Water pump is on NO water pressure, Help!

[LangsRV2]

Tuesday we just purchased our 3rd 5th wheel in 4 years. The "new" one is a 2004 Forest River Wildcat 29BHBP. Purchased from a large repulable dealer who says they checked everything to be in working order before we bought it. Actually believable because the tech spent close to an hour with us upon pick up to show us how everything worked.
Last night we driveway camped and hooked up to city water. Everything worked fine. Tonight actual camping away from home filled the fresh water, tank reads 3/4 full. The water pump is running and running not shutting off however there is no water pressure, no water coming out of the taps other than the residual from last night with city water. This RV does have a water filtration system, everything we can see seems to be fine. There is a fitting with a lever which appears to be between the fresh water and the pump. Tried it both ways still no water. No water leaking around the trailer etc. Pump got hot so shut it down since no water is appearing. Logic would say water isn't getting to the pump or it is sucking air from somewhere. The belly of the trailer is enclosed so we can't actually see the tanks but we can easily access the pump. Where do we start? The dealer is over 2 1/2 hours away so we really need to figure this "simple" thing out on our own.
Any ideas?

[LangsRV2]

4x4van wrote:
Still curious as to the brass valve that the OP mentioned; a low point drain valve, perhaps?

Once the RV was home and I got a look at it, I identified it as a fitting to use for winterizing. It was capped off with a brass fitting. The hose you would use to stick in the gallon jug of antifreeze isn't there so we will have to get one of those. Happy that the winterizing fitting is there and easy to get to. In our old RV's it was impossible to even fit the fitting near the pump so we had to pump though the city water connection.

[4x4van]

Still curious as to the brass valve that the OP mentioned; a low point drain valve, perhaps?

[BTPO1]

Thank you for giving us the update and solution.

[LangsRV2]

Cloud Dancer wrote:

Cloud Dancer wrote:

For me, a piece of hose that would connect to the inlet port on the pump and a bucket of water are things that I can readily put my hands on, even if I'm out camping.

I suppose that when I posted the above, I should've added that you're supposed to hook up the piece of test hose and stick the loose end into the bucket of water and then turn on the pump. If it doesn't pump water, the pump is not working. Sorry

I'm glad you stuck with it and found the problem. Learning what you did will serve you down the line. But, it's knowledge that you hope you never have to use....:B

Yes that is EXACTLY what we did! I sorry didn't post my results correctly. We took the new pump, hooked up a hose to the winterizing brass fitting with hose into bucket did nothing, hooked the old pump into bucket and same fittings pumped perfectly! So it had to be the pump not the set up in the RV.

Someone posted once about thinking their hobby was going to be RVing but now realizing their hobby is actually fixing the RV. Sounds about right doesn't it!

[Cloud_Dancer]

Cloud Dancer wrote:
I don't know if the OP has any items which would make it easy to diagnose?
For me, a piece of hose that would connect to the inlet port on the pump and a bucket of water are things that I can readily put my hands on, even if I'm out camping.

I suppose that when I posted the above, I should've added that you're supposed to hook up the piece of test hose and stick the loose end into the bucket of water and then turn on the pump. If it doesn't pump water, the pump is not working. Sorry

I'm glad you stuck with it and found the problem. Learning what you did will serve you down the line. But, it's knowledge that you hope you never have to use....:B

[LangsRV2]

Thank you everyone for all the suggestions! It's so nice to have such a great group of knowelable people in our RV "family".

After trying several of the suggestions we decided the pump must be bad. The RV repair shop is close to an hour away and closed at noon on Saturday's anyway. SO...got thinking that our "old" RV is sitting right next to our "new" RV (old one is leaving Tuesday) we know that the pump in the old RV was working just fine last time we used it so thinking that it would be faster to pull the pump out of the old RV and attach it to the new RV and see what happens. (it was the exact same pump) Then we would know if it was the pump or some phantom valve or something else in the system of the new RV. Guess what, the old pump worked just perfectly in the new RV! Ran for a few seconds pressurized the system and shut off just like it should. So since it works just fine it must be that the "new" Rv's pump was bad.
Now like I said at the first of this post we bought the RV on Tuesday and we were told everything was checked. (Paid for this service check too) I am guessing what happend is they hooked it to city water, filled and checked for leaks. Then turned on the pump heard it run saw a water come out the taps (which was already pressurized from the city water being hooked up) and called it good and working. When in reality it wasn't. I have a hard time thinking that all was well and good on Tuesday and the first time we use it it's broken. But I guess it's possible. Something has to break every time we use our rigs right?
Of course the dealer will hear about this on Monday!
We didn't try taking the pump apart, just left the one in from our old RV.
For now thanks to all of you, it seems to be working.

[LangsRV2]

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Basic RV water system....

Then 'water works/utility' panels started being used. Some where simple with minimal switches/valves and some were multi switches/valves.

Turn this/turn that......this one open/this one closed/this one this way/this one that way...........fill/pump/city/winterize.

OP has basic system. Gravity fill for fresh water tank. Garden hose to city water and pump sucks from fresh water tank. Normal bypass on backside of water heater.

OK on city water but can not get water to flow using pump.

Sooooo
Either there is a air leak on pump suction side or winterizing kit on suction side of pump is not closed (sucking air in)

GREAT DIAGRAM! It's nice to see it all in pictures so much easier to explain. I guessed there must be one way valves preventing backflow. But wasn't sure.
Our 5th wheel doesn't have any type of 'water works/utility' pannel. That does seem very handy however. I can see that would make it very simple.

[LangsRV2]

Dakota98 wrote:
Here is an earlier POSTING that may help in diagnosis

Thanks for the posting sounds like the pump on our rig

[falconman]

Has it been determined if water is even making to the pump? I'd pull the inlet hose from the pump and see if the line is clear. If none is freely coming out you could blow air into the line ahead of any valve to make sure the line is clear. If that's OK do the bucket test to make sure the pump is even working. It may be time to replace the 10 year old pump.

[Old-Biscuit]

bob213 wrote:
Would a bad check valve on the city water inlet cause this? Old-Biscuit, I think you posted on this recently.

Would cause water to leak out city connection

OP has an air leak on suction side of pump......either via winterizing kit, pump suction strainer/pump fittings cracked-loose or loose suction line fittings.

Priming suction side of pump would be a good test of nothing obvious.

Pump freeze damage due to improper wintering ????

[Cloud_Dancer]

I don't know if the OP has any items which would make it easy to diagnose?
For me, a piece of hose that would connect to the inlet port on the pump and a bucket of water are things that I can readily put my hands on, even if I'm out camping.

[bob213]

Would a bad check valve on the city water inlet cause this? Old-Biscuit, I think you posted on this recently.

[jrnymn7]

I use both kinds of pumps in my rig. My mistake.

I had to replace one of the diaphragms on my house's baxi boiler, occasionally. Could the diaphragm in the OP's pump become damaged to where the pump would not work?

[Old-Biscuit]

jrnymn7 wrote:
If the pump's impeller is shattered, the pump would run continuously, and not move any water.

RV water pumps use diaphragms not impellers..........diaphragms barely move (1/8"). They therefore can run dry w/o damage. BUT they do not pump AIR very well at all.