Water pressure pump keeps running

[boating2go]

The pump for the sinks and shower will start on its on and keep running until you shut it off. Do you think if I place a small tank before the pump to help the pump hold a prime it would solve this problem?

[Vasco]

Don't understand your question. If the pump is cycling on its own you might have a leak. If it won't stop on its own your FW tank might be empty or the leak might be really bad. Is there a filter in the line? It might be clogged. Is the pump mounted too high? Some push well but don't suck well. I take it you do not have an acumulator tank.

[cwyckham]

As above, stay by making sure it is getting water. Does water flow from the taps? If yes, disconnect and plug the pump outlet. If it stops, the problem is a leak. If itkeeps going, the problem is the pressure switch on the pump

[Stu Jackson]

Many of us have had the same exact problem, I know I did last August. I was METHODICAL: test the inlet, check the filter, check the pump is working by taking off the outlet hose, then reconnect it and isolate each section of the plumbing. I found a leak in a long hose between the galley faucet and the head, in about 20 feet of hose, on the hot water side.

If it's not a hose or connection link, it could be the pressure diaphragm in the pump itself.

I'd bet if you Googled "troubleshooting boat pressure water systems" you'd have enough reading for a year, and it would take you a lot less time than that to find and fix it.

Good luck.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by boating2go

The pump for the sinks and shower will start on its on and keep running until you shut it off. Do you think if I place a small tank before the pump to help the pump hold a prime it would solve this problem?

This defies my long held belief in the KISS principle. If the pump is air locking then it needs to be fractionally lower and closer to the tank from which it is pumping but if it keeps pumping when there is pressure in the output side then the pressure sensor switch has failed.

Most pumps have a self priming height documented on them but I prefer to keep my pumps fractionally below the height of the tank pickup so they are always primed.

Putting a header tank in will only help till you get air in that tank also, then you'll have the same problem again and much harder to re-prime.

Edit: if it is air locking then there is air getting into the input side which needs to be investigated, as if air can get in, then water can probably get out too.


Second edit: oops,yeah, don,t forget to check for leaks on the output side but normally they would appear as the pump cycling on and off not running continuously unless it was a very big leak, and a leak that big usually shows up in some horrid way.
Matt

[HopCar]

Assuming your system has been in place for some time and this is a new problem, you don't need to add something to the system, you need to fix the problem.

When ever a pump turns itself on without a faucet being open, I think of the valves in the pump first. Bad valves will let the water leak back to the intake side of the pump. The pressure on the discharge side will drop and the pump will turn on. Usually the pump builds back the pressure and shuts off. Then the whole cycle starts over. In your case maybe you need to replace both the valves and switch.

[Mirage Gecko]

I've just fixed the same problem.
I've only had this boat for about six months.Dry bilges and pressure pump behaved normally.
Two months ago started to get a bit of water under one area of the floor and it looked fresh so started looking for the leak but after about 10 hours over a few days could not find it.Then the pump starting cycling and staying on unless we turned it off or opened a tap for about 30 seconds.At this point the water under floor increased.
Long story shortened I spent another bunch of hours looking and found one of the previous owners had put a connection or joiner behind a wall that went to the shower taps instead of running a single two metre line from a visible area under an inspection port.That connection was leaking.After making a couple of simple hose mods and taking out the joiner bilge is dry again and pump back to normal.
Chris

[WaltUnsalted]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

Many of us have had the same exact problem, I know I did last August. I was METHODICAL: test the inlet, check the filter, check the pump is working by taking off the outlet hose, then reconnect it and isolate each section of the plumbing.

I had my finger on the BUY NOW button for a new pressure switch and rebuild kit when I revisited the boat, plugged the outlet (pump stopped running) then rechecked all the lines to discover that some idiot (me) had crossed the hot/cold supply lines to the galley sink. 2 minutes later, problem solved!