NEWB question - Water pressure all the time?

[SeaStarDream]

We're total newbies, and have been trying to figure out if we should be leaving out water pressure pump turned on all the time?

We're full time liveaboards, so regular water pressure is really nice to have.

The pump doesn't seem to turn off, and I don't think that's good for the pump.

Advice for us?
(Same question with the toilet pump (but it does turn off after awhile))

 

[Gdavid]

I turn the water pressure off when I am away from the boat for a night or more and when underway. I forget to turn it off frequently and it is no big deal, at worse case it will burn up the pump and I am out about $170.

If your engine's coolant system is connected to the water heater it may over pressurize the system after the engine comes up to temp, pop a fitting loose and you arrive at your anchorage with an empty water tank. This shouldn't happen if your system is sound but reducing your risk is a good idea.

I am also not a fan of pressurizing the boats potable water system with dock water as this can sink your boat in the case of a water fitting failure and bilge pumps becoming overcome.

 

[Comodave]

When we are on the boat we leave the pump on all the time. When we are off for a while we turn it off. The pump should not run all the time. It should build up to it’s cutoff pressure and the turn off until you use some water.

 

[OldDan1943]

You domestic water pump should cycle on and off with water usage. The accumulator should be the buffer too.
If it runs ALL the time, you have a water leak which should be noticed in the bilge and also the cycling of the bilge pump.
The domestic water pump is one item shut off when I leave the boat for a period of time.
I have a bilge pump counter to confirms the bilge pump activity.

 

[tiltrider1]

You domestic water pump should cycle on and off with water usage. The accumulator should be the buffer too.
If it runs ALL the time, you have a water leak which should be noticed in the bilge and also the cycling of the bilge pump.

I have a bilge pump counter to confirms the bilge pump activity.

I agree with the above.

As a Full time Live a board I only shut the water off it I am leaving the boat for more than 3 weeks. Now, my water pump is a Marco and it will auto turn off if it runs dry. The only down side I have is an empty water tank on my return.

The same with toilets. I only flip the breaker if I'm going to be gone for more than 3 weeks. In 25 years I have never come home to a VF toilet that lost its vacuum. The down side of this is a $200 motor burning up.

That said, I have no issues with people who shut off the water pump, toilets, and water heater when leaving their boat. It certainly can't hurt.

 

[OldDan1943]

I agree with the above.

As a Full time Live a board I only shut the water off it I am leaving the boat for more than 3 weeks. Now, my water pump is a Marco and it will auto turn off if it runs dry. The only down side I have is an empty water tank on my return.

The same with toilets. I only flip the breaker if I'm going to be gone for more than 3 weeks. In 25 years I have never come home to a VF toilet that lost its vacuum. The down side of this is a $200 motor burning up.

That said, I have no issues with people who shut off the water pump, toilets, and water heater when leaving their boat. It certainly can't hurt.

Yup, 2 other I shut down, water heater and the VF, bleeding down the fresh water and the VF.

 

[C lectric]

We're total newbies, and have been trying to figure out if we should be leaving out water pressure pump turned on all the time?

We're full time liveaboards, so regular water pressure is really nice to have.

The pump doesn't seem to turn off, and I don't think that's good for the pump.

Advice for us?
(Same question with the toilet pump (but it does turn off after awhile))

If the pump literally will not turn off unless you turn of the power then there are several possibilities for a cause:
--Shut off switch has failed. ALmost all automatic pumps have a pressure activated switch that shuts off the pump when the water pressure reaches a certain point, usually about 35 to 45 PSI.
--miswired.

If it shuts off and then restarts again in a short while without you using any water then the following.
--As said a leak in the water system somewhere from a loose clamp,
a damaged hose or fitting.
--internal leakage on some pumps will allow high pressure water to bleed back to the intake side which is low pressure. Caused usually by leaking valves needing to be replaced or a failed or stuck check valve.
Really a full overhaul of the pump.

It would help a lot if you told us which water pump you have including the model number and add some description of the system AND more precisely describe what it is doing.

Same can be said for the toilet. What do you have and what is it doing?

