problem with shurflo trailking 7 pump?

If the pump is cycling every ten seconds, you have quite a significant leak. Mine will cycle every 15 minutes as i have very minor leak from a tap fitting not made anymore.

Check all joins in pipe and replace any rusty jubilee clips. Bit of clear silicone never hurts either. Any plastic push fittings will leak aswell.

As for the spare, a new pump will be cheaper if your confident its the pump.

Personally I'd be thoroughly rechecking those pipes. A leak at the pump would be obvious.

kedishen
January 2013

A cautious "Yes" to the question "Can I feed this type of pump with mains water pressure?". However, you MUST supply the mains water through a pressure reducer/regulator. On a European touring caravan with a Whale Watermaster inlet socket (through which the pump normally lifts water from an outside container such as a 40 litre Aquaroll or 50 litre Water Hog) you can use the Whale "Aquasource" mains connector. This limits the delivered pressure to about 1 Bar (if I remember correctly) and is said by Whale (Munster Simms of Belfast, Northern Ireland) to regulate mains pressure up to 5 bar.

However, if your Shurflo RV pump is horizontally mounted, with the ports also horizontal, it may be prone to trapping air in the top of the upper lobe of the pumping chamber. This may cause the pressure sensor to behave erratically when the pump should shut off cleanly. Fresh mains water may be more aerated than water which has stood for a while in an outside container, so direct mains water may worsen this problem. To avoid this on a pitch with its own mains water tap, use your Aquaroll/Water Hog as normal but fit into the "side" filler hole an automatic filler unit (a small ball valve device with its own pressure reducer). This connects by hose to the tap and keeps the container at a constant c.50% full. This is a much less compact solution than using an Aquasource adaptor, but may be preferable if the pump is prone to hesitating and bumping on and off when it should shut off cleanly (and to irregular cycling when delivering a small flow).

Do not blame the accumulator for such problems! If this is the air-pressurised type, provided the bladder is inflated to well under the pump pressure switch's cut-off pressure this tank should do its job of allowing the pump to cycle at a low frequency when the outlet flow is restricted by, for example, turning a tap (faucet) down to a reduced flow. It should also give a fairly smooth and unvarying flow during this cycling. If the cycling is irregular and bumpy, wonder about air trapped in the pump head. If the pump stays on when pressure is at or over the maximum allowed by the pressure switch setting, or won't turn on when the pressure falls, look to the electrical microswitch which the pressure sensor operates. On our Shurflo SUK-022A pump (a European model) this microswitch is made by Omron and is easily available from web traders such as Mouser Electronics (www.mouser.com).

The accumulator is also intended to act as a surge damper while the pump is running, so the water flow does not pulsate and the pump knock or hammer. I have found it necessary to run the accumulator bladder at only about 3 psi for it to do this job smoothly. Yet, even with so little pressure in its bladder, it still allows the pump to operate on a satisfactorily long on/off cycle when the tap you are using is only partly open. It still allows the pump to run for a measurable amount of time after a tap is closed, and for a reasonable amount of water to be delivered after you open a tap before the pressure drops enough for the pump to start.

Does anyone know if installing this type of pump vertically, with the pump head at the bottom so it is more or less always guaranteed to fill with water and not trap air, is effective at dealing with erratic/irregular pressure sensor operation? Reducing the operating pressure by screwing out the adjuster screw seems to help, but must reduce the flow rate.

Carl
February 2010

Shurflo Pumps work on an internal pressure switch and pressurise your water system to the maximum pressure, so they constantly turn on, build up to maximum pressure, then switch off again as you demand water. This cylcle can be continuous, very frequent, (every 2 or 3 seconds,) or slower dependent on speed of output demand (tap not fully on say), or if there is a leak in the water sysstem somewhere it will just turn on for a fraction of a second to restore the pressure in the system, until the outlet or leak releases that pressure. If it is only turning on every 10 seconds or so, (I assume you mean when you turn on a tap) then maybe the pump has a higher pressure than one you have used before (say 30psi instead of 16psi) so doesn't need to come on and off so frequently to give you the output you require at the tap or outlet? The pump pressure is stamped on the nameplate of the pump. If you mean it comes on every 10 seconds or so and nothing is turned on, then you have a leak in the system I'm afraid. It doesn't sound as though there is a problem with the pump.

Bryn Oakley
July 2009

You might have to add an accumulator to the output as if the volume is low, very minor changes in volume can change the pressure dramatically and cause your pump to operate intermittently. Your pump might not be at fault.

Adam.
April 2009

Can i connect my shurflo trail king 7 directly up to a mains water tap.

steve
March 2009

I understand from Shurflo's site that replacement diaphragms are available, but you will have to order through your nearest dealer. I have similar problem and am considering same.

John S
September 2008