Help needed with whale fresh water pump

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Oscarpop

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Our whale fresh water pump has stopped working. So we have no pressurised water.
There is power to the pump but the pump us totally dead.
No noise or motion from the pump. Nothing.
Any ideas? And importantly how do I fix it?
If I were to take a guess, the pressure switch is jammed or broken. Is this a serviceable component ?

All help gratefully received . Anchored in the middle of nowhere with no manual override, and thus nothing but bottled water on board .

Cheers
 
Oscarpop said:
Our whale fresh water pump has stopped working. So we have no pressurised water.
There is power to the pump but the pump us totally dead.
No noise or motion from the pump. Nothing.
Any ideas? And importantly how do I fix it?
If I were to take a guess, the pressure switch is jammed or broken. Is this a serviceable component ?

All help gratefully received . Anchored in the middle of nowhere with no manual override, and thus nothing but bottled water on board .

Cheers
Click to expand...


You dont say exactly what pump. But look at the Whale pump website for spares for the freshwater pumps.
Microswitches are available, (AK1317)
AK1317.jpg


hopefully including for your pump. But check it out to be sure it is just the switch that's gone and not a problem with the motor itself

You may be able to obtain a suitable switch from an electronics component supplier more cheaply.


Fit manual pump even if only one of these as back up

vpump_freshwater_manual.jpg
 
Last edited:
A quick update on the pump .

Had a long chat with whale this morning . They were very kind and helpful , but offered no solution except to check the microswitch for current.
They Said That It Is very Rarely The motor As It Is A Sturdy Piece Of Kit.

Anyway, it was the switch . And despite it being "non serviceable " , it was opened up to find that one of the connectors had lost its end piece.
An hour with a soldering iron and a lot of swearing and it's working again.

So in case your water pump fails in the middle of nowhere , take note :)
 
If you constantly ask yourself 'what if' and consider what you would do, for all situations. You appreciate the benefit of having back up systems in place. Sods law dictates that if you have a back up system, you will find that things don't fail and if they do it is not a problem.
The list of jobs should also not be growing if you are diligent in making a point of getting on and doing the jobs.
 
Sorry, but it seems a bit pathetic to have an installation where you have fresh water in the tank(s), and NO way of getting it out except an electric pump which is bound to fail at some point.
 
sailorman said:
my pressurised system goes through the whale foot pumps, a fail safe system
Click to expand...


Which Whale foot pump is that.
I'm just in the process of installing the foot pump (not the button type) but the installation instructions cleary state 'not for pressurised systems'.
Can the pump be installed in line or should it be completely isolated by valves etc from the pressurised side?
 
Tati B said:
Which Whale foot pump is that.
I'm just in the process of installing the foot pump (not the button type) but the installation instructions cleary state 'not for pressurised systems'.
Can the pump be installed in line or should it be completely isolated by valves etc from the pressurised side?
Click to expand...

My foot pump has its own feed, teed from the pipe which also supplies the electric pump. It has its own spout outlet in the galley. Probably better than having it on-line with the electric pump. Alongside that foot pump, is one for salt water to the galley.
 
Hasn't been a problem for us in the six years of owning a boat without manual option. We do have 3 other water pumps for other systems which could be swapped in if needed and fits the same pipe size, and I also kept a spare one with pressure switch in case of failure which I eventually used to replace the pressure switch one which was very old and rusty. Our normal failure was stuck on, rather than off - i.e. it didn't know the accumulator had reached the right pressure, so a temporary manual fix was just to use the power switch at the control panel. We don't tend to use the tanks for drinking directly from but it would have slowed down a coffee, or washing up
 
Tati B said:
Which Whale foot pump is that.
I'm just in the process of installing the foot pump (not the button type) but the installation instructions cleary state 'not for pressurised systems'.
Can the pump be installed in line or should it be completely isolated by valves etc from the pressurised side?
Click to expand...

Whale say that none of their foot/manual pumps are appropriate for running as a backup with a pressurised system running through them
 
sailorman said:
Mine are

http://www.whalepumps.com/marine/pr...ndlyID=Whale-Gusher-Galley-Pump-foot-operated

fitted inline for the past 16 yrs with no probs to date
Click to expand...

Note the last line of the link. No doubt what Op has read

They say the same about the "Babyfoot" pump and the "Tiptoe" for RVs, as Gladys points out

They suggest that they can be used for priming a pressurised system by fitting between the tank and pump .... But that's not likely to be a convenient set up to use as a stand by galley pump.
 
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