Jabsco sudden pump fail

[ty.gregory]

The pump usually works fine, but every few weeks it won't work for me. No suction of water. I have a kid come in and he fixes it right away. He says he simply pumps it until it starts to draw water again. I have tried this technique numerous times on my own and get nowhere. Is there a trick to this I don't know about? I pay the lad 20 bucks every time he fixes it, I'm not sure he wants me to know his method.
Thanks for any help,
Ty

[jamhass]

I assume this is your fresh water system.

Mine would do this if I let a tank run dry. Switching to the other tank, pump would not prime unless I opened a faucet to allow the pump to prime. Sometimes took a coupe of minutes.

[ty.gregory]

No, this is salt water. I put fresh water into basin when this problem comes up, and it does nothing for priming. If there's a faucet to open I haven't found it.

[jamhass]

Originally Posted by ty.gregory

If there's a faucet to open I haven't found it.

Gotta be pumping to something. Deck Wash?? Feed pump for watermaker? Water has to go somewhere or it won't likely prime.

[SVHarmonie]

Originally Posted by ty.gregory

The pump usually works fine, but every few weeks it won't work for me. No suction of water. I have a kid come in and he fixes it right away. He says he simply pumps it until it starts to draw water again. I have tried this technique numerous times on my own and get nowhere. Is there a trick to this I don't know about? I pay the lad 20 bucks every time he fixes it, I'm not sure he wants me to know his method.
Thanks for any help,
Ty

Jabsco makes a bizllion different kinds of pumps... which one is this one and what's it for???

[waterman46]

Originally Posted by ty.gregory

No, this is salt water. I put fresh water into basin when this problem comes up, and it does nothing for priming. If there's a faucet to open I haven't found it.

From the sound of it, you are talking about a salt water pump for your galley sink. So putting water into the basin should have zero effect as it won't prime the inlet side of a water pump. Is this a hand pump or electrical pump?

Sounds like you have a unique situation that it might be hard to diagnose by posting. Why not just watch what the guy who fixed it does, and talk with him about it?

When you post be sure to add enough info for us to help you. Just saying it's a pump is not very much to go on.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by ty.gregory

The pump usually works fine, but every few weeks it won't work for me. No suction of water. I have a kid come in and he fixes it right away. He says he simply pumps it until it starts to draw water again. I have tried this technique numerous times on my own and get nowhere. Is there a trick to this I don't know about? I pay the lad 20 bucks every time he fixes it, I'm not sure he wants me to know his method.
Thanks for any help,
Ty

I'd watch the kid. He is priming the pump or relieving back pressure. Either that or he is younger than you and can pump long enough.

[Mike Banks]

Maybe he sucks on the outlet until he has primed the pump?

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Mike Banks

Maybe he sucks on the outlet until he has primed the pump?

Sounds odd but could be correct.

[Tin Tin]

If the pump needs a prime to work, one way to get it to prime without sucking or bleeding is to operate the pump for 3 seconds, let it sit for 3 second, operate for 3 seconds, let it sit - do this a couple more times. No guaranteed to work, but if there is a little water in the line the pump will push some up, when you let it sit it should gravity feed back to the pump, eventually you may get enough water to let the pump run continuously.

[BruceS]

Maybe fix the air leak on the suction side?

[KP44]

We need to know which pump and/or what kind of pump. Vane, diaphragm, impeller? What does it do? And why does it lose its prime?

[gotjeepzj]

It’s probably the 73010 Jabsco. On mine it was very loud and would lose its prime due to a shaft seal leak. Tried fixing it several times the I installed a check valve on the raw water side. It kept the water near the pump in the line and helped.