What other system could possibly not work!
- Thread starter Pulltab
- Start date
jpmorgan37
Well-known member
Pulltab;
My Landmark has valves to switch from city water to the fresh water tank. If on the city water setting, the pump won't shut off. I'm not sure if your Bighorn is set up like that, but it might be worth checking.
John
My Landmark has valves to switch from city water to the fresh water tank. If on the city water setting, the pump won't shut off. I'm not sure if your Bighorn is set up like that, but it might be worth checking.
John
Pulltab
Well-known member
Thanks John, the valves are correct. I found what it is, the pump is crap! I hooked up my spare and it works exactly as it should. Next week I will pull it out and take back to the dealer for a replacement. Who would of thought it would be the pump being brand new? Thanks for the suggestion though cause I may have well had the wrong settings so every suggestion is a good one for the memory banks! 
PullTab,
The BH does not have the valve that the Landmarks have. Try checking the anitifreeze/winterization valve on the pickup tube to insure it is closed. If it is open and the tank to pump valve is open you could be pulling some water from the tank and pulling air from the pickup tube causing the pump to continualy run. If this is the case I would not think that you have very much pressure at the water faucets?
The BH does not have the valve that the Landmarks have. Try checking the anitifreeze/winterization valve on the pickup tube to insure it is closed. If it is open and the tank to pump valve is open you could be pulling some water from the tank and pulling air from the pickup tube causing the pump to continualy run. If this is the case I would not think that you have very much pressure at the water faucets?
RE: Water Pumps
A little background, the water pumps in RVs are one are where we as manufacturers are at the mercy of Shurflo. Shurflo dominates this industry in terms of providing the water pumps for over 95% of the industry. Most of the time they are fine, but the fact it is, they do fail at a rate that is higher than any other "applicance" or mechanical system in an RV. We have a box of them at any given time here at the factory of units that did not work, right out of the box. Of course, as manufacturers, when you use 30 a day (Heartland) or 100+ a day (Keystone and Forest River), you are going to have some that don't work. The rate of success on their bigger model (I think the 5.7) has been better, but it is an upgrade in price as well.
The good news is they are typically easy to change out if a problem does occur.
Just an FYI.
ST
A little background, the water pumps in RVs are one are where we as manufacturers are at the mercy of Shurflo. Shurflo dominates this industry in terms of providing the water pumps for over 95% of the industry. Most of the time they are fine, but the fact it is, they do fail at a rate that is higher than any other "applicance" or mechanical system in an RV. We have a box of them at any given time here at the factory of units that did not work, right out of the box. Of course, as manufacturers, when you use 30 a day (Heartland) or 100+ a day (Keystone and Forest River), you are going to have some that don't work. The rate of success on their bigger model (I think the 5.7) has been better, but it is an upgrade in price as well.
The good news is they are typically easy to change out if a problem does occur.
Just an FYI.
ST
bking
Active Member
When using water from the fresh tank, how often should the water pump cycle on and off when a faucet is turned on?
I noticed over the weekend when we turned on any water faucet, the water pump came on after a couple seconds and then off and on about every second. I don't recall it cycling on and off this frequently in the past. I also thought it sounded lounder than usual. It did provide good pressure.
I checked the valve settings on our Golden Gate and they are in the right position for using water from the fresh tank. We do have the larger Shurflo pump.
I noticed over the weekend when we turned on any water faucet, the water pump came on after a couple seconds and then off and on about every second. I don't recall it cycling on and off this frequently in the past. I also thought it sounded lounder than usual. It did provide good pressure.
I checked the valve settings on our Golden Gate and they are in the right position for using water from the fresh tank. We do have the larger Shurflo pump.
Forrest Fetherolf
Senior Member
bking,
The water pump works on demand, when the demand increases the pump will supply more water by cycling on and off more frequently or stay on for a longer period. The pump has a pressure switch to turn the pump on and off, when pressure is high (no demand for water) the pump will turn off, when pressure is low (demand for water) the pump will turn on.
A good test is to turn on one faucet slightly, the pump should cycle on and off frequently. Turn several faucets on, the pump will cycle on and run for a longer time period. It is possible the pump will not shut off until the demand is decreased and/or all faucets closed. The pump should turn off a few seconds after all faucets are closed.
Forrest
The water pump works on demand, when the demand increases the pump will supply more water by cycling on and off more frequently or stay on for a longer period. The pump has a pressure switch to turn the pump on and off, when pressure is high (no demand for water) the pump will turn off, when pressure is low (demand for water) the pump will turn on.
A good test is to turn on one faucet slightly, the pump should cycle on and off frequently. Turn several faucets on, the pump will cycle on and run for a longer time period. It is possible the pump will not shut off until the demand is decreased and/or all faucets closed. The pump should turn off a few seconds after all faucets are closed.
Forrest
ChopperBill
Well-known member
There are better Shurflo pumps then are in our Bighorn. Of course there are a lot of better things built that are in our Bighorn. But then I wouldn't own one because we couldn't afford it.
Ray LeTourneau
Senior Member - Past Moderator
We had the same issue with our original pump. I brought the pump to our dealer and he dissassembled the head and cleaned out some plastic debris possibly from the holding tank. It worked fine for a short time but later on, when hooked up to city water the pump allowed city water to backfill the freshwater tank. The built in check valves in the pump failed. There were no dealers available so we called surflo and the sent a replacement at N/C. And a call tag to send the bad pump back. The replacement was a standard pump, nothing fancy.
