HI ,I have an old Avantgarde 2002 400 RL, and when I turn the tap on it blows the ten amp fuse ,the wiring seems to be ok , so was wondering if is the pump itself passed its sell by date and shorting out ?
I lifted the wardrobe floor as this is where the water tank is situated but cant see the pump anywhere ? is it actually situated inside the tank itself?
thanks for any help with this .
If there is an electric cable entering the tank then the pump is inside. It is likely just jammed up with limescale. Get a small screwdriver in the end and flick the rotor round to free it up.
A non-rotating (seized) motor can draw a lot of current, far more than when it's rotating normally, so that could well be your fuse blowing problem.
Depending on pump type, a centrifugal type with a rotor sitting idle for long periods (toilet flush pumps quite well known for it!) can suffer a 'temporary' seizure, but as described above, tweaking the pump rotor can often free it for continued good service. TBF, it can be a sign that the shaft seal is past it's best and water is beginning to get past into bearing, so maybe time to give a thought to spare/replacement pump, rather than be left without water if it fails totally.
I 'tweaked' the rotor on my flush pump 3 or 4 years back now when it temporarily seized after 7 or 8 months of inactivity, and it's never given me trouble since, so it's not an automatic death knell, so long as it revives and doesn't make any 'distressed' noises. It did prompt me to buy a 'spare' pump though!
Thanks Birdman 101 and Monty15 , that sounds a great place for me to start trying to fix this problem ,as I have never done this before and is all new to me ,is it the large screw top fitting that i need to access the pump ?
and say once I get to the pump and try freeing up the rotor but that fails and I need to order a replacement ,are they fairly standard or maybe there is model numbers on it , my toilet flush is manually operated , my taps have micro switches that activate the kitchen and bathroom sinks only. Kind regards Ken .
If the taps have micro switches there will be no pressure switch ,just a basic pump inside the container which when standing empty for long periods allows the pump to seize up with scale. You should have no problem finding a basic pump as lots on the market.
Hi Birdman , thanks again , it was at the end of a weeks stay at my fave campsite , I was draining the last of the water from my MH when the ten amp fuse blew out , replaced fuse and operated tap , it blew again ,replaced fuse , but tried the bathroom tap ,fuse blew out, so both taps would make the fuse blow , so that why i thought it must be the pump ,will take a look hopefully later today
Hi , I have looked at this pump as a possible spare/replacement for my MH ,my concern is that it states the following .......
Before switching on, place the pump in water and shake for a few seconds; this will ensure successful priming and should be repeated after re-filling the tank
My question being is that once installed inside the water tank I obviously I won't be able to shake it ever time as I like to fully drain the tank after each trip ? or do you leave a certain amount of water in the tank each time which I feel isn't really something I would like to do .
Or is it another type of pump required ?
Hi , the reason I asked the question above is because the water tank I was referring to is a static tank situated onboard my MH under the wardrobe floor so would not be able to shake pump after emptying each time to prime it ?
I've got one of those Whale pumps (in an external Aquaroll with my caravan), and I can confirm that occasionally it gets an airlock when reinserted into a newly refilled Aquaroll, and it won't self prime until 'jiggled' to displace the air! IMHO, not an ideal pump for an onboard tank.
The 'old' Reich pump also has a higher performance in both pressure and flow, so you may notice a drop in water flow from taps if you fitted the Whale.
Just a quick update , thank you all for your help with this , Monty 15 and birdman 101, you were spot on with the problem the rotor had well and truly seized , so replaced the pump , and have water again
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Topic: pump shorting out
via mobile 19/4/2025 at 7:44am
