Pump issues

[Mark H]

Hi chaps

I’ve got 2 Aquatec pumps one is pumping fine at 55 the other (pump 2) is at 90 flow.

Any ideas why flow at no 2 is struggling?

They both have been running at same speed with same flow until a couple of weeks ago.

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[P4dstar]

Have you checked the strainer, it's not blocked or anything? Certainly sounds like a blockage.

 

[Mark H]

Will do
Thanks


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[Nudel]

How old are they?

 

[Mark H]

2 years old


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[Guest]

2 pumps off 1 battery? How often is battery charged

 

[Dezo]

Hi mark it sounds like you have a power problem. I’m no expert but have recently had a similar problem we had to run the engine while working to keep flow correct. Have you tried this?


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[Mark H]

2 pumps off 1 battery? How often is battery charged

Betters is charged every day. We constantly monitor both van battery and 115ah leisure battery showing 12.3v


Sent from my iPad using Window Cleaning ForumsToday we have no water flow coming from pump into reel and Pump sounds normal.


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[Nudel]

Today we have no water flow coming from pump into reel and Pump sounds normal.


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That does sound like an air lock.

 

[kevinc250]

Betters is charged every day. We constantly monitor both van battery and 115ah leisure battery showing 12.3v


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Today we have no water flow coming from pump into reel and Pump sounds normal.

your there or there abouts with the voltage mark,although I would suggest adding another battery to keep the amperage where it should be,aquatec pumps,you've not got a diy build have you?

these pumps are quality and two years old for one of these pumps is just bedding in.

personally I would unscrew those seven allen key screws from the top of the pump to release the diaphragm and clean it all out,my guess is that there may be a bit of resin inside there or some other ****,infact i'd probably clean both of them should the problem pump get better after cleaning,if that solves it mark then I would suggest fitting a filter from the tank before the pumps so you can do some preventative maintainance in the future


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[kevinc250]

That does sound like an air lock.

nudel does have a valid point here,swap the problem pump over to the good working side and if it works fine then you do have a connection problem allowing air to get in,yes I know its all a pain but it is a task that doesn't cost anything in monetary terms and worth trying

 

[P4dstar]

nudel does have a valid point here,swap the problem pump over to the good working side and if it works fine then you do have a connection problem allowing air to get in,yes I know its all a pain but it is a task that doesn't cost anything in monetary terms and worth trying

Thats a good idea but first I would try simply purging the pump. Make sure the water level is higher than the pump's height, disconnect all hoses from the hose reels etc so it just flows out of the pump and onto the floor outside the van and see if you can get it to flow through normally.

 

[Mark H]

Thats a good idea but first I would try simply purging the pump. Make sure the water level is higher than the pump's height, disconnect all hoses from the hose reels etc so it just flows out of the pump and onto the floor outside the van and see if you can get it to flow through normally.

Ive done that Kevin


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[spruce]

Betters is charged every day. We constantly monitor both van battery and 115ah leisure battery showing 12.3v


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Today we have no water flow coming from pump into reel and Pump sounds normal.


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There seems to be a variety of voltages given in charts with regard to the voltage when a leisure battery is flat. The chart I use tells me a battery stood totally idle for 4 hours reading 12.3v is only 25% charged. But another chart indicates it 70% charged, so which chart do you believe? Both charts I saw came from caravan forums.

At that voltage of 12.3v I would be more interested to see what the battery does when both pumps are working. So I would connect both hose reels and poles to the van ports and run the system normally. Whilst its running put a voltmeter or multimeter across the battery terminals to read the voltage of the battery. If its down in the lower 11's or upper 10's then you have a suspect battery. It either needs charging or replacing.

As Kevin has said, you need to swap around pumps. You said you've done that but you still have the problem. Now I'm confused. We have one pump with its controller; we will call it A, working fine and then we have the second pump with its controller; we will call it B, under-performing.

So you swap pump A and pump B around. If pump B works fine with pump A controller, then controller B is suspect. If the pump continues to under-perform using controller A then the pump is suspect.

By using pump A (which is working fine) on controller B and pump A now under-performs then you have confirmed the controller is suspect.

Now run a positive and negative seperate cable from the battery to this suspect controller. If pump A still continues to under-perform then the controller is the issue.

 

[Mark H]

 
There seems to be a variety of voltages given in charts with regard to the voltage when a leisure battery is flat. The chart I use tells me a battery stood totally idle for 4 hours reading 12.3v is only 25% charged. But another chart indicates it 70% charged, so which chart do you believe? Both charts I saw came from caravan forums.
 
