Water pump won't turn on but panel shows its on

[Lindenberg]

What do you think may be wrong with my water pump. We are dry camping at the winnery where my daughter is getting married tomorrow. I turned on the water pump switch and the green light lit but I didn't hear the pump run to pressureize the system. I had time to check the fuse and it was OK. I won't be able to look at the pump until tomorrow morining so if you have any suggestions I'll check them out in the morning. Unfortunately tomorrow is full of wedding activities so my time is limited to troubleshoot the system.

[Dave Fernandez]

Hello Tom and Congratulations on the wedding:

I think your water pump went bad. Get a voltage meter and check for votage at the pump and also check the ground. You will probably find that you have voltage and a good ground just a bad pump.

[EngineerMike]

Or if you added a relay at the pump to make a short power run from batt voltage to pump, the relay may have died. Relay quality varies, and w/the RO system the pump is mandatory, so I mounted two relays side by side w/one active and the other a spare. If the first one fries, I can just unplug from it and plug into the spare. If yours died, take two with you to mount, one for now and one for the next wedding.

[wa8yxm]

Possible suspects:
Bad pump
Disconnected power lead at pump
Blown fuse (in-line often near pump)
Bad pump power relay (if said relay exists, not all do)
Broken wire


Procedure:

Follow the 12vdc to the pump and see if/where it dissappears

If you have good 12vdc across pump.. the pump is bad or you have high pressure in the system (open faucet)

[Flagelpater]

FWIW My system has a sensor circuit within the pump that does a couple of things. It will turn the pump Off if it has been running too long. Sometimes this circuit gets confused and I need to turn the pump Off at the switch for a few seconds then back On to reset the circuit. Try to reset the circuit if you have not already done so.

[Old Rv'er]

Just replaced my pump, no big deal. Don't forget you may have another switch in the services bay, and one of those switches could be bad, and that is a big maybe. Check for voltage at the pump, if none, push the power switch again to make sure it's really on. Then if voltage and no pump run, you most likely have a bad pump. You can provide a direct source of 12V power to the pump to make sure it's bad before you change it, but if the new one works, keep the old one and when you have time, diagnose the bad parts, buy replacements and then you have a spare pump. That is what I am going to do, as my pump worked it just leaked, so I am going to get a new pump head, and use the old one as a spare.

[Lindenberg]

Got the pump working. It just needed to be primed.

When I looked at the pump this morning I noticed the clear plastic chamber where the strainer sits was mostly filled with air. This is when I remembered the other day when I was clearing out the basement for the wedding I had breifly opened then closed the winterizing valve causing air to get into the system. The pump was running last night but because is was only pumping air I didn't hear the usual pump sound. After letting the pump run for about 30 seconds it primed itself.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Now I know what else to look for when the pump really quits working.

[takepride]

Tom:

I've had to prime mine a few times, too. It always worries me when it happens, but I'm so grateful when it finally runs I just avoid even thinking about what caused it (likely just letting it run dry).