Help with Fresh water pump 1994 2400 SCR - Maxum Boat Owners Club

jblack1036 · 11-22-2010, 07:07 PM

Started the winterization process and can't get my freshwater holding tanks winterized the way I want to get it done. Seems the pump is working to preasurize the system but it just won't preasurize. I've checked all the connections and made sure all the faucets are closed but still no luck. Does anyone have any suggestions????Is the pump shot??

Right now I have everything driained to include what I am able to get out of the water heater. I did get some pink stuff in the tank but would feel so much better if I could get it through the lines to make sure my faucets are good..

shrew · 11-22-2010, 07:22 PM

Jim,

The Pressure Pump is called such because it's switch is activated based on a drop in pressure in the outbound line(s). An increase in pressure in the outbound line will turn the swtich off. So, witha pressure pump there is no way for it to work with all the faucets closed. So when you open a faucet, the pressure drops and the switch on the pump activates and begins pushing water through the system. The water will evacuate out the open faucet. Closing the faucet causes pressure to build up until the threshold limit is exceeded which turns the pump switch off again.

Short Version: The only way to pump propylene Glycol through the system is to open the faucets with the water tank filled with a few gallons of the PG Antifreeze.

What I suspect may be happening is you simply don't have enough propylene glycol in the tank to push out to all the faucets. It will take at least 6 gal. to fill the hot water heater, plus a few gallons to fill all the water pipes. Maybe I've simply misunderstood you.

jblack1036 · 11-22-2010, 07:43 PM

Shrew,

I got you there. I'm wondering if I have a leak or the pump is cracked. In the past, when I flip the switch, the pump will preasurized the system and then turn off when it reached the correct preasure. THen when I turn on the faucet, once the preasure in the line drops, it will kick back on to build the preasure back up until the faucet is closed.

I have recently tried with the faucets open and closed but the pump will not turn off nor will the line preasure build. I guess I could fill the tanks up with the pink stuff but if I can't get them into the faucets, it's not doing me much good. I think I'll try filling the tanks up with water this weekend and see if it preasurizes. Maybe there is a certain amount of liquid needed in the tank for it to work accordingly.

Thanks for the reply..

shrew · 11-23-2010, 01:56 PM

I think I understand the issue. The tank only feeds one pump. the pump then splits to the cold side and to the hotwater heater. If the pump is turning on, then it should be working. Keep in mind that if the water tank empties, the pump will not turn off. So it sounds like you emptied the water holding tank as well as the hot water tank, then put some propylene glycol in the holding tank. However there is not enought propylene glycol to fill the hot water heater (approx. 6 gallons). So the partially filled hot water tank never builds enough pressure to shut off the pump.

How much propylene glycol did you add to the holding tank? I suspect you simply need to pour a few more gallons in there. I think I recall needing something like 8-9 gallons to fill my hot water tank and all the lines on both the hot and cold sides. A Hotwater tank bypass kit would significantly reduce the amount of AF you need to do the job.

consider this. You purged the tank using the faucets to begin with....right? If that is the case (it's an assumption becuase it's how I do it and let's face it's the easiest way to empty most of the contents of the freshwqater tank). If this is the case do you think the pump failed from the time you purged to the amount of time it took to drain teh hotwater tank and start tossing some AF in the tank? Do you suspect that a line ruptured in that time? (If a line ruptured you'd have water and you'd most likely hear the water running as well BTW).

Just a couple of thoughts.

jblack1036 · 11-23-2010, 02:19 PM

Thanks Shrew,

I'll dump some more in this weekend and see how it goes. I was down in the motor compartment moving around alot trying to get the darn Plugs pulled to check them and also looking for any signs of leaks I made need to tend too over the winter. I did bump that darn water pump a few times. I'm really hoping that me bumping it a few times is not the problem. We'll see this weekend.