Which is the best 12v. domestic water pump.

Q

Quandary

Well-Known Member
Joined
20 Mar 2008
Messages
8,214
Location
Argyll
Visit site
Our boat is five years old and when we topped up the water at launch a couple of weeks back the domestic water pump was not working. I took it apart and discovered that the chamber above the diaphrams had water in it and the bearing at the bottom of the motor showed signs of rust. Dried it out and freed the sticky bearing so I put it back in and it worked fine if a bit noisier than before. I made a mental note to run it every day or so to keep it free but of course I forgot and it is stuck again, despite this the motor has not burned out yet. The pump is one of those American made Shurflos that you find in many boats and most caravans, they are readily available and fairly cheap,(about £60) even Amazon sell them. The last boat had similar pumps and I have 2 in my garage (I hoard rubbish) so their life span seems to be less than ten years but five is a bit disappointing. An internet search seems to indicate that Shurflos parts and service reputation is the pits. From a plumbing and mounting standpoint another Shurflo would be the easy option but I hate buying **** even if it is cheap.
Anyone recommend a more reliable alternative such as Whale or similar where there is some concern for quality and service?
 
I have Whale, the diaphram has been replaced twice and the replacement was very expensive, it's also very noisy. I wouldn't recommend it.
 
Last edited:
Over the last 25 years I have had a variety of pumps, mostly Jabsco, both the old fashioned belt drive ones and the more modern "cam and piston" type like the Par Max. Apart from the belt drive ones which suffered from all kinds of reliability problems I have had good service from the Par Max type and would unhesitatingly recommend them. I have never (I think???) had to change any bits and up to a few years ago we were 6 months/year liveaboards. I did change the pump on one occasion though but it was to increase capacity. Out of interest my current yacht, bought second hand, has everything but Jabsco, so that's another spare to carry for when one of them breaks down. I have no affiliation.

My one grouse is the reliability of accumulator tanks. Does anyone know of a tank which doesn't lose air pressure or rust away?

Cheers,

Mike
 
I would ask why you think you need an accumulator. These are useful where you have taps/valves that shut of slowly (ball valve in a toilet cistern) or are constantly delivering very small amounts of water. Why not just let the pump pump when a tap is opened? If your boat is as big as the average house disregard this!
 
myquest said:
I would ask why you think you need an accumulator. These are useful where you have taps/valves that shut of slowly (ball valve in a toilet cistern) or are constantly delivering very small amounts of water. Why not just let the pump pump when a tap is opened? If your boat is as big as the average house disregard this!
Click to expand...

To cut down the cycling of the pump which, without the tank, cuts in as soon as you open a tap. My wife insists that all dishes are rinsed in running water so the tap is on and off no end of times during the washing up process. Also a tank seems to reduce the pump noise but I don't know if that's just my imagination.

Mike
 
When I last changed mine, I went for the variable speed Jabsco - wow what a difference!
Almost silent when running slowly and loads of oomph if all taps happen to be open at the same time. The accumulator has now gone as it's not needed - the only issue is the price of them...

Piddy
 
Thanks to all of you who responded; after some thought I decided to be really stupid and have ordered a Shurflo of exactly the same spec. as the original.
My reasons for this perverse decision;- ease of installation, the pump is fitted tight in a corner below the galley sink and takes up little space there, the connections for the Shurflo have tight elbows while the Jabsco and Whale have straight connectors which would involve moving it out of the corner, (my 'new' knee joint is still preventing me from kneeling or hunkering down so anything on the boat this year involves lying prone from which it can be hard to get up). So the less modifications to the plumbing the greater my comfort. The law of averages should perhaps suggest that the second one lasts a bit longer than the first and since the original is OK except for the rusty bearing and probably a damaged seal I have persuaded myself that I can dry it out and keep it for spares.
Things I have learnt, Jabsco and Shurflo are almost identical, similar range and available for similar prices and discounts, Whale pumps are a bit different with a different mounting arrangement but quite a bit more expensive, about 150% (not as heavily discounted). However Whale are a very accessible company with a reputation for responding to their customers and offer small spares such as seals etc. while the only replacement parts I found for the other two are complete assemblies at close to 50% of the price of the pump. People enquiring about leaks in Jabsco or Shurflo seem to be advised to forget trying to find a new seal and to use Sikaflex or similar.
 
PBO did a test on water pumps in July 2011. To quote their recomendations:

Best Buy has to go to the Flojet, whose frugal current consumption, high flow rate and quiet operation give it the best overall performance.

Best Budget Buy, however, goes to the Jabsco Par Max 2"9 (below) which although delivering the lowest flow rate per amp on test does so quietly and at half the rice of our Best Buy.
 
In my opinion a johnson fresh water pump, one made in sweden, dont look at anything made in china you will be sorry, i've gone through at least a dozen pumps and my johnson has lasted four years already and is fine. Also bypass the original microswitch (a huge source of problems) and fit a proper pressure switch from ASAP or somebody, much more reliable.
 
captmikecoin said:
Over the last 25 years I have had a variety of pumps, mostly Jabsco, both the old fashioned belt drive ones and the more modern "cam and piston" type like the Par Max. Apart from the belt drive ones which suffered from all kinds of reliability problems I have had good service from the Par Max type and would unhesitatingly recommend them. I have never (I think???) had to change any bits and up to a few years ago we were 6 months/year liveaboards. I did change the pump on one occasion though but it was to increase capacity. Out of interest my current yacht, bought second hand, has everything but Jabsco, so that's another spare to carry for when one of them breaks down. I have no affiliation.

My one grouse is the reliability of accumulator tanks. Does anyone know of a tank which doesn't lose air pressure or rust away?

Cheers,

Mike
Click to expand...
If your accumulator doesn't have an internal membrane to separate water and air, it will need re-charging fairly often because the air is absorbed in the water. Bicycle pump to re-charge through the valve on the top. The more expensive ones have a membrane which reduces the air loss significantly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top