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alexpinca's avatar
alexpinca
Explorer
Jul 16, 2013

Water pump

I have 2006 Keystone Sprinter 5th Wheel...I do very little dry camping...only rare occasions. I'm trying to figure out why I get a whine from my water pump when I'm hooked up to shore water and I'm running water inside. Lately I'm starting getting electrical burn smell as well...I think it is the pump. The pump is right under the entertainment cabinet and that is where the smell is coming from.
  • Should have mentioned that the noisy valve was a Valteria.
  • Wisconsin, thanks...that's what it was...I got out there with a flash light and had the kitchen sink water running. The valve and water line from the valve were vibrating all over the place...I'm ordering that valve now. Unfortunately, that makes the smoke and smell issue even more frustrating. I have a vertical entertainment center, the bottom one is not accessible from inside and is where the water pump is located. The next one up is just an empty storge compartment inside. That is the one with the odor but there is nothing electrical in it, not even a plug. The next one up is where the dvr and dvd player are...no smell there nor in the tv compartment next one up. Any ideas would be appreciated.
  • It's the check valve. Had same problem & bought a different brand check valve, noise gone.
  • are you sure the whine is not a noise from the check valve??

    My old TT if I turned the kitchen tap on to just the right flow I could make that baby sing, the rest of the flow rates created a small whine noise in the check valve which is where your hose is hooked up to.

    the water on the city side should enter the system after the punp (on the pressure side) and should have no effect on the pump as the pump itself has a checkvalve, if that check valve failed then the water has to go somewhere to go through it, ie back into tank, is that happening?
    is you pump a diaphram pump? if so there is nothing to spin by the water
  • Paul that is what I thought...I'm kicking myself for not running water inside while I checked that outside before. The whine is directly related to running the water inside though. I don't think my system has a check valve between the city water and the pump as shown in the diagram below...wondering if that is the reason that water pressure is spinning the pump?


    http://www.irv2.com/attachments/photopost/data/507/Water_System_Older
  • I haven't checked the compartment yet...I'm waiting until the morning. I can't think of anything else the smoke could be, it is the cabinet right underneath the DVR/DVD Player and TV...but none of those smell like burning. There is nothing else electrical in the general area...I thought that because of the whining whenever I ran water inside, that the whine was related to the smell. In the morning, I'm going to run water while I go out to the pump compartment to see what is going on.
  • If the pump switch is off the pump should not run at all. The whine may be from something else like the fan in the power converter.
  • Does the pump feel hot? Can you feel vibration through it. I'm wondering if you have a bad check valve on the pump creating the noise and if the electrical smell could be from something else.
  • Paul, the pump switch is off. I'm confused about putting water in the fresh water tank...if I'm running on city water wouldn't the hose provide the water it needed to prime? That is why I was confused why I would get any kind of whine from the pump when I was on city water. I'm thinking of just going around the pump and connecting the two hoses directly, at least temporarily...that should work in the short term right? I
  • If you are on city water the pump switch should be turned off. I'd open the access panel and check it to see what smells. Also put some water in the fresh tank so the pump can pressurize and not run dry.