Anyone replaced a submersible pump with internal ?
Good evening,
Well, instead of going away this week I've decided to spend the time catching up on all those little jobs you keep reminding yourself to when "when you have the time"
One of these is cleaning the electrical connections on the Crystal2 Truma water pump connector. So, lots of contact cleaner, vinegar (acetic acid), cotton buds, 2400 grit emery, WD40 & some vaseline later its now 'as good as new'
Got me thinking though about the possibility of fitting an internal water pump (in the free space behind the connector)
A non retrun valve, 2 T-pieces (or Y's), some hose, wire, piggy-back spades and of course the pump.
This way if the external submersible pump fails, I've got a backup
Thought I'd ask on here though - has anyone done similar ?
Comments
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Well I've had both but have never fitted an internal pump. Quite straghtforward as they only use push connectors, however, an internal pump generally works on a pressure switch whereas the submersible receives a signal from the tap micro switch I presume
you will use the signal from the microswitch to start the pump.I can see that an internal pump has some advantages (although Bailey obviously dont think so as they have switched back to submersible) but to have one as a back-up seems a bit pointless and costly as you could simply carry a spare pump - a sensible precaution.
Anyway, wouldn't you have to chop the pump off the end of the tube to draw water through using the internal pump?0 -
If the submersible packs in, I'd plan on using the same connector ( without using the electrical connectors) and a length of food grade hose.
As for pump, I'd go for a self priming diaphragm pump with a slightly higher flow rate than the sub, making showering a lot easier.
Just thoughts really - whatever I fit will retain the elctrical connectivity of the external connector.
I've looked at also upgrading the Crystal2 to the newer Ultrafow, but there seems to be lots of negative / problematic comments about Ultraflow connectors on the web
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, Go for a 'Shureflow ' if possible !!0 -
........ however, an internal pump generally works on a pressure switch whereas the submersible receives a signal from the tap micro switch I presume you will use the signal from the microswitch to start the pump.
Plenty of vans with external pumps use a pressure switch to operate the pump.
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Anyway, wouldn't you have to chop the pump off the end of the tube to draw water through using the internal pump?
No, the water should flow through that quite readily.
I however don't see the point in the modification, I would also simply carry a spare if that concerned about the pump. Actual I would buy another only if it did fail, in my case one not having done so yet in 35 years.
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I did think about a similar modification after our external pump failed when we arrived on site, just after we got the new 'van. However, a quick rub over with wet 'n dry soon solved the problem. It was amazing how quickly the contacts had corroded just
sufficiently to prevent a good electrical contact.What worried me was that if the pump had failed completely, it would be very inconvenient to say the least - especially on a CL with no facilities!
I have moved away from the idea of an internal pump, mainly because they tend to be noisy and, instead, have bought a spare external pump - just to guarantee we won't need it!
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I carried a spare pump for 20 years and never needed it but as we mainly travelled on the continent I always felt that it would be almost impossible to get a timely replacement and would be a real inconvenience if it failed.
A submersible pump is always going to be more efficient (30% is a figure I have seen) and purely based on having owned both the internal pump is larger, noisy, expensive and doesn't seem to give much better performance.
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Many years ago I went from an internal pump to a submersible one, and I would not go back to the internal. I did upgrade the 9 litre flow rate standard one to the 12 litre super submersible, which made a big difference in the shower. The standard one is
my back-up should the main one fail. The changeover is a matter of connecting the wires to the plug assembly at the caravan wall0 -
Quite straghtforward as they only use push connectors, however, an internal pump generally works on a pressure switch whereas the submersible receives a signal from the tap micro switch I presume you will use the signal from the microswitch to start the
pump.There is no no need whatever for taps to have microswitches, since the pressure switch fulfils this function. My last 2 vans have been set up like this.
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We had a sterling van (Swift) with an internal pump and evey time you turned a tap on, the pump sounded like a machine gun.
My advice, forget about it
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Judging by the threads in this forum, it is very difficult to prevent vibration noise on internal pumps even by improving the mounting arrangements. The pump on our Bailey Unicorn was very noisy and I believe they switched back to submersible; probably due
to the number of noise complaints.0
