Water Pump - Stratford 2011

Hi Guys.. does anyone know where the water pump on my Stratford is fitted ? There is a whale pump in the fresh water tank, but there are manuals along with all the other fitted components for a Flojet R3426-500 Triplex Diaphragm auto Pump.. 
The water pump has always been a bit temperamental (sometimes driving over a pot hole has brought it back to life) but this time has stopped working altogether.. Im not sure if the problem is electrical or mechanical but need to locate the pump to start eliminating things..

Thanks Ian

Hi there,

Has anyone answered this query yet?  (If not I am amazed.)

I am not aware of any system that has two pumps installed.

In view of this I would think that either the Whale pump has been removed and replaced with the Flojet or vice versa.

If there is a Flojet fitted in the water pipe then it will probably be under a bed and accessible via a small hatch.

Seek and ye shall find; but only if it is installed! 

Hope this helps. 

Best regards,

sno_man wrote:Hi Guys.. does anyone know where the water pump on my Stratford is fitted ? There is a whale pump in the fresh water tank, but there are manuals along with all the other fitted components for a Flojet R3426-500 Triplex Diaphragm auto Pump.. 
The water pump has always been a bit temperamental (sometimes driving over a pot hole has brought it back to life) but this time has stopped working altogether.. Im not sure if the problem is electrical or mechanical but need to locate the pump to start eliminating things..

Thanks Ian

I have 2013 Symbol with a Whale system and have the same problem with my pump especially if the water tank is emptied - the pump runs and no water comes out of the taps - and I too cannot find the access hatch to the water tank which would allow me to shake the pump which according to the manual should release any air lock in the pump. The last time I had this problem I drove around for a couple of days and the pump sorted itself.
I must confess I do not like this Whale system at all!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good Evening Gents..

Hi Dutto..Another member "StoneB" helpfully sent me the installation diagram for the flo-jet, which I had, with the rest of my manuals..
I spoke to the servicing dept at Auto-sleepers, who suggested as yourself, that there would only be 1 type of pump installed.. As I have had most of my van stripped out to do the interior renovations, im 99% positive there is no flo-jet pump in there :(

This leaves the whale pump, which is not working at all, so I will start my search from here..  

Hi normanand sue.. I managed to get into my fresh water tank (sealed with silicone) which was a job and a half.. Its on the bottom of the fresh water tank.. There is a whale pump inside.. Unfortunately my pump does not run at all at the moment..

Once again many thanks for your assistance ..

sno_man

Hi there,

With the Whale "in-tank" system you may have to do the old "suck and spit" exercise on one of the cold taps if it runs but doesn't pump.

I had one on a Silhouette caravan and when on the move with a low water level it almost always got air-locked.

I suggest that you:

o  Fill the tank to overflowing.

o  Close off all taps.

o  Attach a length of tubing to the cold tap (or the spigot if it's a "mixer") on the sink.

o  Start the pump and at the same time start to suck on the tubing.

o  When you start to choke on water stop.  The system is now partly primed.

o  Close the cold tap on the sink and go and open/close all of the other cold taps then all the hot taps until water flows from each tap without "spitting".

o  When you close off the last tap the pump should stop pumping.  The system is now fully primed and operating normally.

If it doesn't then please Post again.

Hope this helps. 

Best regards,

Have done this for 15 minutes all to no avail. I did manage to suck up a small amount of water but not enough to start the system working

I have left the tank full and will go away for the day and see if the movement of the van might shke the air block free from the pump

Hi there,

Just a daft thought (and I should have asked this a long time ago) "Can you hear the pump running when both the 12v and pump switches are 'On'?" 

If you can't hear the pump running then we are probably looking at a different problem; and the first stop would be the fuses. 

If the pump isn't running and the fuses are intact then (like the Whale system I had in the caravan) it probably needs to be "tapped" to get the motor to start up.

In the caravan all I had to do was to undo a small hatch on top of the tank, reach in and "tap" the pump against the bottom of the tank.  I don't suppose for a minute that it will be that easy in your motorhome! 

