Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2007 13:05:47 -0800
Reply-To: Michael Elliott <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Michael Elliott <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Priming the friggin' sink pump
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Mellow Yellow's sink pump gave out last summer. The motor and the
impeller were no longer on speaking terms so they went their separate
ways. I hear they are both doing well
The pumps were temporarily out of stock wherever I looked, so a fellow
listee loaned me a spare for a week. When the new pump arrived, I
installed it and it worked fine.
Last month I took a cruise up Highway 1 on the Pacific Coast
(California). I started with the water tank dry, no sense hauling water
before I need it, I feel, and when I got to Montana del Oro campground
near Morro Bay I put water in the tank. I would probably have filled it,
but the water supply there comes from large tanks that are filled
periodically by whoever's job it is to fill those tanks. They were all
pretty close to near empty so the water just trickled out of the hose in
a pitiful little steam. I waited as long as I could while water dribbled
into my water tank, but the flow was so slow that I didn't wait until
the red water level LED camp up. But I figured there was enough for the
pump to suck.
But it didn't. I could hear the pump motor whirring, but nothing came
from the faucet.
This had me a little concerned, but the next night, farther up the
coast, I filled the tank at a National Forest campground the the pump
pumped cheerfully thereafter. "Probably hadn't put enough water in the
first night," I decided.
Well, this weekend I struck out with a dry water tank again, and filled
it before I entered Joshua Tree National Park. This is desert camping
and there is no water anywhere nearby at all. Even if someone did drill
down to the water table, the water has too much radon to be healthful.
Lots of granite thereabouts.
After settling, I went to make a cup of coffee, and the pump did it
again: the motor whirred, but no faucet water. I popped the top off the
water tank, figuring that if worst came to worst I could just dip up
what I needed from the tank by hand. I wondered if there was an
obstruction in the water line, but the hose was too tight at the elbow
at the top of the tank for me to remove it without risking breaking
something, so I fished the pump up off the bottom and pulled it out of
the tank. I set it on its side and reached over to the faucet to turn on
the sink -- I wanted to watch to see if the impeller blade spun. It was
a stretch grabbing the faucet while keeping an eye on the pump. As soon
as I turned on the pump, water came out of the faucet.
<image here of chimpanzee dressed like human guy scratching head in
puzzlement>.
I dropped the pump back into the tank and it worked fine, without a
hiccup, for the remainder of the trip.
I can't recall who I bought the pump from - one of our usual online
vendors. It's not German. It is labeled "LEISURE PRODUCTS" and "CERRITOS."
Pump shouldn't have to be primed, should it? I would think that having
it sit under a foot of water would do a right fine job of priming any
pump, unless it is trapping a bubble inside.
--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
KG6RCR
