| Author | Message | ||
| Dave MCI 102 A3 Rating: N/A |
Getting ready to plumb my MCI 102A3. Does anyone have any experience using the 110V water pumps that you can get at Home Depot vs the 12V shure flo or flo jet units? Also what kind of pressure do they make? I have a trace 4024 providing power for my bus and was thinking about using only 110v appliances. Thanks for your input | ||
| James Maxwell (Jmaxwell)
Rating: N/A |
Somebody gave the specs on this a short while back, they seemed good. My concern would be: What are the chances that HD will carry this pump next year (probby an import and they don't carry parts even now), and what do u do when it goes out and u have to re-configure a bunch of hook-ups for a replacement while boon-dockin. I personally, like the sure-flo, you can get a replacement anywhere and even flo-jet appears to be making a comback in sales and popularity. Many like the Parr pump, but it has the problem of: price, availability, parts availability. | ||
| Jim Bob Rating: N/A |
Dave, I know this is not answering your question, but sometimes the limited pressure provided by the 12V pumps and the limited flow provided by the RV shower fixtures, etc. is a good thing. If you are carrying 100-150 gallons of water, do you really want to flow 10 gallons per minute? | ||
| Dave 102 A3 Rating: N/A |
both excellent points. we will be doing a great deal of boon-dockin. I will search/read more past posts on pumps. Thanks Dave 102 A3 | ||
| ChuckMC9 (Chucks)
Rating: N/A |
I do know that Shurflo makes a 24v model to which I might upgrade when I do my 'real' house battery system later on. | ||
| Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat)
Rating: N/A |
Dave, one other difference between 110 pumps and 12 volt RV pumps is that most of the RV pumps have a built in pressure switch which turns the pump off when the system gets up to pressure, and also a 1 way valve built in that lets the system stay at pressure when the pump's off. Very convenient for RV usage. A 110 pump will work but lots of weird things to think about...system drains back into storage tank when off, etc... I started out with a cheepo (new though) shure flo and it was ok but noisy, and after two years it failed. Then I got a shure-flo variable speed pump with the smart sensor technology that only makes the pump go as fast as needed for the demand you're giving it, and it's quite nice. Quiet, apparently reliable (so far so good). As a suggestion, it's always possible to get a small inexpensive 110-12volt DC power supply for the pump only, if you can't find a 24 volt DC pump and want to run it on 110... Cheers | ||
| FAST FRED Rating: N/A |
The easiest way to extend boondockin time is with a low pressure DC pump and LARGE delivery lines. The Water and Batterys must be conserved for a reasonable boondock ability. The lowest pressure that will do a shower with a telephone handle sprayer , or modified sink sprayer is only about 20psi. The "smart" pumps are over $200 but with a 2 gal accumulator the smallest RV sureflow at $60 will work fine. A good instalation is 1/2 copper tubing (ream all pipe ends and fittings before soldering for good flow at LOW pressure).The "best " is 5/8 with flair fittings , easily field replaceable with no torch work. Full bore the unit WILL operate a dishwasher or washing machine , but a bit slower than with city pressure. Save water AND juice! FAST FRED | ||
| Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat)
Rating: N/A |
I did the $60 sureflo with the accumulator for two years. Other than the pump failing, the part the wife and I hated most was that yes it only gets the pump running every once in a while, but invariably it'll happen when one of the two of us wakes up in the wee hours to pee, and when the toilet gets flushed, the pump would go off... for 2-3 minutes... and wake the other one up. It became a game to see who was the "lucky" one of us, and actually it was quite annoying. Yes it stays off for a long while but when it finally comes on, it's on for minutes at a time and it's damned noisy, changing speed and making all the pipes vibrate as it comes up to pressure. What finally killed the pump was that we were so used to it "going off" that we quit paying attention to it... then one day I flushed the toilet and the pump went off, and I left for two hours. Came back and the pump was still running, because the water tank was dry. That's not supposed to kill a pump but from that point on the thing was twice as noisy and twice as slow, and finally got on my nerves enough to toss it into the spare pile and get the smart pump. The wife loves the extra space that the accumulator tank used to occupy (uses it for dirty clothes now), and we both love the quietness of the new pump. As far as piping, I'd offer a different suggestion to FF... try 1/2 inch PEX tubing with the Oetiker crimp fittings. Cheap as can be, same tubing does hot and cold, fittings are cheap, it installs in a jiffy, and I was totally surprised at the "no leaks the first time" and none in 4 years. Here's where I get my PEX stuff... http://www.pexconnection.com/categories.php?catID=1 The crimper is expensive, but worth it using the crimp system in terms of time and ease. Actually I just took a grinder to an old AMP electronic crimper I had laying around and made my own crimp tool for nothing. You could easily make one from a cheap ebay coax crimper of the right style. Bottom line- I did my first bus with copper. My second with PEX. I'd NEVER do copper again, pex was so easy and has been so reliable... .. | ||
