H260 water pumps

[Bob 04 H260]

I just purchased this boat. I put about 5 gal of water in the tank with some bleach. I can not get either pump to prime. It sounds like they are sucking air at one of the connections. I had heard comments about the poor quality of the pumps used before I bought the boat but even a good quality pump can't draw if the pipe leaks. Has anyone else tackled this problem ? can the connections be sealed or do all the pipes have to be replaced ?
Bob

 

[dewhunter]

water pumps

My h26 came with a vane pump as new and all vane are hard to prime. They only push fluid not suck fluid. I changed mine out to a shurflow diapram pump, 1/2" hose and taps. Now I have water supply like at home, no screwing around with priming or pressure. Power draw is not a concern seeing as I turn the pump on only when I need it. The upgrade was worth the $$ spent. Gary.

 

[Bill Roosa]

try filling up the tank

If the hoses are leaking it will be easier to find the leak when it is water and not air.
This will also put some "head" on the pump supply line and may prime it. There may be a "high spot" in the supply line that will require a fullish tank to "get over the hump".
Once the line is primed you should not have to re-prime unless you suck some air in by running the tank dry.

 

[breweraz]

I had the same problem and found the elbow under the cabin sink was cracked. The faucets were leaking so I just decided to replace them.

I looked at the pressurized system but did not want to go through the wiring and all. After looking around I found two options for replacements. There is a hand pump called the Rocket that looks almost exactly like the hunter model in chrome and white plastic or around $30 dollars. They are on ebay and most RV retailers. It looked so much like it that I was worried it was essentally the same thing and would break again. There are mixed reviews but it looks like a direct replacement. I went with the whale flipper as recommended on this forum much more expensive but good quality.

If you go that route there is still some work you will have to do they are not a direct replacement.

First the connection out of the Whale flipper is 1/2 inch and your lines are 3/8 so you have to convert using a 1/2 barbed threaded into a 3/8 barb connector. The guy at Home Depot set me up for about 10 bucks.

2. The whale flipper does not screw down like the Hunter faucets but rather use a retaining ring under the counter. The threads on the whale flipper are just big enough it will not fit throug the hole. I had to trim out the hole to make them fit. It does cover the screw holes left from the old faucet. I could do this using a knife.

Once they were all in and the elbow was replaced all works fine. We really like the Whale flipper faucet. In the end we proably spent as much as putting in the presurized system but with our boat stored at the marina mast up lot, lack of DC skills, could not find a single line faucet for a resonable price and generally running back and forth to a Home Depot for a part I forgot this was easier and works for us.

Tim

 

[Bob 04 H260]

thanks !

I think you have the right idea Tim, I'll get the leaks fixed and then look at some new pumps.
Bob

 

[George H260]

Re: thanks !

After having problems with the stock hand pumps, I got some hand pumps from the Whitney cataglog. Cheap, but they did not work any better. I then went with the Whale Flipper pumps. As I recall they cost me about $75.00 each. Had to enlarge the holes and used clear plastic tubing and size adapters to connect to the blue tubing with clamps. This was an improvement but after messing with them for a season, I ripped the whole thing out and started over with a pressurized system which now works flawlessley.

I hope you have better luck than I with the Whalepumps. Suggest you at least replace the blue tubing and black connectors that leak and lose suction.

More on the pressurized system at this link:

http://h260.com/water/water.html

 

[Suze]

Re: thanks !

We had a similar problem with our 2004 H260, but the leak came from a loose
connection where the supply line connects to the water tank (underneath the v-berth).
The system wouldn't stay primed, and the water leaked out of the tank. Tightening the
connection fixed the problem.

Alan