2016 Winnebago ERA 70X Water Pump Won’t Prime After Dewinterizing

[Blazer13]

Hello, After draining the system antifreeze, I'm having a problem priming from the water tank supply lines. It appears there is air trapped in the line because I see sputtering at the faucets.
I checked the pump filter, cleaned it & the filter cap seal looks acceptable.
I also tried purging it several times when hooking up to city water supply but problem persists.
I wasn't sure how long it should take for the supply line to prime before cold & hot water flow is visible on an open faucet during the priming process.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[P and D]

It could also be the seals are worn. On our 2013 we have had that happen twice so far and you can order parts to rebuild or replace the pump.

 

[Morich]

This type pump is self priming in most cases and it seems to be pushing air when you get the sputter! But there would seem to be a spot along the line which is letting it draw air, which is much easie to move than water from the tank!
Suggest review what may have been missed when restoring the RV to use. One easy to miss is a valve, often at the pump. If you have a valve to let you stick a line into antifreeze to add it, that may be a suspect in that it may still be trying to suck antifreesze from the tube rather than water from the tank. Got a valve like that to verify it is correct and the stopper on the end of the suction tube?
Any water filters which may have been left off to leave an open hole for air to go in?

 

[Blazer13]

It could also be the seals are worn. On our 2013 we have had that happen twice so far and you can order parts to rebuild or replace the pump.

It could also be the seals are worn. On our 2013 we have had that happen twice so far and you can order parts to rebuild or replace the pump.

Thank you very much. I will definitely follow up on this. Have reviewed a few YouTube videos on how to replace pump components, without have to purchase a new pump. The challenge I'm facing is how to remove the pump from its location. In my case its mounted verically and the access opening does align with the mounting location. How did you remove your pump? Thanks again!

 

[Blazer13]

This type pump is self priming in most cases and it seems to be pushing air when you get the sputter! But there would seem to be a spot along the line which is letting it draw air, which is much easie to move than water from the tank!
Suggest review what may have been missed when restoring the RV to use. One easy to miss is a valve, often at the pump. If you have a valve to let you stick a line into antifreeze to add it, that may be a suspect in that it may still be trying to suck antifreesze from the tube rather than water from the tank. Got a valve like that to verify it is correct and the stopper on the end of the suction tube?
Any water filters which may have been left off to leave an open hole for air to go in?

Thank you Richard. I will follow up on this. I'll try priming the line using the winterization tube and see if this solves the problem. If I have to replace components on the pump assembly, I see that may have a problem even removing the pump from its vertical mounting location, since the access wall opening is not aligned with the mounting location. How did you remove your pump?
Thanks again for your input, appreaciate it.

 

[Morich]

I was not thinking of a real problem with a defect as much as how easy it is to leave that valve in the wrong position! If the tube is left open at the end and not capped and we leave the valve set to draw antifreeze, it will let it draw air when we want it to draw water from the tank!
This type pump normally doesn't require priming as it is called a "self priming" pump. Difference being that is will pump air and it does do that as you get the sputtering as air is pumped out. But that leaves the real problem being that it never gets all the air pumped out! The reason it never gets the air all pumped out to begin to draw water from the tank is there has to be some place where an unending supply of air can get in!
One obvious place for an unlimited supply of air to come in is at the suction tube.
It "may" be broken in some way but the more common item I find is that I failed to close it last year when storing the RV!
I've learned that I make so many mistakes that the first thing I check is the last thing I did!
Hope you find it as an easy fix??

 

[Blazer13]

Thank you Richard. Didnt know about the self priming feature, thx.
I actually checked the antifreeze suction tube after reading your first note, and didnt see any obvious issues. After winterizing back in Nov, I had returned the valve back to the normal position, so it doesnt appear to be coming from the suction tube left in the winterization position.
Please see attached manual information as to why I thought the pump needed to be primed when de-winterizing. If none of these setup procedures or troubleshooting steps dont work, I may have to look at the pump components. Of course that's assuming I can remove the pump from its location. Thanks again for your help.