| DMDave Rating: N/A |
On boats that use 110 pumps they have to primed everytime they run dry. some have a dual 110/12v combo. Its always a pain for me (as the mech.)in the spring but it does give a high pressure water flow. | ||
| R.C.Bishop
Rating: N/A |
Gary...where do you have your pump mounted???? Seems to me a "small" insulated enclosure...with air to it would do the trick. Mine is in the rear bay, just under the bed on the floor above....no problems so far. We can hear it, but only as a background noise, which is fine....we know it is working. FWIW....  RCB | ||
| Jack Gregg (Jackinkc)
Rating: N/A |
I had a water line break and the pump put 30 gallons of water on the kitchen floor before the tank ran dry. I might put a manual timer switch in the kitchen & bath for the pump – turn it on whenever you need water. That way the water pump will almost always be off when we leave the coach! Any other ideas on how to handle this potential problem? | ||
| niles steckbauer (Niles500)
Rating: N/A |
Jack - I believe Gary has your solution if the water line break was due to freezing Gary - isn't the Pex guaranteed not to burst from freezing ? I just found out Pasco County Fla is using a blue 'pex type' (thin wall) flexible line for their water tap feeds (believe its manufactured by Martin ?????) - its supposed to be tuff stuff - unfortunately not backhoe tuff (guess how we found out) - Niles | ||
| Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat)
Rating: N/A |
RC, my pump is in about the same place as yours. 150 gallons of water tanks make the bottom of my bed, and the pump is on the floor at the foot of the bed. The new pump is nice n quiet. Jack has a good idea about the timer...if you are worried about floods, you could use a 12 volt DC timing relay that allows power to the pump for a set-maximum amount of time, then turn the circuit off. I use something like this on my kiln to insure that the thing won't go crazy if the controller fails. It works well. Basically, you hook the relay's input across the pump pressure switch circuit where it's motor is hooked, and hook the contacts of the relay in series with the (+) motor lead. When the pressure switch asks for the pump to come on, the relay gets energized too, and for the amount of time you set it, it will allow the pump to run...after that time, the relay contacts open and the pump shuts off. It takes a power-off to reset the relay, so under normal use the relay gets reset every time water is used, and if a line breaks you'd have to turn off the circuit to reset it. McMaster part # 7268K16 would do the trick, 12 volt input, adjustable from 3 to 60 minutes of run time, $45 bucks or so... (they have 24 volt ones too) This scheme would require more thinking to make work with a "smart pump".. as is it will only work with simple on-off switched pumps. To make it work with a smart pump you'd have to figure out a different way to let the timer know that the pump is running...monitor current, hook in to the electronics, or something of the like... Niles, yes I believe Pex won't care if frozen. According to the pex connection catalog, it is "the most freeze resistant plumbing system avaliable" | ||
| Stephen Fessenden (Sffess)
Rating: N/A |
I have a 24 volt Sureflow pump. It uses a pressure switch and check valve that are separate from the pump. You probably want check valves in your system anyway. You can buy them at plumbing supply houses and hardware stores. Our pump is mounted on gromets and is quiet. Isolation mounts would be even better. It does not tolerate running dry for long. It uses a diaphragm the is fairly easy to replace if it is run dry. | ||
| James Maxwell (Jmaxwell)
Rating: N/A |
The pump itself is pretty quiet. The method of mounting, the surface it mounts to, and the connections to the pump have a great contribution to the noise it produces. Mount it on a small pad of absorbing rubber or something similar. For connections, use at least 18" of suitable potable water hose on either side of the pump and connect them to the hard system. | ||
| RC Bishop
Rating: N/A |
Yep, Jim....that's the key. RCB |