked last fall when I bought the trailer during my check. I will look for a winterizing valve tommorow, I just blew the lines out and emptied the heater to winterize it - rare for it to drop below 32 here.Maybe something went over from the storage area and moved it, not likely, but maybe.
Then I will pull a intake line and check the suction like ORegon Camper suggests. 
Thanks,
John


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## Moosegut (Sep 24, 2005)

bearlyrunning said:


> It has water to the top.
> [snapback]90209[/snapback]​


John,

You said "It has water to the top," so can I assume you know that because you filled it and it overflowed back out the fill and the vent holes? The same thing happened to me with my first TT. For our first winter camping trip I filled the TT just before we left, so I know it was full. When we got set up I turned on the water and heard the pump but no water came out. I was so disappointed that the lines were frozen. So we had no water Friday night - I had to buy a couple of gallons.

Saturday morning it was about 28 degrees. I had left the cabinets open all night to allow the lines to thaw but I still could not get any water. We had breakfast, made lunch for our hike and headed out. It was an unseasonable 40 degrees that day and we got back about 4:00 in the afternoon - lines were still frozen. At that point I figured something must be wrong. I carry three 6 gallon jugs so I went to fill them so we'd have water for the rest of the weekend. When I got back, just for the sake of trying something, I emptied one into my fresh water tank. After I finished I stepped back and heard running water. My lines weren't frozen! The pump wasn't bad! *I FORGOT TO CLOSE THE PETCOCK ON THE FRESH WATER TANK* after my last camping trip!!!

The moral of the story is - Put another five gallons in the tank and check to see if the petcock is open before you go crazy trying to track down a problem with the pump.







These pumps rarely break down. Try the painfully, simply, obvious first.

My 2 cents.

Scott


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## HootBob (Apr 26, 2004)

Check the outside petcock "Good point Scott"
Try puttting a gallon of water in a jug and feeding it to the pump from the jug just to makes
sure the pump has suckion









Don


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Check the out side city water connection when you are running the pump. If the check valve in the city water connection has been displaced it can back flow.

There is also a discharge check valve on the pump that could be leaking back. Running the pump dry will not hurt it so open all faucets and run the pump and look closely at the pump it there is air in the pipes you will see it moving though the filter and check valve.

Let us know what you find.


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## Thor (Apr 7, 2004)

HootBob said:


> Check the outside petcock "Good point Scott"
> Try puttting a gallon of water in a jug and feeding it to the pump from the jug just to makes
> sure the pump has suckion
> 
> ...


Ditto.

If all else fails try priming the pump. I know the pump is supposed to be self priming but you never know what happens when you blow your system out.

Thor


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## hatcityhosehauler (Feb 13, 2004)

Also check and make sure the low point drains are closed. With them open and city water connected you will still get water, as the city water is pressurized. When working off the pump, and source of air will inhibit the pump from priming itself.

I would definately look at the city water check valve though. That is you most likely culprit.

Tim


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## W4DRR (May 17, 2005)

hatcityhosehauler said:


> Also check and make sure the low point drains are closed. With them open and city water connected you will still get water, as the city water is pressurized. When working off the pump, and source of air will inhibit the pump from priming itself.
> 
> I would definately look at the city water check valve though. That is you most likely culprit.
> 
> ...


I'm glad you mentioned that, because I thought it was my imagination. I de-winterized over the weekend, and I did my initial flush using the pump, before switching to the city water connection. It worked fine until I opened the low points. The pump was running, but no water was coming out. Apparently, the cold water low point ties in ahead of the pump. That doesn't seem right, but that would explain what I saw. Closing the low points, everything worked fine again.









Bob


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## bearlyrunning (Sep 10, 2005)

If all else fails try priming the pump. I know the pump is supposed to be self priming but you never know what happens when you blow your system out.

Thor

This was the trick. I checked low points, petcock, connections, then started on the pump. Took that apart, no visible problems. I finally primed it with it unhooked, and got water and suction instantly. 
Future mod- a winterizing kit off of the intake side so I can prime it easily. I think when I blew the lines out the pump was totally dry as well-no water inside in the diaphragm chambers.
Thanks, everybody! 
As always you guys were a wealth of information!
John


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## huntr70 (Jul 8, 2005)

You guys have petcocks on the fresh water drain??

Mine just has a cap that you have to take off to drain.

Steve


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## hatcityhosehauler (Feb 13, 2004)

Some of the trailers came with petcocks. Whether these were installed at the factory, or by the dealers is the mystery. I know the dealership that I bought my Outback at did a lot of little things prior to delivery that others dealers don't do. Making sure the tank labels were right is one of them, I know that cause they did it right in front of me. They also mounted all the bathroom hardware and the paper towel holder.

I do only have caps on my drains, but, I can always head done to the Home Cheapo, or Lowes when they open up in the early summer (across the street from the cheapo) and get some I'm sure.

Tim


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## RW98 (Mar 25, 2005)

bearlyrunning said:


> Hi everyone. I have been having a problem with my water pump not working. I can hear the pump running, but no water. I looked at the pump, the connections seem good. Is there a screen somewhere that could be clogged? The system worked fine with city water hooked up last weekend. I opened a faucet for 5 minutes, hoping it was air, but cannot hear any air gurgling.
> Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I had to skip dry camping this weekend and instead stay in a motel in Fresno
> 
> 
> ...


Mine was doing the same thing as you describe last fall when I went to winterize the Outback. I took it back to the dealer and they had to put a new one on it. The old one, which was only 6 months old went bad.


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## nascarcamper (Jan 27, 2005)

You can add a drain valve to your tank real easy. It's 1/2" pipe thread. I used a brass street elbow and a threaded pex valve for mine. Fits snug against the underbelly.


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

Hey bearlyrunning...glad you got things worked out.


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## HootBob (Apr 26, 2004)

bearlyrunning Glad to hear you got it straighten out









Don


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## Thor (Apr 7, 2004)

HootBob said:


> bearlyrunning Glad to hear you got it straighten out
> 
> 
> 
> ...


ditto

Thor


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