Water pump won’t pressurize lines

[VBistro]

Hi there. Searched here and can’t find an answer. 
 

just dewinterized Ollie and set about doing a system sanitization after all lines were flushed of antifreeze. 
 

Here’s where we’re at:

Water tank full, hot water tank bypassed, valves in normal configuration, drain valve closed. 
 

When we flip the water pump to on, it runs forever and never pressurized the system to the point where anything will run from any faucet - not even spitting g water/air. Has run for several 3-5 minute periods. Does it just need more time?
 

(We first noticed this when the system would not pull a bleach solution into the fresh water tank while in boondocking mode, so used a hand pump to get that solution in, and then switched to normal mode, hoping that would work better. )
 

we’ve also attempted putting nose up and nose down to see if that could help dislodge any air in the lines, all to no avail. 
 

any suggestions?

 

photo, just because

[VBistro]

1 minute ago, VBistro said:

Hi there. Searched here and can’t find an answer. 
 

just dewinterized Ollie and set about doing a system sanitization after all lines were flushed of antifreeze. 
 

Here’s where we’re at:

Water tank full, hot water tank bypassed, valves in normal configuration, drain valve closed. 
 

When we flip the water pump to on, it runs forever and never pressurized the system to the point where anything will run from any faucet - not even spitting g water/air. Has run for several 3-5 minute periods. Does it just need more time?
 

(We first noticed this when the system would not pull a bleach solution into the fresh water tank while in boondocking mode, so used a hand pump to get that solution in, and then switched to normal mode, hoping that would work better. )
 

we’ve also attempted putting nose up and nose down to see if that could help dislodge any air in the lines, all to no avail. 
 

any suggestions?

 

photo, just because

We’ve also tried to “prime” the system by running city water through the lines before trying the pump. City water works just fine, but when we switch to the pump….nothing. 
 

we’ve also removed the inline filter at the pump, and that was totally clean. 
 

the only thing we haven’t tried is removing the pump I let and manually “filling” the pump. Mostly because of the awkward configuration - hard to reach and fill. 

[John E Davies]

It sounds like an internal failure of the pump, like a bad one-way check valve. Try removing the inlet filter bowl, filling it with water and putting it back on. If that won't prime it, you will have to remove it and either open it up out get a replacement. 

One good thing, the pump is super easy to work on in an Ollie....

John Davies

Spokane WA

[VBistro]

Thanks, John. 
 

Filling the filter  bowl is enough water to prime?  That’s only like 10ml. Will try it in the morning. 

Sad. About to go on our first camping trip next week. Dry camping, as luck would have it. How does a pump fail when it’s been used for fewer than 5 days?

mb
 

 

[John E Davies]

22 minutes ago, VBistro said:

Filling the filter  bowl is enough water to prime?  That’s only like 10ml. Will try it in the morning. 

Sad. About to go on our first camping trip next week. Dry camping, as luck would have it. How does a pump fail when it’s been used for fewer than 5 days?

The filter bowl is only a few inches from the pump inlet port, it should be enough, if there is any suction being created. You can remove the inlet hose and put your finger over that open end, you should feel strong suction with the pump running. It is most likely that a defective part will fail when it is brand new, we call that teething pains. My water heater board blew a resistor in the first week. I replaced it with a used board of unknown age and it has been fine ever since. You should be able to get a pump at any RV store, swap it out yourself, and repair the original to keep for for a spare, unless you want to go through the huge time wasting hassle of trying for a warranty repair.

https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/2036-suburban-hot-water-heater-failed-a-dealer-repair-story-and-lesson/

John Davies

Spokane WA

[bhncb]

Just out of your picture at the top, there is a flex line between that tee fitting and the pump inlet strainer. Disconnect this line from the tee and check for a blockage in the end. It may be a ball of plastic shavings like this:

[VBistro]

I’ll try that too. Thanks

[VBistro]

20 minutes ago, John E Davies said:

. You should be able to get a pump at any RV store, swap it out yourself, and repair the original to keep for for a spare, unless you want to go through the huge time wasting hassle of trying for a warranty repair.

https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/2036-suburban-hot-water-heater-failed-a-dealer-repair-story-and-lesson/

John Davies

Spokane WA

If it is defective, I’ll likely replace and still file For warranty. Worst case, I have a spare water pump…

[VBistro]

And the verdict is….no suction. I’ve ordered a replacement pump that will be here on Tuesday.  Pretty frustrated right now. I’ll also open a ticket with Oliver in the morning so they know the issue. Wish this had happened on our shakedown nights in TN instead of right before our first real camping adventure. Oh well. This isn’t our first rodeo with sh*t going wrong on brand new campers - I just had higher hopes this time.
 

(I also checked the inlet hose…no obstructions at all). 

[VBistro]

UPDATE:  Operator error. Apparently hubby pulled the hose out of the liquid in the bucket while in boondocking mode, with the pump running. This caused vapor lock that could only (and easily) be solved by hooking up city water to the boondocking port. This “flushed” the system and the pump works just fine. 
 

We still plan to travel with a spare pump. It’s kind of critical to boondocking for us. 
 

Now to find and correct our propane leak…

[Mike and Carol]

11 minutes ago, VBistro said:

We still plan to travel with a spare pump. It’s kind of critical to boondocking for us. 

We also carry a spare water pump.  We had ours quit once while we were on the road and couldn’t get any water flow.  As it turned out, we had some rough roads and the two wires that connect to the bottom of the pump came lose.  Once I figured out how and where to reconnect them all was fine.  It happened a couple of years later and I got a good crimp on the connectors so now they stay.  We realized a spare pump was a small price to pay for a critical trailer component!  Mike

[SeaDawg]

We probably live in the edge, but we don't carry a spare pump, even though we replaced ours once on 14 years. Maybe I should, as we're approaching that 8 year replacement mark... something to think about.

[topgun2]

14 hours ago, SeaDawg said:

We probably live in the edge, but we don't carry a spare pump

I'm out there on the edge with you - scary!😵

I always have two milk jugs filled with water to be used to flush the toilet and I generally use a "solar shower" for bathing.  Either bottled water or drain it from the fresh water tank for things like cooking and brushing teeth.  Certainly I can get by with a mal-functioning water pump for a couple of weeks plus.

Bill