Hi everyone, my water pump is about 10 months old but I do live in my caravan. It's coming on about every 20 minutes for a short period of time (seconds) without me using the taps. I have started to just turn the pump off when I'm not using the taps to prolong it's life. Is there anything I can do or is this normal?
Not an uncommon problem in my experience with a boat that I had. It probably is caused by a drop in pressure somewhere, and in my opinion it is one of the problems with pressurised systems. I never did cure it and my only solution was to do what you are doing and turn the pump off when it is not needed.
I have had this problem before and it was that the non-retrurn valve had a bit of detritus stuck in it preventing the valve fully closing and therefore the pressure slowly dropped.
The clue on mine was that the feed pipe from the aquaroll was getting warm as the hot water from the water heater was slowly trickling back down into the aquaroll. An easy and cheap fix if it's the same.
Dave.
------------- Never argue with an idiot, they will drag you down to their level and beat you on experience.
Mark Twain.
The problem with these pressurised systems is that everything has to be perfect. The pipework needs to retain that pressure even though the pump isn't running. There are numerous things that can cause the pressure to gradually drop, including the one mentioned by Dave. Another possibility is a minute leak in one of the pump valves. This can be so tiny that it doesn't affect the actual working of the pump when it is running, but allows the tiniest amount of water to leak back into the feed pipe to the pump. As the leak is entirely internal it cannot be seen. It will however very gradually cause the pressure to drop so that the pump starts up briefly to re-pressurise the system. This is often called "cycling". On my boat I found it absolutely impossible to cure 100%. Reducing the pressure in the system using the pressure switch extended the time between the pump cycling but didn't cure it completely. Hence why I always turned the pump off between uses of the taps. Every time I switched the pump back on, it cycled for a second to re-pressurise the system until I opened a tap, then everything worked normally.
Does your water system have an accumulator tank? Those help retain the pressure.
Yes I think I'm fighting a losing battle!
I will just turn it off when not in use. Makes sense and when I replace the pump I will add the water filter as I live in a hard water area.
Try the simplest and easiest thing first, check all hoses for splits and tightness and then move on to more obscure or difficult to get to items if you can be bothered. My suggestion of hot water leaking back has the easiest test as there is no need to dismantle it to check if if the non-return valve is faulty, just feel the feed pipe from the aquaroll, if it's warm, and the water heater is on, the non return valve is leaking back.
Now, as for finding it,..... it can be a separate item or built into the water input assembly through the wall. With inboard pumps it can be part of the pump head.
The task can seem a bit overwhelming so my advice would be to try to eliminate as much as possible then add sections back a bit at a time until your fault shows, a process of elimination. For example try a pipe from a bucket of water straight into the pump direct.
Dave
------------- Never argue with an idiot, they will drag you down to their level and beat you on experience.
Mark Twain.
Yes I don't think it's the non-return valve as hot water not feeding back. I'll get someone with more experience on the site to help me trouble shoot 👍cheers
It's quite likely to be just within the pump itself, possibly even from new. Just the tiniest pin-hole leak within one of the pump's valves will allow the pressure to gradually fall, and this pressure drop will cause the pressure switch to start the pump momentarily. It will then run for a second or two to build the pressure back up then switch off again. You could try another new pump and in all probability it would go the same way after a few weeks. Such a pin-hole leak would not affect the running of the pump in any way so the pump is not "faulty" as such, just not quite retaining the pressure while it is not running.
You could try fitting an accumulator in your pipework after the pump, if your system doesn't already have one. This won't cure the problem, but it will extend the period between the pump cycles quite considerably.
Brilliant, anything where there is a very small leak from the closed system will have the same effect, lets hope it's that and it can be forgotten about. Thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to return and update us, many don't.
Dave.
------------- Never argue with an idiot, they will drag you down to their level and beat you on experience.
Mark Twain.
Quote: Originally posted by Pickled Onion on 20/5/2026
Brilliant, anything where there is a very small leak from the closed system will have the same effect, lets hope it's that and it can be forgotten about. Thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to return and update us, many don't.
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Topic: Whale onboard water pump making a noise
via mobile 14/5/2026 at 11:17am
