Pump won't start for 5-10 minutes after connecting shore power

Hello! I'm new to the forum and new to Heartland. My name is Ken and I just upgraded our 40' jayco travel trailer to a Bighorn 3970rd. So far, it's awesome.

However, we're experiencing one inconvenience with regards to our water pump. The few times it's been turned on while towing to allow bathroom usage, it's worked fine. But when we then hook up to shore power, the pump is switched on, the light in the panel illuminates but the pump won't work. If we wait about 5 or 10 minutes then all is well again and the pump works.

This behavior is consistent whether city water, normal or tank fill is selected at the 4-way valve. I have pulled the monitor panel/water pump fuse and replaced; it's fine and not blown. I have cycled various breakers. I have not open the wall in my storage compartment to visually inspect the pump.

Is this normal behavior? Temps in the storage compartment are not high when this happens. The pump is not run for long periods when we stop to use our facilities while traveling. And ince it begins working it works well from that point. Any ideas as to what's going in with my new rig?

Thanks so much!

Ken Huffman, Jr.
 

jimtoo

Moderator
Hi khuffmanjr, Ken,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and to the family. We have a great bunch of folks here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge when needed.

I’m sure someone will jump in with some info for you soon.

Be sure and join our Heartland Owners Club. Then join us at a rally when you can meet lots of the great folks here and make friends for a lifetime.

Enjoy the forum.
Jim M
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
This is a new one for me. So what I am hearing you say is "Pump Operation is Delayed.

The pump is operated on 12 VDC only. No need to cycle any breakers :)

Once the pump power has been energized, it's common for the pump to run immediately in order to pressurize the plumbing system. Once pressurized, the pump should stop running. Then when you open any water fixture, water will flow, pressure will be reduced and the pump will run again and continue to run until the system is re-pressurized.

I suggest you test as follows:
  1. Make sure the pump switch is turned OFF
  2. Expose the pump
  3. Using a volt meter, open the fuse holder at the pump and check for DC power on the coach side of the fuse holder to ground (use the negative wire at the pump). You should not have any voltage (switch is OFF)
  4. While monitoring the power as in the step above, have an assistant turn on the pump power switch. Immediately, you should have DC power in the 13+ volts range (assuming coach is plugged into shore power)
If no DC power is observed in step 4 above (pump power switch on), the problem is NOT with the pump. If DC power IS observed in step 4 above, the problem is after the input side of that fuse holder. Likely with the pump itself.
 
Hey, thanks for the response. Looks like I need a multimeter of my own now. Great excuse to go to the hardware store. :)

As for troubleshooting this issue, I guess I'll have to simulate moving the rig by turning off shore power and turning it back on. I should be able to give it a try Thursday after work this week. Stay tuned guys, I really want this resolved, or at least to understand what's happening.

With regards to my earlier post, I figured the breakers wouldn't do much, but I knew it shouldn't hurt anything to cycle some of the AC in the coach. We haven't been home since moving into our new "hotel on wheels" so our basement storage is a bit cluttered. I've really been dreading taking it all out to open the wall but if it has to be done then it has to be done.

Thanks guys! I'll reply back here soon.
Ken
 

billyjoeraybob

South Carolina Chapter Leaders-Retired
As Jim Beletti said "Once the pump power has been energized, it's common for the pump to run immediately in order to pressurize the plumbing system. Once pressurized, the pump should stop running. Then when you open any water fixture, water will flow, pressure will be reduced and the pump will run again and continue to run until the system is re-pressurized." If the system has been pressurized, it will not run again until pressure has been relieved from the system. When you turn the switch to the pump on and see the red light, have you opened a faucet to confirm that the pump will not run when there is a demand for water?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
As Jim Beletti said "Once the pump power has been energized, it's common for the pump to run immediately in order to pressurize the plumbing system. Once pressurized, the pump should stop running. Then when you open any water fixture, water will flow, pressure will be reduced and the pump will run again and continue to run until the system is re-pressurized." If the system has been pressurized, it will not run again until pressure has been relieved from the system. When you turn the switch to the pump on and see the red light, have you opened a faucet to confirm that the pump will not run when there is a demand for water?

Hi! Thanks for the reply. Yes, I understand the pump only runs to keep pressure in the lines, so I have opened faucets with the switch on until there is no more water coming out of the faucet (no more pressure!). 5-10 minutes later, the pump starts working finally and all is well. Its the weirdest thing.

Also, I noticed last night a bit of water in the basement storage. So something is leaking. I have the pump off today and DW will get by on city water pressure. Assuming its the pump that's leaking, I hope we won't have too much more water in the basement when I get off work. Fun stuff! :-/

Thanks!
Ken
 

billyjoeraybob

South Carolina Chapter Leaders-Retired
Hi! Thanks for the reply. Yes, I understand the pump only runs to keep pressure in the lines, so I have opened faucets with the switch on until there is no more water coming out of the faucet (no more pressure!). 5-10 minutes later, the pump starts working finally and all is well. Its the weirdest thing.

