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  1. #1
    Left The Driveway cosmicv's Avatar
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    Question Water pump pulsing when not using water

    So I get a pulsing noise from the water pump every 5 seconds or so when not using the water. The pump noise is constant when using water, which makes sense.

    Any idea on why it might be doing this? I turn the pump off when not using water just because I don't want anything to get damaged with it just sitting there pulsing.

    Thanks!
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  2. #2
    Site Team WhittleBurner's Avatar
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    The intermittent running could be caused by either air infiltration or water leak. I would start at the water pump to look for leaks or cracks from there check behind the water control panel and all the faucets including the outside shower and low point drains. It could even end up being a faulty pump as well...good luck
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  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by cosmicv View Post
    So I get a pulsing noise from the water pump every 5 seconds or so when not using the water. The pump noise is constant when using water, which makes sense.

    Any idea on why it might be doing this? I turn the pump off when not using water just because I don't want anything to get damaged with it just sitting there pulsing.

    Thanks!
    As WhittleBurn said air in the line or a leak. Another possibility is the pump is totally out of adjustment. In my old trailer the water pump had an adjustment screw that would adjust how often it would come on. When it started to do the frequent cycling I did adjust it and got it to work. Don’t know if new pumps have an adjustment screw. It was an old pump so I replaced it and solved the problem.

    Has the pump ever worked correctly?
    Did you run the pump dry before the problem started? Air in the pump can make the pump not work correctly.
    If you have a leak and it cycles every five seconds it would be a big leak and probably running out the bottom of your trailer but the belly cover can hold many gallons of water. Check in the belly for water.
    If you pressurize the water system with the pump then turn the pump off does the system hold pressure.
    Get the system pressurized and turn the pump off and let it sit for awhile, do not open faucets and turn pump back on. If the pump has to run to build pressure then probably have a leak. If the pump goes back to cycling without running to build pressure then it may be the pump and not a leak.
    Last edited by Always Learning; 01-25-2022 at 11:44 AM.
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  4. #4
    Big Traveler dryfly's Avatar
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    I've never thought about this, but to eliminate having to search all over the trailer for a water leak, could you make a short piece of hose, plug up the end of it so pressure would develop, and connect it to the output of the pump. If there were an internal leak in the pump, or if the pressure switch was faulty, seems like this would isolate it, or you could move on to finding the leaking hose in the trailer. Would this work??
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    Quote Originally Posted by dryfly View Post
    I've never thought about this, but to eliminate having to search all over the trailer for a water leak, could you make a short piece of hose, plug up the end of it so pressure would develop, and connect it to the output of the pump. If there were an internal leak in the pump, or if the pressure switch was faulty, seems like this would isolate it, or you could move on to finding the leaking hose in the trailer. Would this work??
    This sounds like a good idea and could isolate the problem if it is in the pump. The caveat is if the pump is connected with soft flex hose unscrewing the hose connection and putting it back on can cause a leak. Soft hose connection leaks are well documented on this forum. I personally experienced this a couple of days ago. I had air in my water pump and it was making a lot of noise and did not clear the air with use. I remove the output soft hose from the pump, drained the water and reattached it to the pump. It fixed the air problem but the screw on connector started to leak when pressurized. I tightened the band clamp and could not get it to stop so I cut it off and put a new PEX connector on it with two compression clamps with the clamp oriented 180 degrees from each other. This fixed the problem but then the hose started to leak at the other end where it connected to the Nautilus. I replaced the Nautilus end screw on connector on the hose and it now works. The problem is the soft hase has a larger ID than the PEX fittings that Grand Design uses and the connection easily fails. All that extra work because I unscrewed the output hose from the water pump.
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  6. #6
    Big Traveler dryfly's Avatar
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    That sounds discouraging! I'm 2 years into my trailer and to my knowledge have not had a soft hose leak. Bet it will start somewhere any day now.

    So are you saying you used the same type female screw on connector that was on there originally? Just a new one of the same type and 2 PEX clamps did the trick?

    I bought and carry some spare PEX tubing and clamps assuming a leak will happen when I'm in the middle of nowhere, but maybe I should get some of those fittings too.
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  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by dryfly View Post
    That sounds discouraging! I'm 2 years into my trailer and to my knowledge have not had a soft hose leak. Bet it will start somewhere any day now.

    So are you saying you used the same type female screw on connector that was on there originally? Yes, shark bite PEX connector. Just a new one of the same type and 2 PEX clamps did the trick? Yes it has worked so far, time will tell. It was hard to get the clamps on, had to heat the hose with a hair dryer.


    I bought and carry some spare PEX tubing and clamps assuming a leak will happen when I'm in the middle of nowhere, but maybe I should get some of those fittings too.
    I bought PEX Ts, straight fittings, plugs female connectors and some other fittings so I could do repairs in the middle of nowhere.
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  8. #8
    Site Sponsor Crazybanshee's Avatar
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    After four years with our trailer had the same issue. Connected the pump input directly to the fresh water tank bypassing the Nautilus panel and problem went away. Figure I have a air leak in one of the valves or fittings just haven't had time to dig into the system. Will pressurize the panel with air this spring and bubble test it.
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  9. #9
    Paid my dues 😁 FT4NOW's Avatar
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    I had that problem in my Momentum, kept getting worse until finally one of the Nautilus valves crapped itself. After I ripped out the Nautilus panel and made my own, the problem went away and never came back.

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  10. #10
    Big Traveler dryfly's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Always Learning View Post
    I bought PEX Ts, straight fittings, plugs female connectors and some other fittings so I could do repairs in the middle of nowhere.
    OK, well I'm always learning here so I'll ask a little more. Did you have to heat hose because the clamps were too small? I know there are two different kinds of PEX clamps, the copper ring and the pinch clamp. Which do you use?

    I've also read where some folks use the straight male PEX fittings, the kind to splice two pieces of tubing together, in order to place a piece of PEX between the soft tubing and the female screw on fitting that couples to the Nautilus panel. For a reason I don't understand, this seems to work better than trying to connect the soft tubing to the screw on female fitting. Seems like either way you are using the clamps on the soft tubing.

    I think @FT4NOW has the right idea.
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