Water Pump Not Working

[dkeen]

2026 Hull 1703

We are at home getting ready to leave on Monday for our first trip.  Cooling down the refrigerator and running the AC.   Just filled my fresh tank for the first time with water and bleach to sanitize as we will not have power or water where we are going.

I set all 5 valves to the appropriate direction.

Flipped pump switch on Seelevel to bring bleach water thru the lines to the faucets.  The little green light did not come on.  The pump did not come on.  Flipped the switch in the bathroom, no change.  The plug on the back of the switch is connected and I wiggled it to make sure there was a good connection.  Did the same for the main plug going into the back of the SeeLevel.  The Battery, Fresh, Grey, and Black level all work correctly.

Checked the fuse and there was continuity.  But when I took the fuse out of the fuse block, the red light next to the fuse did not light up.  I can pull ay other fuse out and the red light comes on next to the fuse.  I think that means there is no power in the circuit to the pump?  I am no electrician, just trying to figure it out. 

Does anyone have any suggestions?

We plan to leave our camping trip early and head to Oliver on Thursday to have our furnace and hot water heater looked at as they do not work either and they were unable to fix over the phone.  It has been a rough start! 

 

     

[Steph and Dud B]

Can you meter the fuse socket with the fuse removed? There should be power on one side.

[Snackchaser]

The pump fuse clearly has power because it's connected to the same bus as the other working fuses.  That red LED blown fuse indicator will only light when there is a load on the circuit.  If the circuit is open, say the pump switch is off, or the pump/switches became disconnected, then there is no load and the LED stays off.  With the DC panel fuse pulled out, try the switching the pump on to see the LED lights.  That will tell you if the is an open connection somewhere in the circuit.  Remember the circuit includes both the hot wire and ground.  It's most likely that an open connection would be at the pump, either one of the the switches, or possibly at the back of the DC panel where the pump circuit connects to the fuse. 

Least likely that it's a broken wire, bad pump, or open ground.  I believe the pumps ground goes directly to the main ground bus, it does not go to the switches, although the switches will have ground potential through the pump motor windings. 

It's possible that the connections to the bathroom switch have come off, but it sounds like you might have checked that already.  

You're on the right track thinking it's an electrical problem because the green light does not work.  However, I would recheck your valve lineup because it sounds like you're trying to draw water in through the boondocking connection.   It is possible that the pump is pressurized and the pressure switch is open preventing the pump from running further. . 

Good luck and let s know what you find.   Geoff

 

 

Edited 5 hours ago by Snackchaser

[Golfnut]

If OLIVER  hasnt change the wire color , its a purple wire from the fuse panel..if you can trace in back from there.. i have an Elite 1.  The wire was loose from a relay plug back by the battery box under the bed, street side..  Has the pump ever worked?  Good luck and stay safe out there..

[Tom and Doreen]

Just for clarity, did you begin the sanitation process by configuring the valves for boon docking mode and pumping the bleach solution into the fresh tank (using the water pump), and did that work? ....Then filling the fresh tank from the fresh tank fill inlet, and configuring the valves for normal mode? ...And now the pump does not work? 

I'm also curious about why your water heater and furnace aren't working, when did you discover that? Did all of these issues happen around the same time?

 

Edited 4 hours ago by Tom and Doreen

[dkeen]

Snackchasser - Pulled the fuse and turned the pump on and no red light in the fuse box.  I did check wiring on the Seelevel, but not under sink as that panel is caulked shut .

Golfnut - The trailer is new and this is the first time I am trying to use the pump so as far as I know it has never worked.

Tom - I have never used the pump (new trailer).  I poured 1/4 cup bleach into the end of the hose and connected it to the fresh water fill.  Filled the tank to 100% and water was draining out in front of tire, changed the valves to the boondocking configuration, turned on the pump and nothing worked.  The lines are not pressurized as nothing comes out of the faucets.  The hot water heater was working when I picked the trailer up last week.  Shame on me for not checking the heater at Oliver, but it was over 90 degrees in Hohenwald.  Headed to the mountains on Monday and the lows are in the 40's so I thought I would learn how to turn on the heater before I left home and it did not work.  There is a W255H code Oliver is helping me trouble shoot.  When we shut everything down and brought back up in order, then had the Truma control panel relearn the connected devices it could not find the furnace or hot water heater.  They think it is a communication error, bad splitter, or a bad CP.  All the data cable connections are secure and the wiring plugs are all connected.     

Thanks for trying to help!  Let me know if you have any other ideas.

We still plan to go on the trip, will just have to haul water, and bring extra blankets.  

[dkeen]

Dud, you are starting to get above my electrical knowledge which is easy to do😉.  I assume I should set to 20V DC, hold black probe to ground bus, then red probe to each side of the fuse with the switch on?

[topgun2]

IF you are worried about heat on your trip - you can use a Mr. Heater "Buddy" heater like THIS ONE.

For over 20 years I've used one of these since they do not require electric and are reasonably good on propane usage.  These heaters also come with CO and overall O2 sensors with automatic shutoff.

Good luck and have fun on your trip!

Bill

p.s.  These heaters are available at many WalMart's and Tractor Supply.

[Tom and Doreen]

2 hours ago, dkeen said:

...  Filled the tank to 100% and water was draining out in front of tire, changed the valves to the boondocking configuration, turned on the pump and nothing worked.  The lines are not pressurized as nothing comes out of the faucets.  The hot water heater was working when I picked the trailer up last week.  Sha

Ok, when using this method of sanitizing you should place the valves in the "normal" configuration. 

Concerning the water heater, was the water heater power switch (access from outside of the trailer on the water heater itself) in the  'on' position ( either up or down ).  Of course don't try this when you're  sanitizing ( water heater water inlet valve should be closed during sanitizing ). 

[Snackchaser]

@dkeen, you're correct about using the tester.  With the black probe on the ground bus, check for voltage with red probe on both sides of the fuse - with the fuse in place.  There should be power on both sides of fuse.  But that is probably not the problem if you already confirmed continuity through the fuse.

If the fuse LED does not light with the switch on, it means that there is an open somewhere in the pump circuit.  Probably a spade off one of the switches, or bad connection somewhere.  Here are some easy checks:

1. There should be a wire connected at the back of the panel directly behind the pump fuse.  Count fuses from the top down to the pump fuse, and count same number of spade terminals from top down in the back — that will be the pump circuit and the easiest connection to check first.  Just verify that the wire hasn’t pulled off the spade.
2. Look at the pump wire connections next, pull on the wires to make sure they are properly spliced together.  
3. Least probable- You can slip your test probe into the pump butt-splices and check for volts to ground.  Check all the pump wires with switch in both positions.  !2 volts on any of these wires means you're getting voltage to the pump.  If you have voltage, then the pressure switch is suspect.  It should be normally closed.  If it failed in the open position, then the pump and fuse indicator won’t work.

If you haven’t found it at this point, then it gets more complicated and probably beyond typical DIY skills.  The switches are 3-way, wired with the power going to one switch and the switch leg going to the other, with travelers in-between.  The bath switch requires removal of the shelf which is a project on its own.  This is further complicated by an in-line relay that handles full pump current so that the switches don’t have to.

Sounds like your going to Oliver anyway, so its probably best to have them fix it.  Even a seasoned RV repair guy would spend a good amount of time finding the problem.

Good luck, Geoff