Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 06:47:39 -0800
Reply-To: Michael Elliott <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Michael Elliott <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Priming the friggin' sink pump
In-Reply-To: <e30c845b0702251842r134cea42r4975cdf033c72f51@mail.gmail.com>
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Hi Peter,
Huh, I never thought that there might be a check valve in the pump to
prevent water from draining back into the tank, but it makes sense. A
stuck ball valve would give the symptoms I'm seeing. But this "Leisure
Components" pump appears to be a sealed unit, I don't think it's
repairable.
--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
KG6RCR
Peter T. Owsianowski typed:
> Installed a new GoWesty pump (the black one) on JoesVan and you can hear
> the water working it's way up to the faucet each time. Has worked well
> for 2 years. The old one had a funky ball valve that got stuck in the
> closed position. Maybe yours is intermittantly getting stuck.
>
> A little side story: Got that old pump out and my brother was looking
> at it and said: "It just seems clogged", so he blew really hard into
> the hose end not realizing the faucet end was pointing right at his
> eye. We had been testing so it had water in and looked like a 3 Stooges
> episode as the water blew out and hit his right eye. ...that was a
> really good laugh in a bus.
>
> by the way, did you remember to flush the tank with baking soda/
> bleach/water?
>
>
> On 2/25/07, *Michael Elliott* <camping.elliott@gmail.com
> <mailto:camping.elliott@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> Mellow Yellow's sink pump gave out last summer. The motor and the
> impeller were no longer on speaking terms so they went their separate
> ways. I hear they are both doing well
>
> The pumps were temporarily out of stock wherever I looked, so a fellow
> listee loaned me a spare for a week. When the new pump arrived, I
> installed it and it worked fine.
>
> Last month I took a cruise up Highway 1 on the Pacific Coast
> (California). I started with the water tank dry, no sense hauling water
> before I need it, I feel, and when I got to Montana del Oro campground
> near Morro Bay I put water in the tank. I would probably have filled it,
> but the water supply there comes from large tanks that are filled
> periodically by whoever's job it is to fill those tanks. They were all
> pretty close to near empty so the water just trickled out of the hose in
> a pitiful little steam. I waited as long as I could while water dribbled
> into my water tank, but the flow was so slow that I didn't wait until
> the red water level LED camp up. But I figured there was enough for the
> pump to suck.
>
> But it didn't. I could hear the pump motor whirring, but nothing came
> from the faucet.
>
> This had me a little concerned, but the next night, farther up the
> coast, I filled the tank at a National Forest campground the the pump
> pumped cheerfully thereafter. "Probably hadn't put enough water in the
> first night," I decided.
>
> Well, this weekend I struck out with a dry water tank again, and filled
> it before I entered Joshua Tree National Park. This is desert camping
> and there is no water anywhere nearby at all. Even if someone did drill
> down to the water table, the water has too much radon to be healthful.
> Lots of granite thereabouts.
>
> After settling, I went to make a cup of coffee, and the pump did it
> again: the motor whirred, but no faucet water. I popped the top off the
> water tank, figuring that if worst came to worst I could just dip up
> what I needed from the tank by hand. I wondered if there was an
> obstruction in the water line, but the hose was too tight at the elbow
> at the top of the tank for me to remove it without risking breaking
> something, so I fished the pump up off the bottom and pulled it out of
> the tank. I set it on its side and reached over to the faucet to turn on
> the sink -- I wanted to watch to see if the impeller blade spun. It was
> a stretch grabbing the faucet while keeping an eye on the pump. As soon
> as I turned on the pump, water came out of the faucet.
>
> <image here of chimpanzee dressed like human guy scratching head in
> puzzlement>.
>
> I dropped the pump back into the tank and it worked fine, without a
> hiccup, for the remainder of the trip.
>
> I can't recall who I bought the pump from - one of our usual online
> vendors. It's not German. It is labeled "LEISURE PRODUCTS" and
> "CERRITOS."
>
> Pump shouldn't have to be primed, should it? I would think that having
> it sit under a foot of water would do a right fine job of priming any
> pump, unless it is trapping a bubble inside.
>
> --
> Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
> 71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
> 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
> 74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
> KG6RCR
>
>
>
>
> --
> Pete
> '79 Westy "Aardvark"
> '87 Westy "Joe's Van"
> '02 Audi A6 Avant
> WWW. Busesbythebeach.com <http://Busesbythebeach.com>
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