 

[Morich]

Yes, fully agree that it does talk about priming! But that may be kind of involved with what we think of as priming? To me priming means getting water to the part of the pump that can move water, often we call that an impeller. I'm not at all precise on what all these terms mean but to me an impeller is something that has blades that move the water but are not able to move air, as air leaks back past the blades too quickly. Whether I am correct on that is still open for questions!
But this type pump has a rubber type diaphragm that is pulled and pushed to move the water and the difference is that it is sealed and WILL move air. We get evidence that it is moving air because you are getting air sputtering? So I have to agree that getting water to the pump does prime it, but the other hand, if it can get all the air out, it is then self-priming? Lots of splitting small hairs there and mostly in the way we think and talk about it? Sometimes this communication stuff is harder than it looks!
I "think" you can move the pump question out as it does turn on and it does make air sputter, correct?
Maybe one way to test that the pump is working is to put the valve back to the other position and let it draw some water into the system instead of the antifreeze you did. If it draws water in on the position used for winterize, I think we can say the pump is good!
But that gets us back around to WHERE is it getting the air to pump to the faucets? If the suction tube is capped and not broken or split to leak in some way, it seems like you should be vary close to the problem as the air can't be going into the pump or lines AFTER the pump and has to be getting in on the input or suction side where that little filter sets.
One point to consider, if seeing no way for air to get in before the pump is how long you may have waited when expecting water at the faucets. That might seem like an easy out!
But then I read in that last picture about something I have never really thought about. If there was something in the water tank, like a piece of debris from construction?
If that line from the tank to the pump was cloggeed tot he extent that no water could get to the pump(???) would that look like what you are having? That little filter at the pump is not so clogged water can't get through? Or no chance that little rubber washer/seal where the little filter screws on is missing?
When I have had trouble with them, it was when I left it set up so the filter body was hanging down and the litle bit of water I missed getting cleared out of the line had settled in that fragile little cup and frozen!
Winter and I have NEVER been friends!

Sorry, running short on ideas as it seems so simple but there is something we are missing!

 

[Morich]

But being a bit hard headed, This is the idea that I might think likely?
This is the drawing for the late year build of that RV that should have a 2 as 7th digit of serial number? You may have early model with 1 but same parts laid out in a different way, maybe?
Why I'm stuck on a leak at the input side before getting to the pump

It's a tangled mess to get a good look but the idea is not much. This three way valve has one tube going up and to the pump as red line. Then the two yellow marked lines come from the tank which should have water and the suction tube which should be capped as well as the valve having that route cutoff.
Thingas I might look at carefully are the valve, which is plastic. Any signs of it feeling/looking "off" to say it may have failed and has a crack or not changing as it should?
Any signs one of those nuts holding the tubes is loose to leak air?

Kind of simple idea? If you've ever tried to drink with a straw that had a hole or crack init? You can't get the drink to come up becaause the air is so much easier to move!
This vaalve should change and make the pump pull only from the tank, but if there is some form of leak in any of htese three tubes or valve, is may be getting air instead of the heavier water?
Still a big UGH! NOT a solution!

 

[Blazer13]

But being a bit hard headed, This is the idea that I might think likely?
This is the drawing for the late year build of that RV that should have a 2 as 7th digit of serial number? You may have early model with 1 but same parts laid out in a different way, maybe?
Why I'm stuck on a leak at the input side before getting to the pumpView attachment 2468102
It's a tangled mess to get a good look but the idea is not much. This three way valve has one tube going up and to the pump as red line. Then the two yellow marked lines come from the tank which should have water and the suction tube which should be capped as well as the valve having that route cutoff.
Thingas I might look at carefully are the valve, which is plastic. Any signs of it feeling/looking "off" to say it may have failed and has a crack or not changing as it should?
Any signs one of those nuts holding the tubes is loose to leak air?

Kind of simple idea? If you've ever tried to drink with a straw that had a hole or crack init? You can't get the drink to come up becaause the air is so much easier to move!
This vaalve should change and make the pump pull only from the tank, but if there is some form of leak in any of htese three tubes or valve, is may be getting air instead of the heavier water?
Still a big UGH! NOT a solution!

Thank you very much for the input! Will let you know how I make out.