How to get the water pressure up again??

Hi everyone

Although, I have had my boat in the water for more than a month by now, I haven't had the time to check the water system until this weekend (work).

Anyway, I had the system "winter protected" etc. and this weekend I filled the water tank to give it a flush with fresh water. I turned on the Flojet pump as I would normally do, but nothing happened. I could'nt get anything out of the taps. The pump just kept "spinning" as it would normally do for just a minute to get the pressure up, but no water through the system.

Could this be because of air in the system - or what? How do you get the water running again?

Here is the Flojet water pump. It is placed under the forward port side seat in the saloon (see below). To start with, I forgot to mount the filter, but I soon found out and got it back into place - Ups

I know there has been some discussions concerning the water pump earlier on this forum, but I could'nt find any solutions to my problem (I am a complete novice though)



Ole Kirkelund
Ishøj, Denmark


Edited by kirkelund - 30 May 2010 at 20:19

Hi nickflo / Druid

Thanks for the response!

Yes, I tried to do both, but not at the same time, though. Maybe I should try that. I did mount the outdoor shower tap (it is connected to the Isotemp tank). As far as I can determine, it is still intact. So far I haven't succeeded in getting any water through the system at all, so not water in the bilge - yet

I can't even see any water in the Flo Jet water filter (water doesn't even reach the pump). So, my initial diagnosis is that there too much air in the system to build up water pressure. It seems the pump is just spinning in "thin air". That's probably also why it just continues and does not switch off again.

As I understand it is supposed to switch off as soon as the water pressure is OK. So normally when you switch on the water pump it builds up pressure for a few seconds and then stops. If you then open a tap it goes off again to keep the pressure - right?

Anyway - thanks a lot for the check list. I will try to open both taps at the same time and check the outdoor shower again.

Ole,


Edited by kirkelund - 31 May 2010 at 21:17

Hi Doug

Thanks, I will add the vent to my check list. Do you mean the overflow valve in the hull, or is there another vent somewhere else on my 342? The overflow valve should be enough to prevent vacuum - or?

The strainer is OK.

Ole,

I'm not sure about the angles in your picture but it looks like the hose from the tank makes a turn above the pump. Is that right?

Hi everyone

Thanks again for all the advice!

I am now getting water out of the taps again.

I went through the check list. All seemed OK. - but..

@Mats, I tried to loosen the filter and suddenly a little water ran through to the pump. I fastened the filter again and apparently that did it!

I still have a leak at my outdoor shower, which makes the pump continue spinning even after closing the taps. Hopefully that should be easy to fix.

Ole.