At that voltage of 12.3v I would be more interested to see what the battery does when both pumps are working. So I would connect both hose reels and poles to the van ports and run the system normally. Whilst its running put a voltmeter or multimeter across the battery terminals to read the voltage of the battery. If its down in the lower 11's or upper 10's then you have a suspect battery. It either needs charging or replacing.
 
As Kevin has said, you need to swap around pumps. You said you've done that but you still have the problem. Now I'm confused. We have one pump with its controller; we will call it A, working fine and then we have the second pump with its controller; we will call it B, under-performing.
 
So you swap pump A and pump B around. If pump B works fine with pump A controller, then controller B is suspect. If the pump continues to under-perform using controller A then the pump is suspect.
 
By using pump A (which is working fine) on controller B and pump A now under-performs then you have confirmed the controller is suspect.
 
Now run a positive and negative seperate cable from the battery to this suspect controller. If pump A still continues to under-perform then the controller is the issue.
 
 

Thanks spruce
I’ll try that over the weekend


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[spruce]

Thanks spruce
I’ll try that over the weekend


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One of the local windies had an issue with one of his pumps on a 2 man system. The controllers (in his case Varistreams) were connected from the controller to the pump via with the pressure switch still connected up.

When we 'removed' the pressure switch from the circuit the pump has worked fine ever since. It would appear that there was a good connection with the points in the microswitch. This caused a voltage drop because of the increased resistance.

However, if your pump is running but not pumping water, then the problem is inside the pump. It could be a bit of muck inside that is preventing the non return valve inside the pump chamber from closing. On every 'stroke' the pump pushes water out and draws a new charge of water in. If the non return valve isn't seating then the easiest route is to pump that water back into the tank. Refer to Kevins suggestion to remove the pump head and inspect the innards. But be careful about not loosing the hair spring on the non return valve when taking things apart.

Have you cleaned your pumps prefilter like it was suggested. Can you suck water through the pump by using a piece of hose on the van port for example.

 

[Mark H]

 
One of the local windies had an issue with one of his pumps on a 2 man system. The controllers (in his case Varistreams) were connected from the controller to the pump via with the pressure switch still connected up.
When we 'removed' the pressure switch from the circuit the pump has worked fine ever since. It would appear that there was a good connection with the points in the microswitch. This caused a voltage drop because of the increased resistance.
 
However, if your pump is running but not pumping water, then the problem is inside the pump. It could be a bit of muck inside that is preventing the non return valve inside the pump chamber from closing. On every 'stroke' the pump pushes water out and draws a new charge of water in. If the non return valve isn't seating then the easiest route is to pump that water back into the tank. Refer to Kevins suggestion to remove the pump head and inspect the innards. But be careful about not loosing the hair spring on the non return valve when taking things apart.
 
Have you cleaned your pumps prefilter like it was suggested. Can you suck water through the pump by using a piece of hose on the van port for example.

Hi spruce

Pump is running ok with correct voltage.
Plenty of water flow coming from tank.
Yes, pre filter was clean.

After exhausting every avenue the issue seems to be inside the pump I recon. I will try to take it apart as suggested.
One point, interestingly, would you know if we get the standard 12months warranty on the Aquatec pump from gardeners or more?

Will let you know.
Thanks for your help



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[spruce]

Hi spruce

Pump is running ok with correct voltage.
Plenty of water flow coming from tank.
Yes, pre filter was clean.

After exhausting every avenue the issue seems to be inside the pump I recon. I will try to take it apart as suggested.
One point, interestingly, would you know if we get the standard 12months warranty on the Aquatec pump from gardeners or more?

Will let you know.
Thanks for your help



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You will have to talk to Gardiners about that.

The only thing Alex does say on his website is that the warranty isn't applicable if there is no prefilter. 

I've often wondered why he specifies that as no other supplier of any other make of pump does from what I recall seeing. I have never directly asked that question as I have never purchased a pump from him, but my first thoughs are that the pump operation could be susceptible as debris entering into it. (Brodex don't or didn't fit pump filters to the pumps on their new wfp delivery only systems.)

I'm surprised by how much muck is trapped in our pre pump filters even although we take care to not introduce an debris when filling. 

 

[Mark H]

Took the pump apart found few little debris nothing major.
All cleaned up, put back together and guess what?
No joy. Hmm...
Pump works fine but no water flow. So it looks like a replacement pump unfortunately.

On gardeners site the warranty is 12 months. Used mine for 2 years. Not really impressed have to be honest.

How long have you guys had your pumps for?


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[RyeCleanLiam]

IMO you can’t go wrong with a shurflo Pump. The first one I had I inherited it with the van I bought, the guy before me had it for 3 years and I had it for a further 2, so 5 in total, and to this day it still works but I’ve now retired it as a back up. The one I’ve got now is a year old and I expect it to last a long time.