Date:         Tue, 08 Jul 1997 20:38:55 -0500
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Ken Polk <Ken.Polk@worldnet.att.net>
Subject:      Re: Submersible Water Pump 83.5 Westfalia

cpaohio@juno.com wrote:
> 
> The blue, German, submersible water pump for the fresh water system of my
> 83.5 Westfalia gave up.  I can get the $49 real item from Euro-American
> parts, but I see from a search of the archives that a $10 "bilge pump", I
> believe purchased from Wal-Mart, would do handily.  Does anyone else have
> other ideas or successes, or can provide more details?  Please copy me
> directly if you post your response to the server, as I'm not keeping up
> every day.  I'll also cruise the archives in several days.
> 
> Thanks,
> Brian Strange
> Shaker Heights, Ohio
> 83.5 Westy 174K miles
Brian,

I bought a $10 submersible bilge pump from WalMart.  It is larger than
the one mentioned in the archives, they no longer sell the smaller size.
It pumps 360 gph which is a lot more than the original and probably more
than needed.  It also has a larger output tube than the one mentioned in
the archives, I had to purchase a small step-down PVC adapter at a
hardware store for about 50 cents and glued in inside the tube from the
pump and then clamped it to the hose out of the tank.  So far it works
great.  I have seen one in the JC Whitney catalog that looks like the
same size of the original, for $19.95 I believe, you might want to give
it a try.

Ken Polk
82 Westfalia
90 Vanagon
96 Jetta Trek