Water Pump Running in Night 2011 Minnie 2201MB TT

[Randyn1]

Question. We had water pump on. In middle of night I woke up and the water pump was running. Looked at all the easy access points to see plumbing connections and hoses. Did not see any water or leaks. Turned pump off. Next morning I checked the other faucets and plumbing access areas outside and saw no leaks or faucets that were inadvertently left on.
Was thinking since I saw no leaks maybe pump was bad. Later in morning turned pump on and ran inside faucets and pump ran and would shut down as expected when faucet was turned off.
Not really sure what else to look at. Maybe a faulty internal sensor on pump? But now seems to be working.
Minnie TT 2201mb 2021.
Any helpful suggestions appreciated.
Thank you,
Randy Northrop

[powercat_ras]

First of all I'm assuming this happened when you were not connected to City Water, just using water from your fresh tank.

Water pump has an internal pressure switch on the outlet side. It will shut off at aproximately 40 PSI water pump outlet pressure, and come on at aproximately 35 PSI. If you have a slow fresh water leak bleeding down the water pressure the pump will run intermittently at all hours even with no drips at any faucets or the shower. Water can also back flow thru the water pump from outlet to inlet side if the seals and check valve inside the pump are not totally sealing.

I'm assuming you meant "water pump came on, ran a few seconds, shut back off". There is one cause that would not be caused by a slow leak: water expands slightly when heated. So if your hot water heater tank was full of hot water when you went to bed with the hot water heater switched off the pressure in the water system would slowly drop as the water cooled.

If not that - you will want to inspect everything you can see for dampness to see if there are any plumbing fittings "oozing" a little water. You can also see if you can further hand tighten the water connections to the hot and cold water faucets under the sinks.

Having something start to "ooze" is a common think that happens given all the movement our RVs take going down the road.

It is good practice to switch off the water pump when you are not using fresh water "just in case" there is a fitting somewhere with a slow leak that could be creating dampness which could lead to damage and or mold.

[Morich]

One leak that can be hard to spot is at the fresh water hose connection. Where there is not a hose connected there, a small plastic disk is pressed against the inside of the prot by a small spring.Looking straight into the port from outside, you may see a small (white?) disk pressing gently against the inside.
If you use something like a pen , you can press this in.
This works as one way/check valve to keep the pump pressure from blowing water out the side!
So when you are on pum, if there is a small nick or leak at this check valve, a tiny trickle of water can run down the side of the RV where you are not likely to be looking!
Like this?


One way to verify/test that this is a problem or not is to put a male hose thread plug in when hose is not connected.

But since it may have cleared on it's own, perhaps it was just the little pressure swtich stuck for a bit?
There is a screw adjustment on the end of the pump. If it is a problem again, perhaps a small 1/4 to 1/2 turn of that screw would change the operation?
Not one of the screws that hold things together but often just a small screw down in a little pocket like they were hiding it!

Point to know? If the pump doesn't turn on/shut off like it should, the pump is not the problem, but the pressure switch may need replaced! Cheap, easy kit to repair them but does often need to be taken out to work on it!

[Randyn1]

Originally Posted by Morich

One leak that can be hard to spot is at the fresh water hose connection. Where there is not a hose connected there, a small plastic disk is pressed against the inside of the prot by a small spring.Looking straight into the port from outside, you may see a small (white?) disk pressing gently against the inside.
If you use something like a pen , you can press this in.
This works as one way/check valve to keep the pump pressure from blowing water out the side!
So when you are on pum, if there is a small nick or leak at this check valve, a tiny trickle of water can run down the side of the RV where you are not likely to be looking!
Like this?
Attachment 189740

One way to verify/test that this is a problem or not is to put a male hose thread plug in when hose is not connected.

But since it may have cleared on it's own, perhaps it was just the little pressure swtich stuck for a bit?
There is a screw adjustment on the end of the pump. If it is a problem again, perhaps a small 1/4 to 1/2 turn of that screw would change the operation?
Not one of the screws that hold things together but often just a small screw down in a little pocket like they were hiding it!

Point to know? If the pump doesn't turn on/shut off like it should, the pump is not the problem, but the pressure switch may need replaced! Cheap, easy kit to repair them but does often need to be taken out to work on it!

Thank you

[Ray,IN]

Tiny debris in the pump check-valve can cause this; perhaps when you shut it off then back on next morning the pump self-cleared the debris.

[dnrainey]

I had a similar problem and it was the pressure switch on the pump that was malfunctioning. If this is a standard Shurflow pump, it has the pressure switch mounted on the outside where the hoses attach. No need to replace the entire pump, here is a link to the part on Amazon, only $20. https://www.amazon.com/SHURFLO-94-80...9ddc16c3f5470e


It's an easy fix. In reading the instructions that came with it, I saw where it can also be adjusted, you may be able to adjust the pressure setting to stop it from running.