Well don't ask me how but I accidently left my water pump run for 24 hours with no water in the tank.. :S When I found it the next day I shut it off put some water in the tank and low and behold it still pumps. I'm sure I shortened it's life but at least it works. Shurflo's website claims you can run this pump dry with no damage. Not sure they meant for 24 hours though. I'm thinking about ordering a spare just to have in case this one quits. Anybody else carry a spare water pump?

I think it is always a good idea to carry a spare water pump altho I don't think that running your pump did any harm to it at all. All you have to do is add a little water to your tank to check it. If it will build up pressure and shut off, then it is fine. I added a higher volume water pump to my coach and kept the old pump as a spare.

I've done that twice over the last 12 years. Once it was for 48 hours and the last time was a couple of weeks ago when it ran for nearly a week.Being a hydrostatic type pump, it didn't hurt it one bit and it still works great.No worries!

If I don't want to do without it, and it will fit in the basement, then I carry a spare.

Been there, done that a couple of times. Even so, Sureflo still performing it's duties going 9 years strong. As to your final question, yes we do stock an extra water pump should the RV gremlins strike. We carry our own water most times and utilize our water pump even when at sites that provide water, relying heavily on it's functionality having a spare onboard just makes RV life easier to manage.

Shurflo water pump left running! | Good Sam Community

msmith1199
Explorer II
Jul 25, 2016
Rwake901 wrote:
Well don't ask me how but I accidently left my water pump run for 24 hours with no water in the tank.. :S When I found it the next day I shut it off put some water in the tank and low and behold it still pumps. I'm sure I shortened it's life but at least it works. Shurflo's website claims you can run this pump dry with no damage. Not sure they meant for 24 hours though. I'm thinking about ordering a spare just to have in case this one quits. Anybody else carry a spare water pump?

Did that about five years ago to my pump, except I have no idea how long it was running. Could have been days. I was going to just go ahead and get a new one even though it still was working when I put some water in it. So I figured I'd just wait until this one broke to replace it, and it's been running still for five years!
the_silverback
Explorer
Jul 25, 2016
I have left mine running a couple of times over the last 11 years. No problems!!
Crespro
Explorer
Jul 25, 2016
Yes, carry a spare and tools to change it. We can live with other items temporarily out of service, but water is essential.
bobkatmsu
Explorer
Jul 24, 2016
I try to carry spares of things that put me out of commission and can take awhile to order, like a serpentine belt or a radiator hose. Other wise I'd drive myself nuts trying to get duplicates of everything. Plus my wife thinks her 50 pairs of shoes are more important than water.
Gjac
Explorer III
Jul 24, 2016
I have run mine dry a number of times and it has always worked fine. As Old-biscuit posted it is a rubber diaphragm that moves the water. When mine froze in Az over night it started leaking at the parting line. When I remove it I noticed corrosion underneath the pump, so it must have been leaking slightly for some time. I took it apart to clean it and saw the rubber diaphragm was about 3/16 thick (looked like silicone rubber) and was black with something, so I cleaned it off and reassembled several times but it still leaked so I ordered a new one. While waiting for the new one to come in I applied some silicone adhesive to the parting plane and re torqued the bolts and it worked fine without leakage. My take away from all that is the rubber diaphragm is very durable and not likely to tear or fail. So I now have a spare. The pump was 17 years old when I replaced it.
Airstreamer67
Explorer
Jul 24, 2016
Check to see if the mounts have worked loose and causing excess vibration.
Rwake901
Explorer
Jul 22, 2016
Up date, the more we use it the noisier it gets. It's still working but I'm not sure for how much longer. I hope it makes it through this weekend. I ordered a new one today.
Strabo
Explorer
Jul 21, 2016
At 5.3 gal a min my water tank would be dry in no time...

We have 4 girls in the family :)
TechWriter
Explorer
Jul 21, 2016
rgatijnet1 wrote:
I think it is always a good idea to carry a spare water pump . . .

x2

However, when I replaced my 14-year-old Shurflo for a Shurflo 4008, the 4008 lasted less than 2 years (Old vs New Story)

I now use a Remco Aquatec RV pump.
rgatijnet1
Explorer III
Jul 21, 2016
When I changed out our pump I picked up some braided extension hoses from Home Depot and remounted the pump so it was easier to service and clean the filter plus easier to change out if I needed to. Prior to the move it was located on the back of the basement wet compartment and a little difficult to get at.