Also, I noticed last night a bit of water in the basement storage. So something is leaking. I have the pump off today and DW will get by on city water pressure. Assuming its the pump that's leaking, I hope we won't have too much more water in the basement when I get off work. Fun stuff! :-/

Thanks!
Ken

Anytime Ken! Good luck with the search and please keep us updated. This is a strange one.
 

NWILSON

Kentucky Chapter Leaders - retired
I'm going to suggest that as long as you're right there, take the little filter canister apart and clean the screen thoroughly. There's a chance your leakage is coming from a loose cap on the filter anyway. You might as well take a look inside since it's a good idea to clean up the seal on the cap instead of just tightening it.
 

Gary521

Well-known member
As suggested, take the inlet filter off the pump. At lot of time this is full of crud from the manufacturing process. Don't worry about taking off the basement wall, just a few screws. Most of us have modified this wall so that a portion of it ,by the pump, can open easily buy adding hinges and pins. You will find that you will be back there a lot fooling with things. Stuff Happens!!
 

WillyBill

Well-known member
My guess is that the pressure switch in the pump is sticking in the pressurized position.

Dan,

I have a fairly new pump doing this. Do you know if there is a fix for this. I have the mechanical tools/skills to do it if there is a solution. Any ideas?

Thanx,

WB
 

Roller4tan

Well-known member
Dan,

I have a fairly new pump doing this. Do you know if there is a fix for this. I have the mechanical tools/skills to do it if there is a solution. Any ideas?

Thanx,

WB

Since you have the ability, simply take it apart and clean it. No telling what you'll find in there. I believe there are schematics available in the tools tab.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
I've never disassembled one, but if you're handy, it's probably low risk. If you can't fix it, there's a good chance after you check the electrical for bad connections, you'd be replacing the pump anyway. Here's where the pump manuals are located. If the right one isn't there, you can probably download from the manufacturer's website.
 
Ok, so I got in there yesterday and did some troubleshooting. Here's what happened...

Nothing was leaking upon initial inspection so I went about doing some of the normal things to try and make it leak. Remember, I noticed some water in the basement a couple days ago. Anyway, I had some help from DW and we turned the pump on, turned it off and even turned on a faucet or two. No leak. Then we turned the water on and off at the campsite spigot. No leak. Then, we turned the 4-way from City to tank fill. It leaks!! Actually, any time we turned from City to fill, fill to normal, or back again, the leak would appear. As it turns out, the in-line filter/strainer housing was cracked and any time the pump lost vacuum on the inlet side of the pump it would let some water out of the crack.

I called a nearby RV dealer and they happened to have a new in-line filter/strainer so I went and grabbed it. Approx $13 and I'm good to go. Incidentally, the pumped seemed to work fine when we moved the RV today. No delay in starting up.

Thanks so much everyone!!

Ken
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Hi Ken - sounds like you found part of the issue. We won't mark this one RESOLVED until you report back down the road about whether the delayed pump start up is still present or resolved.

I've never had a input strainer/filter housing break but I've heard of it. It's usually from freezing but I've also heard of impact being the cause, say when you're working back there and your hand or leg or knee pressed down hard on it while you're trying to maneuver in an impossibly tiny space.
 

SNOKING

Well-known member
So If I understand this correctly the pump was running, however it just had trouble picking up a prime? Chris
 
Hi Ken - sounds like you found part of the issue. We won't mark this one RESOLVED until you report back down the road about whether the delayed pump start up is still present or resolved.

I've never had a input strainer/filter housing break but I've heard of it. It's usually from freezing but I've also heard of impact being the cause, say when you're working back there and your hand or leg or knee pressed down hard on it while you're trying to maneuver in an impossibly tiny space.

Yeah, I was surprised to find it leaking. Maybe one of the folks in Indiana was new and really cranked it on there. Anyway, after moving the RV the pump was somewhat slow again to pickup a prime, but we could hear it trying this time, at least. Thanks!

So If I understand this correctly the pump was running, however it just had trouble picking up a prime? Chris

Bingo! I think it was just so quiet until it got more of a vacuum created on the inlet side that we couldn't hear it. The crack was pretty small, but visible, so water in the housing actually helped it keep a vacuum. But as soon as I let it vent upstream, for instance by turning the 4-way, then it would let water out of the crack. Since replacing the in-line filter housing it takes a little less time to prime when I hook up but its still nowhere close to my travel trailer before. At least I can hear the pump now as it primes itself. I'm happy enough with it at this point, but I'll report back here if anything else goes wrong.

Thanks guys! I honestly enjoyed going through the fix for this. And its nice to have that huge basement to work in now...the travel trailer would have been pretty frustrating to work in for this kind of thing.

Ken
 
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