water pump fault

lanerboy

lanerboy

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can anyone suggest what may be wrong with the water system on my 2004 Phantom 40

It keeps cutting the pump in every 10 minutes for about 10 seconds I cannot find any leaks any where the bildges are bone dry but if I leave the water mains switch turned on this keeps happening

It does have an accumulator fitted I have been told it is loosing slight pressure so how can I find where it is loosing the pressure from

cheers shawn
 
Most likely to be the non return valve, on the flow to the pump if you genuinely have no leaks. (water leaks back to the tank)

loss of accumulator pressure exhibit it self by the pump cycling on water draw off. In larger pump installations heavy pump hammer as well
 
You may find its the hot tank expansion valve that's leaking allowing the pressure to drop, it's piped overboard so it won't drip in the bilge.
 
Have you checked your bathing platform shower? If you've got the type with the push-button head, and you've left the valve open, they can leak very slowly, overboard rather than into the bilge.
 
jimmy_the_builder said:
Have you checked your bathing platform shower? If you've got the type with the push-button head, and you've left the valve open, they can leak very slowly, overboard rather than into the bilge.
Click to expand...

+ 1. Happened to me and took ages to find. I only discovered the fault when I noticed the trickle from the shower head had iced up one night.
 
Initial thoughts would be that one of the internal valves on the pump is leaking/not sealing. This would allow the pressure to relieve through the pump... Maybe worth a service on the pump... On a few rare occasions similar symptoms have been tracked down to voltage drop, check the voltage at the pump when the pump is running.....

Jon
 
lanerboy said:
Just been speaking to a friend in Weymouth and he has said as I have an accumulator fitted that I may need to re pressurise that with some type of pump :confused:

can anyone explain to me what he means !!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

Push bike pump or car foot pump, there is Schroeder valve on the accumulater tank, you can set it to suit the amount of flow the boat requires, if the shower or taps pulse in flow then there's a chance the pressure has dropped.
 
On my 2002-ish phantom, the old pump's worn out diaphragm developed a leak and caused the same issue. Simplest was to replace the pump, asap-supplies has some of the best prices - £50-60 from memory - but stay at 2.5 bar otherwise you have to replace the temperature and pressure release valve... which costs twice as much! I could not find a service kit cheaper, either. The amount of water leaked was too little to make it to the bilge.

The accumulator would not cause it to come on after 10 minutes like that. Instead, it would pulse when in full flow which is not what you are seeing.
 
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lanerboy said:
Just been speaking to a friend in Weymouth and he has said as I have an accumulator fitted that I may need to re pressurise that with some type of pump :confused:

can anyone explain to me what he means !!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...
If you have a central joint and a tyre style schraeder valve in the top, then the accumulator has a bladder. Squeeze about 8 PSI into the top with the water system off and taps left open.

If you need a new pump then the 'Seaflo' units offered by Ebay seller Thornycroft are excellent, quiet and minimal pulsation, and at a good price.
 
volvopaul said:
You may find its the hot tank expansion valve that's leaking allowing the pressure to drop, it's piped overboard so it won't drip in the bilge.
Click to expand...

+1 for this. Have had the same thing happen twice over the years. There is a pressure relief valve on the side of your calorifier (hot water) tank that opens if the pressure gets above the rated pressure when the tank heats up to avoid the tank splitting, from memory it may be 1.5 Bar. If you turn the knob on the top of the valve it will open and close as you turn it and water be discharged from the pipe that is attached. There are several ways this is discharged but often straight in to the bilge. They are about £10 to replace and a bit of ptfe tape! Just turning it *may* reseat it but more often than not it's a temporary fix and it's better just to change the valve. PM me if you want any more info. I keep a spare in the tool box on the boat :-). Also note sometimes folk turn the wick up on the water pump so it is already near the limit so water expansion just pushes it over the edge and the valve isn't actually faulty, it's just doing its job. Exactly the same symptoms we had.
 
lanerboy said:
Just been speaking to a friend in Weymouth and he has said as I have an accumulator fitted that I may need to re pressurise that with some type of pump :confused:

can anyone explain to me what he means !!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

The accumulator tank is only to stop the pump cycling when the taps are not allowing a flow of water comparable to the pump output, so no that would not be relevant here. But for information there are two types of accmulator tanks on the market, one is in effect and empty bottle and the other has a car tyre valve on the top. To "set" on accumulator tank, switch your water pump of and open a tap until flow stops. Then with the car tyre valve type tank set the tank pressure using a car/bike tyre pump to 2psi BELOW the CUT-IN pressure of the pump. With the empty bottler type there is a stopper on the top, with the system unpressurised as with the other tank just unscrew the stopper, refill the tank with air and then re-tighten. Then just repressure the system, and it should work normally, (But as I said earlier, not relevant to your symptoms).

Jon
 
On my Phantom, the calorifier has a combined pressure and temperature release valve. While a replacement pressure valve is around £10, a combined one is many times that.

Is the temperature release feature actually required? Mine is set at 95' but I suspect that, when the thermostat goes and it starts to boil, the pressure valve will deal with things?
 
volvopaul said:
You may find its the hot tank expansion valve that's leaking allowing the pressure to drop, it's piped overboard so it won't drip in the bilge.
Click to expand...



boatingdave said:
+1 for this. Have had the same thing happen twice over the years. There is a pressure relief valve on the side of your calorifier (hot water) tank that opens if the pressure gets above the rated pressure when the tank heats up to avoid the tank splitting, from memory it may be 1.5 Bar. If you turn the knob on the top of the valve it will open and close as you turn it and water be discharged from the pipe that is attached. There are several ways this is discharged but often straight in to the bilge. They are about £10 to replace and a bit of ptfe tape! Just turning it *may* reseat it but more often than not it's a temporary fix and it's better just to change the valve. PM me if you want any more info. I keep a spare in the tool box on the boat :-). Also note sometimes folk turn the wick up on the water pump so it is already near the limit so water expansion just pushes it over the edge and the valve isn't actually faulty, it's just doing its job. Exactly the same symptoms we had.
Click to expand...

Thanks I will check this next time I am on board

cheers
 
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