 

[Bacchus]

Search for the make & model # as should be able to find a parts listed online.
Most water pumps have replaceable pump head and pressure switches.
If you need both its usually less $ to just buy a replacement unit.
I've had some instances where begining of season a pump will run & not shut off I adjusted the pressure w screw at pump end and got it to shut off... likely a piece of debris in the pump that broke free.
Some pumps have press switches that are no longer available as a replacement part... it just depends.

 

[MYTraveler]

I turn the water pressure off when I am away from the boat for a night or more and when underway. I forget to turn it off frequently and it is no big deal, at worse case it will burn up the pump and I am out about $170.

I

There is a worse case, and it happened to me and to a friend -- our ice makers developed a leak. In my case a small puddle of water on some wood, which got stained as a result. In his case his entire freshwater supply ended up at the bottom of a stair case with lots of damage to wood and carpet. Big insurance claim (though I don't know whether it was paid). Ironically, I considered his experience a fluke and ignored it -- mine failed a few months later. But, I still leave the pump on unless I will be away from the boat for an extended period of time (the boat washers use the day head and it needs water pressure to flush properly).

 

[mvweebles]

There is a worse case, and it happened to me and to a friend -- our ice makers developed a leak. In my case a small puddle of water on some wood, which got stained as a result. In his case his entire freshwater supply ended up at the bottom of a stair case with lots of damage to wood and carpet. Big insurance claim (though I don't know whether it was paid). Ironically, I considered his experience a fluke and ignored it -- mine failed a few months later. But, I still leave the pump on unless I will be away from the boat for an extended period of time (the boat washers use the day head and it needs water pressure to flush properly).

I had an icemaker at my house fail while I was gone for a couple weeks. Luckily, downstairs on a slab floor with tile so only minor damage. A cousin was not so lucky when the valve on his toilet broke. Did around $25k in damage to his hardware floors.

I've never been a fan of city water connected into a boat. And always pretty good aboit turning off water pump. Now though, I turn off water to my small house when I leave for an extended period. Easy enough for me as I installed an easily reached main valve when I remodeled many years ago.

Peter

 

[Lepke]

Before you leave water pumps on or seacocks open, etc., you need to know your systems, flaws and all. Then you can make an educated guess.
My current boat I live aboard. When I bought it, I crawled over my plumbing to learn the system and look for problems. Since then, 2011, the water has never been off except for plumbing changes. The seacocks never closed except when being regreased and inspected. I been on the water 60 years and the only boat/ship flooding was caused by a collision with an aircraft carrier and then it didn't matter if the seacocks were open or if the water pump was on.

 

[Unclematt]

I would never leave my boat with public waters unlimited supply hooked up and turned on. Now if the boats pump is left on the worst case is you would empty the tank. On my boat I disconnected and plugged the city water supply fitting to insure no mistakes happen.

 

[jleonard]

I turn the water pressure off when I am away from the boat for a night or more and when underway. I forget to turn it off frequently and it is no big deal, at worse case it will burn up the pump and I am out about $170.

Burning out the pump is not the worst case if you forget to turn the pump off underway.
I had one of my waterlines going to the head sink come loose while underway.
Not only did I lose a tank full of water (200 gallons) but it soaked the teak parquet flooring and lower walls of the galley.
Bilge pump took care of getting the water out of the boat, but we had to anchor that night without water. LOL.
That sucked.
Pump did not get hurt by the way.

 

[Arthurc]

Im curious about the comments on turning off the water pump underway, is there any reason other than vibration being more likely to cause an issue?

As for the pump running all the time that is not normal, the comments above are correct on plausible causes and ill add one more. If the draw side of the pump is either getting air in the system or is too long a run/too much lift then the pump can run more often than not and will often do so at a lower speed trying to keep pressure. I had this happen when I put a new pump in my ER since the original location was next to the tanks (right below my pillow). I could see from the clear strainer it was having trouble drawing water and it turns out I had installed a PEX valve that I did not notice would not open fully.

I personally do not worry about leaving the pump on, I turn it off by habit when I'm not around for any length of time but never during the summer, that said its a personal choice based on how well you know and trust your system. The first summer I had the boat I woke up to the pump running (was thankful this time it was under my pillow) and found that my ER had just been washed with about 400G of water when an old hose to the water heater supply split. I was pretty far up north but luckily had a water maker and repair stuff onboard. When I got back I completely replumbed the system so now I trust it.

