Anyone NOT using the electric water pump?

DirtyDog

DirtyDog

Captain Leisure
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Eugene, Oregon
The electric water pump is noisy and prone to cold weather damage. Is anyone just using the hand pump? Are you happy with that option?
 
DD I have not used one but have the one that came with the camper in the garage.

My friends up in Reno bought a Hawk with the pump and had trouble with thier unit from day one. With all the leaks and priming troubles they had me install the same SureFlow pump and faucet that I have.

I guess if you had a pump that worked and got the hang of priming and etc., then I don't see why not to have one.

Remember that the hand pump can freeze too if water is left inside in winter storage.
 
DD I have not used one but have the one that came with the camper in the garage.

My friends up in Reno bought a Hawk with the pump and had trouble with thier unit from day one. With all the leaks and priming troubles they had me install the same SureFlow pump and faucet that I have.

I guess if you had a pump that worked and got the hang of priming and etc., then I don't see why not to have one.

Remember that the hand pump can freeze too if water is left inside in winter storage.

I'm guessing the electric pump is required for the external shower? I don't remember if the pump was running when I was using that in my last camper.

My experience with the electric pump is that the water never completely drained out of it - even after more than a month - and it froze in storage even after months of non-use. We have had some discussions on insulating the pump, and I know it can be prepped for storage, but if the hand pump works well I'm not sure I want to bother with the electric version.
 
You Can Have Both If You Want

If it was me I would get the elec. pump, when I bought my Granby the hand pump flew out the door right behind the ice box, I installed a Sure Flo, not sure what model, but I know it has frozen a couple of times no problem. I have several on the Ali J, finally they do wear out but I have had no real problems. I have a hard time washing my hands while i'm tryin' to pump water with one hand, if I had a covered wagon i'd probably want the hand pump. If you have the shower you need the elec. pump, and the shower is something I have to have.
 
Hand Pump

I have the hand pump in my Panther and it works fine.

I leave the handle in the back position and it keeps it's prime. I prime it by blocking the faucet and pumping a few times to get the flow started. I did add a short piece of hose about 4 inches long to the faucet to cut down on splash and give me directional flow. I think 3/8 slipped right on. I don't use a great deal of tank water on a daily basis and use a 3 gallon water jug for drinking water.

If I need more water I get it from the tank via the drain valve. I changed the factory valve to a ball valve with a short hose attached. The hose is angled out and away from the side of the camper to cut down on splash. The valve is easier to turn than the factory valve and has better control of flow.
 
When you drain the tank, open the water line, without power to the pump and back blow the line from the faucet to drain out the pump. You could shim up the outlet side of the pump to have gravity flow out the pump. If there is small amount of water in the pump when it freezes then it will expand and not harm the pump.
 
I also use the hand pump with no issues. Most everything is done out of the camper and the little tap works fine too.
 
Thanks for the suggestions/tips regarding Winter storage/use/etc. Such things may be a real challenge here where the temps go below freezing 6+ months out of the year.

And after tightening/checking the turnbuckles a few times already and feeling the air whip in the lower access panels I can already see that one of my first mods could very well be super-insulating the lower part of this camper/blocking any massive airflow into the camper from the outside.

I will also have to come up with some sort of "covers" (probably internal) to block any louvered vents during transport/driving in Winter or all of those shiny/purty components will be coated in a goo of magnesium chloride and road grime that is impossible to get off and corrodes everything it touches over time.

Ah....the price we pay for SUMMER.

mtn-high
 
I use both

It depends on how much water I want and whether I need to use both hands while the water is flowing, so I use both pumps. I don't know how easy it is to access the electric pump in a new camper, but in my older Hawk, I could easily detach, drain and set aside for storing the camper in freezing conditions. The tubes to my pump are held on with simple hose clamps.

I have a friend with a newer Hawk and he told me how he set it up with a few valves, some tubing and extra clamps (he needs a crimp tool to put the clamps on, which are probably the same as came from the factory) he can use the electric pump to fill (and later flush) the vulnerable parts of the water system with the pink antifreeze (the stuff that's safe for potable water systems). I don't remember the specifics and I never saw it, but if I get a chance, I'll take some pictures and get a better description from him.
 
