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

[Rollochrome]

My 5'er has two full bathrooms.

One is at the very back and is accessed by an exterior back door.

The water pump switch is mid trailer however and can be hard to access if all you're wanting to do is pull over at a truck stop and jump in the back bathroom for a quick break.

I want to I leave the water pump switch ON while I am towing, and at all the stops along the way, I therefore can get the kids in and out of the back bathroom and flush the toilet over and over and have running water.

Will leaving the water pump ON while towing burn out the pump motor or will it be ok?

[2oldman]

Njmurvin wrote:
I don't leave it on....There are lots of risks associated with camping. This is one that's just too easy to avoid.

I hear that.

I don't hook up to city water either as I cannot easily turn that off at will. And my coach being old has a few pesky leaks that city water pressure will breach (even with a reducer), but not pump and tank.

When my coach was newer, I could tow with the pump on (actually by mistake) and not have a problem. But now, when I get to the campsite, and turn on the pump, it will run but not pressure up until I flush the toilet or run the shower. I assume road vibration is causing water in those areas to leak out. To where I have no idea.

[Njmurvin]

I don't leave it on. After waking up one night to a wet floor (toilet shut off valve failed), I am wary of potential flooding. In fact, I try to remember to turn off city water to the trailer if I'm going to be away for longer periods of time.

Come to think of it, on my last camping trip the couple behind us were bailing water out of their kitchen right after they set up camp. I never asked. It could have been a leaky cooler chest.

There are lots of risks associated with camping. This is one that's just too easy to avoid.

[Sandia_Man]

Sure, it is your choice and now you have heard all the horror stories about doing so. We have left our pump on here or there over several decades of RVing, most times not intentionally, but never had any extreme issue doing so. We primarily use our water pump even with water hookups available, still waiting for our first fresh water pump to fail.

Shurflo sure makes a noisy water pump but they are very rugged and thus far 100% reliable across 6 rigs for us. There has been a few times where they were running for a couple of days without water in the tank before we noticed, we carry an extra shurflo pump but have not had the need even with the extreme use we put them through.

[larry_barnhart]

We bought a TT in 1996. Son of the dealer said turn off the pump when towing but his reason was coming back from hurting in the mountains something left on the counter slide and turned the pump on and burned the pump after the water was gone or if it had water in the tank. Can't remember but weird stuff happens. Off for us.

chevman

[dieseltruckdriv]

On my previous 5er I accidentally left the water pump running dry after I did something, I don't remember what. I went back to it a day and a half later and the pump was still running dry. I was sure I must have ruined it so I ordered a new Shurflo to replace the one I tried to ruin.

I am still using that original Shurflo for doing my water transfers from my 60 gal baffle to my trailer. I could replace the rubber parts, but now I kind of want to see if that thing will ever go bad.

[Lwiddis]

Sorry, I’d never travel with the water pump switch on. Move the switch.

[JRscooby]

I know we have all at least heard about somebody leave their RV hooked up to city water while they did a day trip, returned to find wet floors, traced to leak in water system. Now I understand the pump is less likely to force a leak, but you got to admit that traveling our highways increases the chance.
I can't stand under the idea there would not be a pump switch in bathroom. Ideally the pump would be controlled by 3 way switch. Just a rocker/toggle switch would work, but might be PIA to make sure both are off. For the OP, a momentary contact switch to hold while you want water to run.

[mooky_stinks]

I would just carry a gallon jug of water to fill the toilet bowl and leave the pump off to avoid mishaps. I actually just leave pressure in my lines and I can flush a few times before needing to turn the pump on also.

[valhalla360]

CA Traveler wrote:
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.

This is probably a better option.

Normally, it won't be an issue but if you have a faucet jiggle on or develop a leak, it will start pumping water. Particularly for a leak, this could dump 30-40gal onto the floor.

In theory, the pump can run dry but after hours, it's a lot of stress on the rubber diaphragm, so it may wind up with a short life if it winds up running dry for a long time.

[fj12ryder]

CA Traveler wrote:
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.

That's what I did on our toyhauler. The wall blocked the pump switch when the toys were loaded, so I just added an easy to reach rocker switch, wired in with the original.

[BobsYourUncle]

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.

[TenOC]

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.

[camp-n-family]

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

[bgum]

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.