AC

 

[rslifkin]

Personally, I shut the pump off at the breaker any time we leave the boat overnight. If we're off the boat for a couple hours or whenever we're on the boat, the pump stays on.

Im curious about the comments on turning off the water pump underway, is there any reason other than vibration being more likely to cause an issue?

I think the idea is that when you've got the engines running, etc. you won't notice the pump running when it shouldn't be. So if there's a failure, it's like being off the boat where it'll likely dump the whole tank before you notice it.

 

[Arthurc]

I think the idea is that when you've got the engines running, etc. you won't notice the pump running when it shouldn't be. So if there's a failure, it's like being off the boat where it'll likely dump the whole tank before you notice it.

That makes good sense, I ended up tapping into the power wire from the pressure switch to the motor so can see when the pump is actually running using a Maretron RIM, I didn’t think about adding this to my monitoring page when underway as I’ve mostly used it for troubleshooting but will now.

AC

 

[RCook]

I think the idea is that when you've got the engines running, etc. you won't notice the pump running when it shouldn't be. So if there's a failure, it's like being off the boat where it'll likely dump the whole tank before you notice it.

Yes. I had that happen between Prince Rupert and Shearwater last summer. An inadequate single hose clamp I had not noticed allowed a FW hose to pop off. Fortunately was traveling with friends who could spare a few gallons, so I made it to where I could refill w/o running out.

A rare occurrence, however - always left the pump powered up while underway for the previous 23 summers with no problem.

 

[OldDan1943]

I put a 12 by “Run light” in the overhead of the helm station. Cycles with the pump

 

[HopCar]

The pump should shut off when the pressure builds. You have one or more of the following problems.
A leak on the pressure side of the pump.
A bad pressure switch.
An invisible leak.

An invisible leak is when the valves in the pump let water leak back through the pump to the tank. If the valves are really bad the pump will never build up enough pressure to activate the pressure switch. If the valves just leak slowly, the pump will constantly cycle on and off.

 

[CaptTom]

...I've had some instances where begining of season a pump will run & not shut off I adjusted the pressure w screw at pump end and got it to shut off...

I've seen this many times, on my boat and others. Always try the cheapest fix first. I actually drilled a small hole into a piece of wood near the pump to hold the right size allen wrench for the adjustment screw, so it's always handy.

 

[captkev]

When I leave for more than a couple hours: Water pump off, water heater off, shore water off. If you have a leak shore water will flood you, the water pump will empty your tanks, and if the leak is below the hot water tank it will empty and fry.

 

[ronobrien]

You domestic water pump should cycle on and off with water usage. The accumulator should be the buffer too.
If it runs ALL the time, you have a water leak which should be noticed in the bilge and also the cycling of the bilge pump.
The domestic water pump is one item shut off when I leave the boat for a period of time.
I have a bilge pump counter to confirms the bilge pump activity.

The other possibility for the pump running constantly is the pressure switch is not correctly adjusted or is N.G.

 

[Gdavid]

Im curious about the comments on turning off the water pump underway, is there any reason other than vibration being more likely to cause an issue?

Primarily because I cannot hear the potable water pump run when the motor is at cruise speed but also because I have my engine coolant system connected to my potable water heater and when it comes up to temperature, if there is any air in the system, the pressure in the potable water system increases further increasing the chances of plumbing fitting coming loose. I know that there should not be any air in the system and that the fittings should not be loose but things happen and I would rather have a chance to hear it. Adding an indicator light is a great idea.

The most likely risk of water loss on my boat is having one of my 3 children leaving the tap open (youngest is 6) or a guest.

My boat is old an does not have any fancy finishes, I could end up with damaged plywood under the galley sole, but that is about the worst plausible damage I can imagine, I can see how a water leak get very expensive on finer finishes, especially if left unnoticed.

 

[Bigsalmonfish]

I have always left my water pump on. Never gave it a thought as I'm at the boat frequently. I turned it off before going to Wrestling Nationals to watch my son compete. Came back and turned it back on and discovered that the 25 year old Torrid had failed. Feel fortunate and will leave it off now when I leave the boat.