Kemerton water pump not working

Rob,

Bear in mind I didn’t do my own installation, I instructed the dealer we bought the van from to fit a Shurflo prior to us taking delivery. His workshop guys consulted with AS about the changeover from the Whale submersible pump, so my understanding is that it’s as if AS did the installation themselves.  So take my answers below in that context.

Regarding the plumbing, as far as I can tell a 12mm semi-rigid plastic pipe comes up through the floor from the tank and directly into a 90-degree elbow fitting - a John Guest pushfit type. This is marked “1” on the picture below. Whether there’s an adaptor, to cope with something other than 12mm pipe  between the tank and this elbow I cannot tell right now (it’s dark and we’re on wet grass in Norfolk). 

From the elbow at 1, a short section of 12mm pipe extends under the Seaflo expansion vessel and into a Shurflo strainer. This is hidden by the Seaflo in the picture but it’s an in-line stainless steel filter to protect the pump from particles in the water.  The strainer outlet is coupled directly to the pump inlet.

The pump outlet originally fed into the cold water line at point “2” in the picture, via another section of 12mm semi-rigid pipe, but I’ve recently modified this by adding an in-line expansion vessel into that section of pipe, using food-grade blue 1/2 inch hose to make the connections.  If your budget allows I recommend adding one as it smooths out the flow, particularly at low flow rates, stops the pump pulsing, and generally quietens the delivery of hot and cold water. It’s one of those mods I wish I’d done ages ago. I fitted Seaflo‘s smallest vessel (0.75 litre) in order to fit the space I’d created previously with my boxing-in, but others are available.  So far the Seaflo is performing perfectly.  I bought it direct from them at this link:

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It’s worth dwelling on pipe connections for a moment.  My recent experience of plumbing in the Seaflo was a case in point.  It had 1/2 inch NPT threaded connections, which is a US thread standard and comes with threaded fittings which have “barbed” ends to enable a 1/2 inch hose to be connected, and tightened up with jubilee clips. That’s how I chose to connect the Seaflo, but I then had to interface 1/2” hose to 12mm semi-rigid pipe using push-fit adaptors. I don’t know what connections your Shurflo pump has, but you may have to do something similar.  There are many different fittings and adaptor connections available from caravan accessory dealers but you need to spend some time researching what is essentially a set of interfaces.  Whale and John Guest are good places to start and I sourced the connectors I needed through eBay.  

Finally, the electrics, and again this is supposition on my part. Our Shurflo operates just as the Whale would have done, ie it is powered by the button on the EC51 control panel and protected by the right  fuse in the EC155 power supply. So I assume the electrical connection to the Whale submersible was cut and connected onto the Shurflo.

Hope this all makes sense. If our dealer hadn’t already installed it
I’d be happy to fit the Shurflo and I’m sure others on here have done the same. Once you’ve established how to interface your pipe work you ought to be home and dry. Take care with push-fit connectors, they give the impression of being “plug and play” in their simplicity but treat them with respect in coupling them up correctly, or else you risk a leak. There’ll be a YouTube on them I’m sure.

Tim

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I did a fudge to connect 1/2 inch to the semi-rigid. The Shurflo instructions indicated that I should use a lengths of flexible pipe to connect the pump and the barbed fittings on the pump and on the threaded filter were 1/2 inch. I bought 1 metre of flexible clear reinforced hose on eBay and discovered that the semi-rigid pipe was a very snug fit into the flexible pipe. So I inserted about 2 to 3 inches of semi rigid pipe into the flexible pipe and secured it with 2 jubilee clips. I didn't find any 1/2 inch barbed to 12mm (or is it 10mm?) push fit fittings but the fudge has worked perfectly.

Thanks for all the great advice. 
I have got the filter already and I will order a Seaflo when I get back from a trip next week (I don't want it left by my front door all week!) as it sounds a sensible precaution.
Perhaps I'm being too "precious" about getting exactly the right adaptor and i may try a similar semi-rigid pipe to flexible pipe fudge or get an adaptor without the barbed connector on one side which is more easily available I think.

Success (mostly!). I've installed the new Shurflo pump and it's working great. I used two semi rigid to hose adaptors from Camperlands to connect the hoses (the semi-rigid to flexible hose "fudge didn't work in my case). I made an earth using a self tapping screw to a visible part of the bodywork of the van and connected the positive to the spade connector which was used on the original pressure switch..
The only problem remaining is a small leak from the original semi-rigid elbow connector where the tank pipe comes through the floor (either I dislodged something or there's more pressure from the new pump - or both). That will need a new pipe and connector from the tank as there's not room to access the elbow properly). Thanks again to all who responded.[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Nice, glad it worked out OK. Definitely one of the best mods to carry out. 

Regarding the leak on the elbow fitting, I was surprised to see on our van that AS had not fitted pipe inserts with the push-fit connections.  If this is the case on your installation then that may be the cause, especially if the coupling has been disturbed or forced even slightly. The inserts are designed to support the internal wall of the pipe when mated with the connector, adding resilience to the joint. Fitting them is standard practice in 'land-based' push-fit plumbing but maybe for a smaller bore pipe it's considered to be a marginal benefit, and an example of where they cut a few corners to reduce cost. Personally I'd prefer to have them, especially in a moving vehicle, to reduce further the risk of a leak. They're readily available (see link below) and specified by the pipework manufacturers for a reason.

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On an unrelated point, it looks from your picture that the (Whale?) space heater is also under your bench seat, which clearly restricted the space you had to play with for the pump.  In our Kemerton the heater is underneath the floor void behind the cab seats (in the step from cab to lounge). I wonder why AS changed it's location, maybe Whale came out with a shallower heater unit in the period between our respective vans being converted.

Enjoy the peace of mind that comes from not having a readily accessible water pump!

Tim

I have a Kemerton XL 2012 and my FLOJET R3426504 water pump has stopped producing water at the taps (or even air) it sounds like it’s trying to pump air though. The inlet strainer is fine. Not sure if I should replace the pump or could it be the pressure switch or just something else?
Any thoughts from others who have had this issue please. Regards Keith 


Sorry 2016 not 2012

Pressure switch attached to Flojet is around £40 on its own, whole pump about 80, is it worth it.?

Thanks Paul, think you answers the question.