I know FriscoRon has a recent post about fresh water pressure issues but my problem is a bit different and I don't want to hijack his thread.
When I bought our '79 Rafiki 35 last year, it had an ancient belt driven fresh water pressure pump that would cycle on frequently if it had power. When it finally overheated and melted its soldered electrical connections, I bought a Whale automatic fresh water pressure pump to replace it. When I first installed the new pump, water would squirt out of the pump housing. I sent it back to Whale/Attwood for warranty repairs (I installed it 35 days after buying it, which was 5 days too late to get a refund or exchange). I was told the leak had been from a missing internal washer and that the pump was repaired and fully tested before being returned to me.
When I reinstalled it, the pump itself didn't leak but the water pressure it generated caused leaks throughout my boat. It seemed as if the weakest connection would fail, releasing the pressure, then after I had fixed that, the next weakest connection would fail, etc. I figured these connections may have been due for replacement and maybe just lasted longer than they should have because of the lower pressure from the old pump.
So I re-did the water lines from the pump to the outlets throughout the boat.
Now there are no leaks in the lines but when power is supplied to the pump, the pump does not ever stop running. If the faucets are closed, the pump pressurizes the water lines to the point that the lines visibly bulge where they meet hose clamps. The bulges go away when the faucet is opened. When a faucet is opened, I can see the pump drawing up water through the clear strainer basket. When the faucets are closed, no water moves through the pump (which makes sense because the lines are full) but the pump motor keeps running (and will keep running until I cut power to it).
Any idea what would cause this? I am thinking a bad pressure sensor in the pump but do not know how to test that theory. I have already paid to ship the pump back to the manufacturer once because it was missing a part when sold to me and I didn't have a great experience with customer service then so if the problem is the pump itself, I would rather put money toward a different pump than toward shipping this one back a second time. On the other hand, I don't want to buy another pump if the problem is elsewhere in the boat.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
When I bought our '79 Rafiki 35 last year, it had an ancient belt driven fresh water pressure pump that would cycle on frequently if it had power. When it finally overheated and melted its soldered electrical connections, I bought a Whale automatic fresh water pressure pump to replace it. When I first installed the new pump, water would squirt out of the pump housing. I sent it back to Whale/Attwood for warranty repairs (I installed it 35 days after buying it, which was 5 days too late to get a refund or exchange). I was told the leak had been from a missing internal washer and that the pump was repaired and fully tested before being returned to me.
When I reinstalled it, the pump itself didn't leak but the water pressure it generated caused leaks throughout my boat. It seemed as if the weakest connection would fail, releasing the pressure, then after I had fixed that, the next weakest connection would fail, etc. I figured these connections may have been due for replacement and maybe just lasted longer than they should have because of the lower pressure from the old pump.
So I re-did the water lines from the pump to the outlets throughout the boat.
Now there are no leaks in the lines but when power is supplied to the pump, the pump does not ever stop running. If the faucets are closed, the pump pressurizes the water lines to the point that the lines visibly bulge where they meet hose clamps. The bulges go away when the faucet is opened. When a faucet is opened, I can see the pump drawing up water through the clear strainer basket. When the faucets are closed, no water moves through the pump (which makes sense because the lines are full) but the pump motor keeps running (and will keep running until I cut power to it).
Any idea what would cause this? I am thinking a bad pressure sensor in the pump but do not know how to test that theory. I have already paid to ship the pump back to the manufacturer once because it was missing a part when sold to me and I didn't have a great experience with customer service then so if the problem is the pump itself, I would rather put money toward a different pump than toward shipping this one back a second time. On the other hand, I don't want to buy another pump if the problem is elsewhere in the boat.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.