Best regards,

Hi Dutto

Ha ha .. with my problem the pump is not running (with switches on) .. Fuses have been checked and are ok.. As mentioned earlier I can gain access through the access/drain plug on the bottom of the tank, so I will indeed give this a try

Thanks Ian ..

Hi there,

I suggest that you try tapping the bottom of the tank underneath where the Whale pump is situated.

If this starts the pump then you have three options:

o  Persuade SWMBO that one of her jobs is to go under the van and tap the tank whenever water is needed.

o  Replace the existing pump with another "in-tank" pump.

o  Bite on the bullet and spend the money to install an external pump such as a Shurflow.

Personally, I would use the third option because:

o  I would be in fear of my life the second time I handed SWMBO a mallet and explained what I wanted her to do.

o  It is a much better system.

Hope this helps. 

Best regards,

As I thought the journey freed the air from the pump and everything worked fine! 
Thanks for all your help

normanandsue wrote:As I thought the journey freed the air from the pump and everything worked fine! 
Thanks for all your help

Or maybe the pump "tapped" itself against the bottom of the tank? 

Either way, glad it's sorted; for now. 

Best regards,

Hello again.. with some assistance from my very helpful neighbour, I managed to drop the fresh water tank and replace the defective submersible pump.. It now runs just fine.. HOWEVER the water filler has stopped working, so im unable to get any water into my fresh water tank :(
I have had issues with the whale system hose before, but the portable whale hose which draws water from a container, has always functioned..
The fuse is ok so not sure where to look next.. Any ideas Guys (& Galls)
 
Thanks Ian

1)  Is the Sargent panel turned on?  If not - turn on and try again - If already on then go to 2

2)  When you dropped the tank did you disturb the connections to the float switch in the tank, or disturb the alignment of the float switch?
The Whale filling is only allowed when the solenoid valve behind the filler (in the bed locker on mine) is energised.  That is energised from the Sargent panel via a float switch in the tank.  The float switch is responsible for turning off the solenoid valve when the fresh water tank is full.
From your description I would guess that it is a problem with the float switch. I don't know where it is but if you can find it you can check by temporarily shorting across the two connections to see if the solenoid valve clicks open then.
Try that and report back.

Hi Ron, the Sargent was indeed on, which leaves option 2 which sounds very likely indeed, since all was working prior to dropping the tank.. I will try this and get back to you.. Many thanks for the prompt response..

Ian..

Hi Ron.. we finally got round to dropping the water tank again, and on inspection the float looks like a very simple mechanism and does not appear to have been disturbed from its original condition.. We shorted across the wires and this failed to trip the solenoid and open the valve..
We tested the solenoid by putting 12v across it and there was a click so I'm assuming that the solenoid is also ok.. Does this mean the whale inlet valve may need replacing ? 
We have cobbled together a valve which fits onto the end of the drain valve, so we can force water into the fresh water tank via a hose pipe but it would be handy to have the ability to draw water in from a container, when we are on our travels ....

Cheers Ian

I have not met this problem in practice. As the solenoid clicks with 12V it is probably OK but that is not guaranteed.  Do you have a multimeter?  If not get a cheap £5 one from Maplin or Ebay.  Then check for 12V on the solenoid terminals.  On my Lancashire the solenoid valve lives behind a black shield in  the bed locker right behind the Whale inlet.  There are two terminals, one is a 12V positive (fed from the Sargent via the float switch) and the other is 12V negative.  Take at least one of them off the solenoid and measure the voltage across the terminals.  If it is not 12V or thereabouts then you have a wiring or fuse fault. If you do have 12V then there is a problem with the solenoid valve.  The latter could be electrical or it could be debris in the filter. See this thread
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and the thread that is cross referenced for details on how to get a new valve or clean the old one.  These valves need water pressure to turn them on and 12V to letthe water pressure turn them on.

If there is no 12V on the solenoid then you can use the meter to check whether there is 12V on the float switch.  You may need to check positive and negative lines separately picking up negative and positive respectively from other connections.

I hope this is reasonably clear to follow - do let us know how you get on.  Hopefully the problem will simply be that there is some debris/chalk in the solenoid valve filter.

It's a complex system but it works well for me!

Cheers Ron very concise information.. I will let you know if i have any success...