Our hand pump began to leak, so when I replaced it with the ShurFlo faucet (fabulous faucet) and a ShurFlo pump, I mounted the pump so it would be relatively easy to remove during storage during freezing weather and to keep it above freezing when camping in weather above 20'F.

It should be relatively easy to reposition the factory pump to facilitate removal. See http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1358&highlight=shurflow
We a much happier with the pump, and initially, I don't see any greater use of water. Below 20'F, I'll look into the pink anti freeze. We also have a 2.5 gallon plastic water jug for drinking water, so I'm not worried about drinking pink water.
 
Pink antifreeze is NOT to be used with an anode in the hot water heater tank, if you have one.

I don't use the water system in the winter or very short trips. I use a five gallon jug. I put it over the refrg. counter and the spigot hangs over the sink.


There is a system out there for everybody just as there are different cars and colors. What works for you?
 
Thanks pvstoy!

Pink antifreeze is NOT to be used with an anode in the hot water heater tank, if you have one.

I don't use the water system in the winter or very short trips. I use a five gallon jug. I put it over the refrg. counter and the spigot hangs over the sink.


There is a system out there for everybody just as there are different cars and colors. What works for you?

I'll let my friend know soonest as he does have the water heater and has mentioned problems with the anode seeming to gum up the works.
 
I just got off the phone with my friend with the water heater...

Apparently his modifications are to allow pumping the pink stuff into the system while bypassing the water heater. The problem with the anode is unrelated.
 
I'm another one without an electric pump. With limited water, SHE is much more conservative.

Actually, this is a major change for me. I've been an RV'er for a long time, with water on tap. Seems just fine for us.
 
We use both pumps but mostly the electric, wouldn't want to do without it for large amounts of water. I did try to completely disconnect it last winter but couldn't get the tubing to release from the pump housing without risking damage so I let it go for now. I'd love to install some quick releases of some type but haven't put any further effort into it.

mtn-High,

I also didn't like the idea of leaving those louvers open in the winter so I slipped a piece of foil/bubble insulation inside the opening for as temporary fix. Since the material is conductive I have to remove it when the fridge is powered up. The ideal cover is likely a thin piece of plastic like a flexible cutting board but I haven't found one large enough yet to cut to size.
 
Thanks for the input, DLN. I saw those louvers and instantly said to myself... "nope..that won't fly here in Winter at all". Can you imagine what the back of that fridge would look like after driving all day in the mag chloride muck? Anything electrical will be arcing...anything mechanical will be frozen in place with corrosion. I will certainly be coming up with something to cover these before the snow flies!

Beyond that...how do you approach freezing temps and yer water system? Do you use a "blow-out" procedure like would be performed on an irrigation system for winterization...or just let it drain and hope for the best?

I haven't had my Hawk long enough to check it out fully...have you ever thought about heat tape and keeping the unit plugged in @ home while not in use..or is it easier to just pressurize/blow-out the system on each use?

Any weak/low spots in the system that don't drain that you know of?

sorry for the barrage of questions!

mtn-high
 
I've just drained the system of as much water as I can and kept the camper from freezing. I'm self employed and work out of a home office so the camper lives in the garage most of the time making it fairly easy to avoid the problem. If the weather is bad or too cold we'll take my wife's Outback which is much easier to clean snow off of and is really a much better snow car than my truck. Basically I've cheated the whole issue up to this point (2 winters so far) but I think I'll try the blow out method when I do the winter drain this fall.
 
I have a small compressor so I'll probably play with it a bit before it gets cold and see what I find.

I need to clean a spot out in my garage and do the same thing. It gets down to the upper 30's in there but never freezes.

Does anyone here have a good line on a rv dolly of some sort? We plan to head SOUTH to New Mexico/the desert to get out of the snow and drop-in on the kid @ college quite a bit during the Winter months and while I'd love to just leave the Hawk on the truck all winter it WILL be hard on it to expose it to that much ice/cold/snowmelt chemicals. Some sort of an easy rolling unit to get it into the garage would be nice for storage. Ideas?
 
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