Water pump will not turn on

[SC5thWheeler]

2014 Fleetwood Excursion 33d.

Like the title says, the pump will not turn on. There are 3 "momentary" switches that normally light up when turned on. One in the bath, one near the kitchen sink and one in the wet bay. The last one has never worked in the year we've had it but the other two did.

Press the button and nothing. No light, no pump sound. 12 volt ceiling lights and radio all work. I've even cycled the CB for the 50A shore power, cycled the inverter, started the generator and started the engine to see if it's a power switch issue. Fuse is good, checked with a meter. There is no obvious inline fuse. The pump has 2 red wires and 1 black wire.

I believe there should be a controller board of some kind but I can't find it.

What is the best way to troubleshoot this?

 

[DonTom]

I believe there should be a controller board of some kind but I can't find it.

I doubt there is any controller, just 12 volts going to the water pump. The only difficult thing will be finding the stuff.

You said the fuse was good. Did you check the voltage on it when in circuit?

I think the only thing you need to do is find out why the 12 volts is not getting to the pump. Or if it is, the pump itself is bad, a rather common failure item.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[SpencerPJ]

I would start with locating manufacture name and model#, should be on pump. If you are lucky, there could be a reset button on pump. Then I would Google and report back here, we can give some next steps. Brace yourself, the pump might have simply failed.

 

[Tom]

On our Monaco motorhome, there's a small circuit board near the water pump. It acts as an electronic latching relay. Each press of any of the interior or exterior water pump switches causes the electronic relay to toggle from off to on or vice versa, turning the pump on or off. If you can find such a circuit board, check that it has power.

 

[SC5thWheeler]

@SpencerPJ it's a Shurflo 4008-101-A65

Nothing online about a reset button. My uneducated assumption is that no light on the switch = no power. I assume the momentary switches control a relay somewhere.

 

[SC5thWheeler]

@Tom that's the board I'm looking for......

 

[SpencerPJ]

"My uneducated assumption is that no light on the switch = no power"
I agree, aside from a circuit board, I'd guess a switch could go bad as well. Usually they pop out, and a simple meter or 12vdc test probe might give answers. Good Luck!

 

[SC5thWheeler]

"My uneducated assumption is that no light on the switch = no power"
I agree, aside from a circuit board, I'd guess a switch could go bad as well. Usually they pop out, and a simple meter or 12vdc test probe might give answers. Good Luck!

There's more than one switch and none of them light up at the moment.

 

[Tom]

@Tom that's the board I'm looking for......

Both my water pump and the 'relay' board are hidden from view in the wet bay; They're mounted vertically on the back side of a vertical panel, accessible by reaching up from the bottom of the panel.

 

[Rene T]

I would take a battery and connect 2 wires to the pump and from the battery and at least find out if the pump is good or junk. The wires will spark when you connect them.

 

[Kirk]

Press the button and nothing. No light, no pump sound. 12 volt ceiling lights and radio all work. I've even cycled the CB for the 50A shore power, cycled the inverter, started the generator and started the engine to see if it's a power switch issue. Fuse is good, checked with a meter. There is no obvious inline fuse. The pump has 2 red wires and 1 black wire.

The water pump and all of it's controls are powered by the 12V system so other than the converter, none of the 120V items will be related to the problem. The pump will have a pressure switch as part of it that turns the pump on and off when the water is used or when you stop using water. If there is pressure in the water line when you press one or more of the switches, the pump would not run but the indicator light should turn on. The fact that it does not happen makes me suspect that it is not getting power.

There are 3 "momentary" switches that normally light up when turned on.

Have you used a volt meter to see if there is 12V supplied to any of the switches? Since none of the light that is the next thing that you need to do. Let us know if you locate 12V to any of the switches.

I doubt there is any controller, just 12 volts going to the water pump.

With 3 momentary there definitely is a controller. That would not work any other way. Intellitec makes one of the most common ones but there are 5 or 6 other brands on Amazon and other places.

 

[DonTom]

With 3 momentary there definitely is a controller.

OIC. This is the first I have heard of either.

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[Larry N.]

OIC. This is the first I have heard of either.

-Don- Auburn, CA

Both my Beaver and my Ventana had four ways, and Kirk is right that there is a controller. It's not like the three way switch on house lighting, which leaves the switches in various positions, rather the three/four ways for water pumps in an RV are, indeed, momentary press to toggle it on and again for off, and the controller keeps track of the status, as well as actually implementing the change.

The four ways in the Beaver had a switch in the kitchen, one in the sink area of the bathroom, another in the other sink with the toilet, and one in the water bay. Similar with the Ventana.

 

[SC5thWheeler]

I think I'm pretty close to an answer now but I need someone who is better at reading wiring diagrams. Diagram is attached in a pdf.

I believe I have found the control board/module/whatever. See attached photo. I know that the wire colors match and there is continuity between the wires on the "module" and the same colored wires on the back of my wet bay momentary switch.

I ran a jumper between "WTR PMP GRND" (white/red) and "GROUND" (black) on the thing I think is the module and the pump kicked on.

I'm not positive that the thing pictured is the module because it does not look like any other water pump controller that I've seen online. They all tend to look like the one posted by @Kirk in post #11.

So....is this thing the controller and, if the pump works when I jumper these two contacts, does that mean the module is bad or.......

 

[SC5thWheeler]

Here is the photo. This has the "correct" colored wires to be the module even though they are in a different order than the diagram. I think this is it....

 

[SC5thWheeler]

Sorry, one more followup. I went to the Manufacturer's website for the part pictured above and it is listed as a water pump control module. BINGO.

So my only remaining question is, is this the issue?

 

[Tom]

OIC. This is the first I have heard of either.

-Don- Auburn, CA

As mentioned here, it's just an electronic latching relay; Only requires momentary power to flip from one state to the other and stay there. Back in the day, we used to have electro-mechanical relays perform the same function, and the 'relay' name stuck.

 

[DonTom]

As mentioned here, it's just an electronic latching relay; Only requires momentary power to flip from one state to the other and stay there. Back in the day, we used to have electro-mechanical relays perform the same function, and the 'relay' name stuck.

OIC. Not something I would call a "controller".

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[Tom]

OIC. Not something I would call a "controller".

"Controller" is being used in a generic sense - it 'controls' the on and off of the pump. Probably more descriptive for non-tech folks than my use of "latching relay".

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

These controllers work by switching the ground side of the pump power circuit. The pump hot side is always powered from a 12v source, presumably connected with a fuse somewhere along the line. The controller "Load" terminal is the ground wire from the pump itself and the Ground terminal on the controller goes to a chassis ground. All the momentary remote switches connect to the Switch terminal. If some switches work and others do not, the problem is the switch or the wire that goes to the controller. If the ground or Load or Battery connection was the problem, none of the switches would work.

Here's the controller brochure and trouble shooting info on the Precision Circuits site.