Who makes West Marine's Fresh Water Pumps?

[sailorchic34]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

Wanna see Amps wasted...come on over to my boat...

Just as I waste the power playing around on the internet at 9PM here tonight, my son is in his room watching football videos of his team on the internet (burning through my monthly WiFi like a hot knife through butter and my wife is in the upper salon doing heavens knows what on her laptop....
I gave in and put up 1380W of solar and a 400AH LiFePO4 battery bank and now I don't care...

Point taken!. Sorry, that engineer in me gets annoyed with inefficiency some times. But then I use a foot pump for water anyway (and a bucket), none of them fancy electric dodads.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by sailorchic34

I expect that the click one hears when the vsd pump starts is a relay closing and not a pressure switch. This as the pressure sensor is of course solid state. Pressure is adusted via a pot most likely.

The idea that a micro-controller has to be powered up on a pressure switch that then senses pressure with a pressure sensor, well it boggles the mind that it would work so.

I know everyone thinks these things are the best thing since sliced bread, but I expect they have a fairly short lifetime in years.

I remain interested in the standby power amp draw.. It's probably only 50 mA but that's still close to an amp a day wasted.

That engineering thingy tells me it has to have a standby loss, what with a microcontrolller and solid state pressure sensor to control the speed. I've designed and speced a few in the 1000-1200 GPM range, so know a tiny bit about them.

I do know a bit about the mechanics of the Shurflo VS pump since I have owned 3 of them. There is a removable bog-standard pressure switch on them. It is a membrane covering a spring loaded click-switch like on all other pumps, and the pressure cut-in/off on it is mechanically adjusted by a screw.

I don't know the electronics in how the "computer" is controlled or powered. Most likely there is another electronic pressure sensor or flow sensor because the cutoff pressure switch doesn't seem like it is a continuous one. From the pictures of the Aquajet replacement, it appears that there are two pressure adjustments - one a cutoff switch like the Shurflo and the other an adjustment on the microprocessor unit. However, I do not have it in hand yet.

As for lifetime, our 3 Shurflo's only lasted a couple years (all replaced with no issue by Shurflo), and the internet is rife with negative feedback on it. I don't hear as many bad lifetime stories about the Jabsco versions. Everything I have read so far about the Remco Aquajet has been very positive, with almost no negative feedback.

For the Shurflo, it uses 15milliamps in standby, which is just over 1/3 amp per day. This is less than the standby loss on our solar controller and battery monitor - so to get the functionality, quietness and pressure control of a VS pump for 0.36 amps/day is a great bargain to us. I expect the Remco is similar in standby power draw.

Mark

[sailorchic34]

Thanks for the info Mark.

15 mA is not much. Hum a pressure switch and a pressure sensor, how strange. Perhaps the variable DC volts in a boats DC system upset either the pressure sensor stability or the micro-controller A/D converter.

[endoftheroad]

Not that big of a deal to me either when considering that the power to the pump is only on about 12 hours daily.

[sailorchic34]

Cough, well I expect the power draw to be slightly higher and pump efficiency to slightly lower with the VSD pumps during operation too. Though it's probably not enough to worry about.

If I ever fix or replace my old water pump, I'll stick with a single speed pump with a simple on off switch and a accumulator that you sort of, kind of need anyway if you have a water heater, for water expansion as it's heated. It's simple, works well and lasts quite a while and is 1/2 to 1/3 the price. But that's just me and I'm more then a bit outside the mainstream.

Where did I put that tin foil hat...

[colemj]

Originally Posted by colemj

We have been through 3 Shurflo variable speed pumps in 6 years. They are fantastic when they work, and we REALLY like the variable speed pump, but would not get another Shurflo. When I looked to replace it, I found that they stopped making them, like HopCar said. I also had a problem finding current model Jabsco variable speeds, and suspect they were also problematic.

After reading through RV forums about horror stories with the Shurflo failures, all those guys seem to change over to Remco Aquajet variable speed pumps, and the complaints stop with this one: Remco 55AQUAJET-ARV Aquajet RV Variable Speed Water Pump Hard to find anyone having a problem with it at all - everyone seems happy.

These don't seem to appear at all in the marine market, but they are big in other markets. Don't know why they are not "marine", unless they are rebranded under a different name for that market.

So we just bought one and will be installing it when we return to the boat in a month. Hope it works and lasts because did I mention that we REALLY like the variable speed pumps?

Mark

Just an update -

This pump is installed now and working well. It is VERY quiet and provides high pressure. I had to turn down the cutoff pressure adjustment quite a bit because it comes preset at 75psi, which caused it to constantly hunt on our system - most likely due to the length of our water system and the compressible parts therein. Easy to do - there is a hex key adjustment on it.

So far we are very happy with it. It provides constant flow no matter what volume is asked of it. The flow never goes up and down and up and down, etc while using single faucets at any flow rate or multiple faucets simultaneously (I can shower while Michele is washing dishes and neither of us notice any difference in flow as we cut the water on and off).

There is absolutely nothing on this pump that makes it "non-marine" (except the lower price). The pump body is plastic, all screws and bolts are stainless, the motor is steel but has a thick epoxy paint coating on it, all connections are plastic, etc. I can't find any physical difference between it and the Shurflow or Flojet pumps we have on board.

I cannot measure any standby power draw on it at all using a clamp-on ammeter. I think it may use its pressure switch to cut power in and out of its computer. When a faucet is opened, the pump does not come on immediately, but comes on at full speed after the pressure drops enough to trigger the pressure switch (~1-2sec), then drops in speed for 1sec, then runs at a continuous speed appropriate for the demand needed.

If there is indeed a standby power draw, it is so low as to be negligible (<<1A/day).

Mark