Faulty Shurflo Pump?

[jereswain]

Greetings all. I have a stumper. My Shurflo Smart Sensor water pump is giving me trouble. My water system will act like there's air in the lines (sputtering) then go immediately & completely dry. 5 minutes, 1 hour, 1 day later (there's no rhyme or reason), it will come back on, only to fail again. My electrical connections appear sound. The pump works fine when it decides to. I've detected no leaks in the engine room where it's housed.
My dilemma is, "Is the pump failing?" or is something else going on? Any experienced advice, suggestions, shots-in-the-dark or psychic predictions would be most welcomed.
Many thanks.
Stumped in Stuart, FL

[colemj]

Describe better what you mean by it going "completely dry" and by "sputtering"?

If there is a restriction or air in the line or water leaking past the check valves or diaphragm, the pump will slowly turn with a low "putt putt" sound. If this goes on a long time, the thermo breaker goes and the pump shuts off until it cools down.

Basically, anything that fools the computer on it into thinking it is not up to pressure (or it really is not up to pressure) will cause it to slowly turn and overheat and shut down.

Mark

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, jereswain.

[boatbumms]

I seem to be having the same problem with my shurflo extreme water pump, but we are in Panama. We also are CLODs for a while. Ours hammers and an air bubble comes out at regular intervals. Hope some one can help.

[rw58ph]

It sound like the water tank level is low, so the pump is having a hard time drawing/pulling the water. The Eagle tank sit on the bilge floor but the pump is about 2” above the bilge, so when the water gets below the pump it start acting up. So it time to fill the water tank.

[btrayfors]

I avoid Shurflo pumps like the plague! Have had them fail in just two days!

Have tried every other fresh water pump on the market during the past 30 years.

Some years back, I settled on Flojet (NOT Shurflo) pumps. Very different animal.

Unfortunately ITT bought them a few years ago, but so far at least they haven't changed anything except the price.

Have four of them on my boat: bilge pump, bilge/sump pump, fresh water pump, and portable move-around pump. They run for years and years, are easy to service. Now, I don't use anything else.

The only other pump I'd allow onboard is the Whale....good little pumps.

My old dock box was full of failed Shureflos, Raritans, the belt-and piston-type pumps, Jabscos, Grocos, and several other brands. Pure junk.

Ask me to not hold back some day over a cool one :-)

Bill

[jereswain]

Originally Posted by rw58ph

It sound like the water tank level is low, so the pump is having a hard time drawing/pulling the water. The Eagle tank sit on the bilge floor but the pump is about 2” above the bilge, so when the water gets below the pump it start acting up. So it time to fill the water tank.

Ah, if it was only that simple. Tank's full. Best I can reason is that air is somehow getting in the line somewhere. Likely a connection. No doubt the most obscure one. Or the diaphragm's blocked and not making the connection. Power is getting to the pump. The filter's clean. Maybe Shur-flo should be No-flo?

[River Cruiser]

Originally Posted by jereswain

Ah, if it was only that simple. Tank's full. Best I can reason is that air is somehow getting in the line somewhere. Likely a connection. No doubt the most obscure one. Or the diaphragm's blocked and not making the connection. Power is getting to the pump. The filter's clean. Maybe Shur-flo should be No-flo?

I had a similar problem & it was the inline strainer between the tank & pump, the lower the water in the tank the more air it would suck. I replaced the strainer assy & the problem was solved, Good luck

[DeepFrz]

I believe that ITT has sold its pump division and think that it was sold to a Chinese company. I am not certain of this but was doing some pump research a while ago and it seemed that this was so. If anyone knows different please correct me.

[Finistere]

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

I believe that ITT has sold its pump division and think that it was sold to a Chinese company. I am not certain of this but was doing some pump research a while ago and it seemed that this was so. If anyone knows different please correct me.

SHURflo is part of the Flow Technologies Group of Pentair, Inc. (PNR), a diversified operating and publicly held $3 billion company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

[HopCar]

ITT split off it's water handling companies to Xylem Inc. which is a publically traded company located in New York. Xylem now handles the brand names Jabsco, Rule, FloJet, and several others. ITT actually goes back to the old International Telephone and Telegraph Co.

[HopCar]

Like Mark I'm not sure I understand what is happening but I'd first start looking for an air leak on the suction side of the pump. They can be hard to find as there might not be any leaking water to give them away.

[bobconnie]

As hop car said, air leak. On the suction side. An old trick is to dry all suction side joints well and wrap with duck tape titely!! and see if ya can find it ! Not the best but it's worked for me a few times

[DeepFrz]

Thanks Finistere and HopCar

[boatbumms]

Thanx for all the input. I found my problem. It was that cute little strainer that screws onto the pump. It had some how come loose, not the threaded part but the lug part, that is for cleaning the strainer. It was very difficult to put back together but that was the problem and all is working good. I'm sure that I had something to do with it when I moved the pump.I hope that jereswain is as lucky as I was.