Forum Discussion

mchero's avatar
mchero
Explorer
Jul 05, 2013

Inspect your water system!

Begining of the camping season is the time for us all to give our water system a good thorough inspection!

Was at the campsite yesterday opening up one of the basement doors on the curb side of the coach. Was having some afternoon thunder showers and was expecting water but not on the basement floor!

First thought was a leak in the living quarters so I went to work inspecting the plumbing under both bathroom & kitchen. No leaks to be found. All connections where dry.

One other trouble spot to check was the external water connection. At one time I had a slight leak on the backside of the connector but it looked dry as well.

The first stop on the complete basement inspection was the Shurflo pump and BINGO! a water leak! On the pump head side of the pump I could see a drip/drip/drip/drip running down one of the wires to the pressure switch.

Armed with just a simple phillips head screwdriver I had the pump removed in about 7 minutes! I removed four screws and the pressure switch diaphram was exposed to reveal a small pinhole in the diaphram!

DAM, What am I going to do now? No water in the coach until I can come up with a plan to repair the pump. Would be nice to have a small 1/4" by-pass pipe to replace the leaking pump but afternoon of the 4th is a bad time to go looking for RV pump parts.......

Then it happened.........

My brilliant wife Deb suggested the age old idea...Duct Tape!

Why did I not think of that! The duct tape I had in the utility drawer was thin, waterproof and stickey! I cut off about an inch of tape, laid it on the table stickey side up, placed the face of the diaphram on the tape, pressed firmly and evenly to get good surface contact. I then trimmed around the diaphram with sissors. All Done!

Had the pump installed, connected and pressured up in about 10 minutes with a slight drip but a container under the pump will catch the drips.

I Had replaced the main pump diaphram a couple of seasons ago so I opted to go with the $10.00 94-237-00 repair kit rather than the $50.00 pump head kit 94-236-21.

Ordered the part & should see it around Wednesday July 10th. Will then install & re-adjust pressure.
  • Don't you hate when the DW comes up with a solution after you have pulled out what hair you have left! :S
  • I used to get a pinhole in the pump diaphragm now and then on various RV's I've owned over the years, but since I started making sure every pump was equipped with a supply side sediment filter, I've not had any more problems.
  • Dutch_12078 wrote:
    I used to get a pinhole in the pump diaphragm now and then on various RV's I've owned over the years, but since I started making sure every pump was equipped with a supply side sediment filter, I've not had any more problems.


    My pump has the screen on the intake side.

    The material used for the diaphram appeared to be deteriorated.
  • mchero wrote:
    Dutch_12078 wrote:
    I used to get a pinhole in the pump diaphragm now and then on various RV's I've owned over the years, but since I started making sure every pump was equipped with a supply side sediment filter, I've not had any more problems.


    My pump has the screen on the intake side.

    The material used for the diaphram appeared to be deteriorated.

    Yep, the filter won't help with that then... :W
  • SCVJeff wrote:
    If you can't fix it......
    DUCK IT!

    (Geeze, I thought there were going to be some Tim Allen fans out there)

About Technical Issues

Having RV issues? Connect with others who have been in your shoes.24,188 PostsLatest Activity: Jan 18, 2025