Hi there, we took delivery of our second hand Bailey Scorpio Auvergne 1993 caravan a few weeks ago. We have a few trips out in in already and it's great apart from the fact that we seem to be suffering from a recurring problem with the pump.
When we bought the van we were given two whale pumps. The first one blew and I put this down to the fact that we had let it run dry for less than half a minute. It seemed a bit odd at the time, but thought I'd put it down to experience.
The second one blew at the weekend while my mum and dad were staying in it and we had to replace a blown 12v fuses a few times. Does anybody know of any issues with them or with the 12v electrics that go behind it all?
Any help, tips or pointers would be gratefully received as we are planning another weekend away this weekend and running hot/cold water is kinda nice with two children under 2!
My initial thought would be in the direction of the pumps themselves. Were they brand new, because if not, these submersible pumps do have a tendency to seize up after a while, resulting in blown fuses. Secondly, are you sure the correct fuse was being used (the correct size/loading should be stated in your handbook, if you got one with the 'van). The only other thing I can think of is that you may be getting a short/earth somewhere, which in turn would overload the fuse.
(If the pumps were not new, I would recommend that you buy a new one, and see how that performs first of all).
If it is the type you out into the water barrel and is connected with a plug, large o for water and to pins pos and neg for 12v then I have had similair problems in the past. What turned out to be the problem was the connections on the plug were badly corroded, I disconnected the original wires from the plug and socket and added a 2 pin plug and socket seperate from the original, never had any problems since.
Had the same unit for the last 8 or so years and now use it as a spare on the latest van, just in case!
The other thing I had to do was remove the plastic filter at the pump end and I replaced this with a piece of cloth held in place with a cable tie, this greatly improved the lack of bits going through the pump and up to the tap.
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Topic: Faulty whale pump - help!?
