Towing With Water Pump Switched On. Burn Up Pump??

I have had the same experience as Mitch. Accidentally left the pump switch on and found it running at the next stop. Same thing, open a tap, run it a bit, shut off and the pump stops.

But here's one - a totally fluke occurrence:
I left a CG once with a full fresh water tank, and thankfully, empty waste tanks.
Hours later, I stopped and went into the TT, and the pump was running. A check revealed that the grey tank was full, the fresh tank was empty! Huh??
A further search revealed that the bathtub faucet was open, turned on, and there was a bottle of shampoo in the bottom of the tub.

Well, I had forgotten to turn the pump off as I usually try to remember to do. I forgot to take the shampoo off the little shelf above the tub faucet. In transit, it fell off and hit the tap on just the exact place needed to turn it on!
Consequently, on comes the pump and it drained my fresh tank into the grey tank. The grey was full, but it ran out of water before it could overflow.

What are the chances of that happening? Very remote, but it happened.

My opinion is that it is always best to travel with the pump off. You never know what could happen.

Wile it is OK to leave it on. I WOULD NOT because if from some reason some water is accidently turn on wile towing you could have a real problem. My friend left his cat in the 5er while towing and somehow the cat turn on the kitchen water and the sink overflowed because the stopper was in the sink and the water ended up on the kitchen floor. The pump emptied the freshwater tank.

It only takes a few seconds to turn on the pump when you stop. Depending on the age of the children you can teach them to turn it on and off at each stop.

The pump won’t run unless a valve opens or there is no water to pump. Won’t hurt anything leaving the switch on.

Won't hurt to leave it on but you may arrive to find all of your fresh water is now gray water or worse if you're sink plug is in then a full sink with a wet floor.

The only issue would be if you had a faucet jiggle to the open position - has happened to us with the kitchen faucet. We always travel with the pump off, but it sure started pouring water across the counter onto the floor when we turned the pump on at a rest stop. We were really glad the pump hadn't been on for the whole trip leg. We now leave a heavy rubber band on the kitchen faucet to hold the handle in the up position for travel.

Rob

How about adding an accessable switch?

Normally OK to leave it on but there are several reasons why the pump could run dry, probably not the best scenario. And if it does the pump may well draw more amps than the TV charge line can supply which is also not desirable.

Love this forum. You guys are appreciated. Thanks for the rapid responses.

Should be fine.. But, I have accidently left mine 'on' after leaving the dump station or camp site and traveled some 4 hours and found that the pump was 'running' when I checked it or got home or whatever...

Must have been the bumps and movement of the rig that caused it to lose it's 'prime', as the pump is just running. Open a faucet or the toilet and it primes itself up again and pumps normally.

No, I don't have a leak in my system, as I can pump up the system, turn the pump off and check it DAYS later and the pump does not kick on until you open a faucet... :)

I don't know if you can go days and days with it running 'dry', but if it happens to kick on in transit for a few hours, does not seem to harm it.. I've done it several times too over two different TT's and I have yet to need to replace a pump..

Good luck! Mitch

I agree, should be okay. I still always turn mine off when towing. If left on, not sure how full your bowl stays, hopefully not enough to slosh out onto floor.

Jerry

Won't hurt a thing. It has a pressure switch which, if working properly, will keep the pump off until water is needed. Towing has no effect on it at all.