Need help ASAP...water pump not working!

[elizabell]

Hi all, new to the forum, but have a big issue (well big to me). Yesterday my water pressure switch (on the electrical panel) switched to the off position after being on for as long as I can remember. Now the water doesn't come out of the sink faucet. I am not at all technical, but with some guidance I think my husband can figure it out.
We checked the water pump last night after motoring for about 2 hours through the channel, it was bone dry. No water on the bottom, nothing felt wet or overly hot. If I move the switch to 'on', the pump comes on momentarily (I can hear it) and then the switch trips again and everything shuts off. I get a little water out of the faucet, but not much. My husband commented that the filter looks very dirty, and maybe we have to change it, but I find it hard to believe that would cause the switch to trip.

Any suggestions?? We are liveaboards and need to water for obvious reasons. One more thing, since this started there has been a weird/bad odor coming from the salon. The water pump thing is under a settee in the salon and so is the bilge. I did empty out the bilge yesterday (it fills up because we have a leak around the engine) but it is usually just sea water. My husband thought that when I pumped out the bilge I stirred up some mold/algae that is causing the smell. He said these two events are just coincidence, but I thought I'd mention it just in case.

Anyway, thanks for your help!

[sabray]

turn off circuit disconnect the wires from the pump wrap wire ends so they cant short turn breaker back on. does the circuit trip off. If yes you have ashort in the wiring. If no the motor may be seized or shorting perhaps the inlet is clogged. would help if you could identify the pump. make and type

[psteele235]

Is there water in the tank?

[Hud3]

Originally Posted by elizabell

... If I move the switch to 'on', the pump comes on momentarily (I can hear it) and then the switch trips again and everything shuts off. I get a little water out of the faucet, but not much. My husband commented that the filter looks very dirty, and maybe we have to change it, but I find it hard to believe that would cause the switch to trip...

The cardinal rule of fixing things on boats is to try the easiest things first. Change the pump filter, or clean the screen, depending on what you have. That might just do the trick.

p.s. welcome to Cruisers Forum!

[elizabell]

Thank you for the suggestions! I believe it is a screen on the water inlet, I will try to clean that first. I can see water flowing through the screen when the pump is on before it trips the breaker, so I am pretty sure there is still plenty of water left in the tanks. I will post the make/model when I get home from work later today.

If cleaning the screen doesn't work I will check to make sure there is not a short in the circuit per sabray's suggestion. If it is an inlet clog, is there anywhere else I can look for clogs besides the filter/screen?

Thanks again!

[Hud3]

After cleaning the pump screen, check the pickup tube in the water tank. If something has blocked the inlet to the tube, you can dislodge it by uncoupling the pvc tubing between the pump and the tank and blowing into it, forcefully.

[elizabell]

Okay, I did some investigating and there is a short in the pump circuit. I disconnected the positive lead to the pump and the breaker still trips.

FYI the pump model is a shurflo 2901-0213, 2 GPM.

Can anyone point me to a guide on how to isolate wiring problems? I guess I just need to move panels aside to visually follow the route down from the breaker panel, under the floor boards, and past the engine until I find something suspicious.

Thanks for the help!

[mobetah]

I assume the switch on the panel you are speaking about is a circuit breaker. If so, it could have gone bad ..... use another breaker or fuse to bypass the switch (circuit breaker) you are using now and see if that works.

Good luck, Bill A.