Water Pump Worked, Freeze Damage??

[SSChanger]

Before the winter season, the water pump worked fine. Added fluid to the fresh water tank, and now all it does is run. No air pressure hissing through the fawcets while it's running either.

The thermometer recorded 14.9 degrees as the coldest in the past two months. Is the water pump ruined because it got frozen up?

I'm thinking maybe so. How do you fix one of these, or must I buy a new pump?

Thanks for your ideas!

[CanoeStream]

It's hard to guess how much coverage you had from just putting RV antifreeze in the tank. I don't think the pump would move air. Your faucets would be hissing chiefly if there was actually a column of water pushing through.

See if you find the plastic domed strainer somewhere between the pump & the water tank. Looks something like this --


I've found that the clear plastic dome on the strainer is very susceptible to cracking when frozen. That could be a reason your pump is mainly pulling air.

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by SSChanger

Before the winter season, the water pump worked fine. Added fluid to the fresh water tank, and now all it does is run. No air pressure hissing through the fawcets while it's running either.

The thermometer recorded 14.9 degrees as the coldest in the past two months. Is the water pump ruined because it got frozen up?

I'm thinking maybe so. How do you fix one of these, or must I buy a new pump?

Thanks for your ideas!

Before you spend any money on a new pump, remove it from the trailer, and bench test it.

It may be a simple matter of losing it's prime.

Andy

[mojo]

Just took my trailer out of winter storage and went out on the road. The pump wouldn't pull water from the tank. So I hooked up the antifreeze hose and got a big gulp of water and blew it in to the pump while it was running. It took a couple of gulps to get it primed and then stuck the hose into the water glass till it started to pull. Reconnected the pump to the tank and it started to draw just fine.

[Emh142]

I'm working with pump problems. I can't figure out your explanation of priming. How did you figure out it was primed after blowing into it if it wasn't connected to the water? My pump, which I haven't thrown away yet, went belly up with the hum and no pumping action while I was on the road. I replaced it. Maybe it just needed primed. Were you blowing air into a running pump or what? DH

[n2916s]

Emh142,

You are asking questions on a thread that is 7 years old. These guys may be still around but...

Before you replaced your pump, how long did you let the old one run before you gave up? Every RV water pump I have seen was "self-priming" but some take longer than others.

It helps to fill the fresh water tank as that is that much less "lift" you are asking the pump to do.

[CRH]

Pour some water in the strainer to prime it. I have had to do that at the beginning of the season.