Fresh Water Pump
On August 24th of 2016 we had planned to have disc brakes installed on our trailer and also we had planned a short trip somewhere to check out all the new modifications I had done to my Trailmanor trailer. I decided to combine the two and so we went off to the Ft. Worth area to do all of this. We stopped in Weatherford Texas and had the brakes done at Zannetti’s trailer repair (they do excellent work by the way) and then ventured on up to Lake Possum Kingdom for a short stay. While there my water filter for the whole trailer gummed up with the minerals from the ground water and the water flow ground almost to a halt! So much so that my “hot water on demand” water heater would not work and we had to boil water to have some hot water. I thought my hot water heater had broken and so I called the manufacturer and he told me that there has to be a flow rate of at least 2.4 GPM for it to work. He suggested that I use the fresh water pump since I had told him the fresh water tank was full. So that’s what I did…..only the pump had gone south and wouldn’t turn over a bit. I guess from lack of use. We have yet to ever use the fresh water pump as we don’t ever dry camp. So this was a good thing to find out because I wouldn’t want to need it and then find out that the thing doesn’t work.
When we got home I ordered a new pump, one that was much better than the stock one that came with the trailer. I have found that the stock stuff is just barely adequate to function and although that’s ok…I want more than adequate….I want better or even best. The stock Shure-Flow pump in my trailer was over 13 years old, and it was noisy to boot the few times I turned it on (like I said…we never used it) and had a flow rate of just 2.8 GPM (image 2202). I decided to replace it with the Pentair Shure-Flow 4048 (image 2214). It has a much larger motor and can pump out 4 GPM and it is super quiet too.
Now replacing the fresh water pump is no easy chore (unless you’re Inspector Gadget with telescoping arms). On my trailer (3124KS) they mount it inside, on the street side wall just above and beside the fresh water tank (image 2203) under the kitchen sink. There is so much stuff crammed into that space that a mouse would be cramped! The only way to really access it is from the outside through the opening where the hot water heater goes, so you have to remove the hot water heater to gain that. With the hot water heater removed it’s a snap and you can easily work in there. I took advantage of the situation and decided to replace the kitchen faucet at the same time with one that is a single lever control and with a sprayer hose as well. An American Brass SL801FN-3 (images 2577, 2578) is the only one that will fit because it has to be a low profile faucet that can’t stick up when the trailer is closed down.
So I removed the old pump and put the new pump in but decided to mount it on the floor under the sink instead of on the wall (image 2206). This way if there is ever a problem, I can get to it and service it without having to take out the hot water heater. Shure-Flow recommends that you install a strainer on the intake from the fresh water tank in case any debris should find its way into the pump, so naturally I got the strainer as well (image 2204 …. you can see it to the left of the pump on the intake line).
The plumbing was easy with hose barb fittings for the intake line, and faucet supply line hose to the out-put and into the trailer water system.
All the technical data are on images 2214 – 2217. It’s nice that they gave an exploded view of the pump and all the working parts.
Now I won’t have to worry about the water pump for a long time….but you know I’ll be running it from time to time just to see if it does Shure-Flow!