Hallberg-Rassy 33 Water Pressure System

[AmericanVagrant]

Hello CF'ers,

Due to the extraordinary generosity of a man that I came into contact with through this forum, I have acquired a 1970 Hallberg-Rassy 33 Mistral for an incredible price. I love my Albin Vega, but couldn't pass up the opportunity.

I spent some time aboard this last weekend familiarizing myself with the vessel. One thing that has me a bit clueless is the electric water pressure system (it does not function).

The vessel has an SS freshwater tank built into the bilge. There is only one outlet that I have found - at the aft end of the tank is a brass or bronze multi-port fitting with three total hoses coming off of it. There are no electrical wires that I can see going in or out of the tank.

My question is this: How does it work? There are no manual pumps at either of the faucets, and there is a fuse located on the OG fuse panel for the water system.

Is the WPS pump mounted inside the tank? If not, I don't understand how a pump located inline on any one of those lines is going to pressurize the system (I have not found any, anyway). I know one line goes to the aft sink, another to the galley sink...not sure about the third, I'll need to track it down when I'm back at the boat (5 hours away).

So at any rate, I would like to replace the pump - should I convert to a single port outlet, mount a pump inline and then run to each faucet? Or, if the pump is internal to the tank, should I attempt to find a replacement intended to be mounted the same way?

Thanks in advance for any help. All the documentation I have found for the boat is in Swedish. If no one has experience with this system, I can try contacting HR about it.

[sailful]

There's a great Hallberg Rassy users group at Yahoo Groups. They have a lot of very knowledgeable people there who i am sure will be able to help you.

Stan
S/V Arbutus Beach
H-R 42E

[Don C L]

Can't help you with the pump, but congratulations on the boat! Glad it worked out for you!

[AmericanVagrant]

Originally Posted by sailful

There's a great Hallberg Rassy users group at Yahoo Groups. They have a lot of very knowledgeable people there who i am sure will be able to help you.

Stan
S/V Arbutus Beach H-R 42E

Nice, thanks for that. I've sent in my request to join.

Originally Posted by Don C L

Can't help you with the pump, but congratulations on the boat! Glad it worked out for you!

Thank you! I can still hardly believe it

[Dave22q]

Fuel pumps are sometimes placed in tanks but i cannot see any designer doing that with a fresh water water pump. Just about every pump I have seen when replacing mine is designed to self prime and is located in the bilge. I suspect your one of your 3 lines goes to the pump and the other two might go to a manual pump, backup tank or both.
If your tank does not have wires entering it, there is no way your pump is inside.

[a64pilot]

Either trace the wire, or the hose, you will find the pump.

[Suijin]

It can't be in the water tank. That would just be...stupid.

Are you sure you only have one water tank? Are there also tanks under the salon settles? Usually if you have multiple ports with valves out of a water tank they go to other water tanks so you can equalize/transfer water between them. The standard config is that they join up and one line runs to the pressure pump.

If there is a breaker/fuse for the water pump, it's somewhere...could be hidden in lots of places. Find it and then you can troubleshoot it. If it is dead and has an accumulator, consider replacing it with a variable speed pump that has no accumulator.

[hobopacket]

I suspect it is a self priming pump and it is inline with one of the hoses coming out of the tank.

One hose is vent, one fill, one to the pump.

Just a guess.

[Shrew]

Normally, I would trace the outlet line from the water tank. The pressure pump should be the first thing you encounter, however it might not be as near to the tank as you'd expect. It would, however be BEFORE any T's that split to various faucets Also note that the pressure pump would be between the water tank and the hot water heater (if there is one installed) as well.

If you don't see a wire going into the tank, then i would not suspect there is a 12v pump inside of the tank. As stated, I've seen this in automotive applications, I've never seen a fuel pump in a tank on a boat or a water tank.

If tracing from the tank out doesn't work, try tracing from the faucets back.

Lastly, if you know the fuse for the pressure water, then try tracing that back. I've even turned off/removed all fuses/breakers but the one I'm tracing and tried tracing it back with a 'sounder'. A tool that will beep if voltage is detected. If you isolate all circuits but the one your tracing, you should be able to isolate that circuit. Since the pump isn't working, it might well be the electrical, in which case that might be a dead end, but worth trying.

[AmericanVagrant]

Originally Posted by Dave22q

Fuel pumps are sometimes placed in tanks but i cannot see any designer doing that with a fresh water water pump. Just about every pump I have seen when replacing mine is designed to self prime and is located in the bilge. I suspect your one of your 3 lines goes to the pump and the other two might go to a manual pump, backup tank or both.
If your tank does not have wires entering it, there is no way your pump is inside.

Good to know, thank you

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Either trace the wire, or the hose, you will find the pump.

Thank you

Originally Posted by Suijin

It can't be in the water tank. That would just be...stupid.

Are you sure you only have one water tank? Are there also tanks under the salon settles? Usually if you have multiple ports with valves out of a water tank they go to other water tanks so you can equalize/transfer water between them. The standard config is that they join up and one line runs to the pressure pump.

If there is a breaker/fuse for the water pump, it's somewhere...could be hidden in lots of places. Find it and then you can troubleshoot it. If it is dead and has an accumulator, consider replacing it with a variable speed pump that has no accumulator.

My understanding is that the HR33 only came with one tank - I have checked most spaces on the boat and did not come across any additional tank aside from diesel. I'll probably just purchase a new pump anyway, worst case I'll have a spare.

Originally Posted by hobopacket

I suspect it is a self priming pump and it is inline with one of the hoses coming out of the tank.

One hose is vent, one fill, one to the pump.

Just a guess.

Probably a good guess - I'm starting to believe that maybe one line goes to the pump, one to a manual faucet and the other maybe as a vent. The fill is located on the other end of the tank, I'll need to check if the vent is over there as well.

Originally Posted by Shrew

Normally, I would trace the outlet line from the water tank. The pressure pump should be the first thing you encounter, however it might not be as near to the tank as you'd expect. It would, however be BEFORE any T's that split to various faucets Also note that the pressure pump would be between the water tank and the hot water heater (if there is one installed) as well.

If you don't see a wire going into the tank, then i would not suspect there is a 12v pump inside of the tank. As stated, I've seen this in automotive applications, I've never seen a fuel pump in a tank on a boat or a water tank.

If tracing from the tank out doesn't work, try tracing from the faucets back.

Lastly, if you know the fuse for the pressure water, then try tracing that back. I've even turned off/removed all fuses/breakers but the one I'm tracing and tried tracing it back with a 'sounder'. A tool that will beep if voltage is detected. If you isolate all circuits but the one your tracing, you should be able to isolate that circuit. Since the pump isn't working, it might well be the electrical, in which case that might be a dead end, but worth trying.

Good suggestions, I'll use them to help track it down. I read on the HR Group they're often located in the 'engine room', which is a place I had not considered looking. Having come from a boat that was all manual, I wasn't aware of what's normal for the WPS pump.

[Suijin]

My pump is in the engine room, god knows why other than shorter wire runs. It's getting moved when I redo my water lines.

[a64pilot]

There is no normal on where to put the water pump.
I would not put it under where I slept though, and if noise bothers you, maybe try to soft mount it some way, some of the little buggers can be noisy.

So far as fuel pumps being inside of the tank, that is normal for an automobile, but I think there is a regulation that says no pressurized fuel lines until you get to the engine on a boat. That is of course because if you get a leak, it's spraying fuel as opposed to sucking air.