Bringing Her Home

[chris piazza]

For the last two weeks the Admiral thinks I am obsessed about getting Superior Nights ready to bring her around to home. Although it certainly does not compare with some of the maiden voyages that I have read about (only about 250mi) I am truly excited and preparing as if it were a two week trip. I brought a mechanic on board last Monday to assist with the oil changes and filters as well as a six hour question and answer session. Between all the readings I have done as well as some of the hands on experience I am feeling a lot more confident than I was when we closed on the boat three weeks ago. Just got two questions for the experts, the 32v water pump does not work. I have changed the pressure switch and am getting power to it but it just won’t go. It doesn’t hum, get warm or even attempt to start. I am thinking maybe a bad capacitor or the start windings. (It’s a Galley Maid and only one year old per the previous owner). Question two, the macerator for then master head is not working. I changer the stator on the intake but it seems like it is just not drawing the water from the seacock. Do these have to be primed? Is there a secret to installing the stator? It seamed pretty straight forward when I put in. any suggestions would be a great help

Thanks

 

[MikeP]

NOTE: these pumps are NOT self priming you must prime them initially. If you run the FW system out of water, you will have to prime the pump. I installed a conveniant valve atop the pump to which I attach a small funnel to do this.

Re the non-working pump - First, if this is the oem style pump/pressure switch, it will not turn on if there is no pressure in the system. THis is to keep the pump from being damaged if you run out of water. You should have a little lever on the side of the pressure switch. There are three "positions" for the lever. Up is off, down is on, BUT slightly lifted from the down position is what I would call "bypass on." The lever won't stay in this position, you have to lift it slightly to activate the pump if the pressure in the system is below around 15PSI. Once the pressure builds up to that point, you can release the lever to the "normal" position and pressure will continue to build to whatever you have set the pressure limit. I set mine to approx 40PSI. You can't set cut in/cut out pressure separately. On my unit, cut in is at about 10PSI below cut out. Remember, you will have to prime the pump if there is no pressure shown on the gauge (there should be a gauge mounted on the pump).

If none of the above helps, and you haven't already done this, apply 32 Volts directly to the motor, bypassing the pressure switch. That will immediately tell you if the motor is OK (or not). If it spins, it's obviously a switch problem; if not... These old GMs are pretty robust and, even if they are malfunctioning, can be totally rebuilt. My personal view is to do so rather than to mess with new throwaway plastic pumps. (and if they're plastic they are, by definition, throwaway!) Other's may feel differently.


The macerator pump, which, if oem, is the same basic pump as the FW pump. From your description, it sounds as if it is spinning but not moving any water. Assuming I understood this correctly - Be sure the two related valves are open - the seacock admitting water and the one that allows the output to go somewhere - waste tank or overboard. There should be a anti-syphon loop between the intake seacock and the pump. It is possible that there is an airlock there. Also there is supposed to be an Antisyphon valve in the top of the loop. If the valve clogged and stuck open, the pump will be pulling air instead of water. So check that. Then prime the pump and try 'er again!

The stator is, as you said, very straghtforward, so if the pump is spinning, it should pump water.

Good Luck!

 

[captddis]

Mike pretty much covered it, I will add that there are check valves in the suction line for the FW pump. Often two, one at the tank and sometimes one at the pump. Make sure they are free. Most of the time when there are problems it is the ck. valve.
It is fairly common to see one added to the suction line of the head as well.
To make priming easier a little dish soap works well.

 

[ADaily3224]

Sometimes the pressure devise is not on the pump, it's in a galley cabinet. The last 4 boats I have owned all had the same pressure switch, all in different places. By now you have probably figured all this out but thought I should post just in case.

Tony D

 

[chris piazza]

Well I was at the boat today, tried priming the head pump to no avail. (Closed the seacock, fresh water hose into the inlet while the Admiral was pushing the button to attempt to cycle it, just a small amount of water flowed thru.) The stator I changed was on the intake side. Is there one on the other side of the pump? The toilet is about three quarters full but does not seem to be drawing down. I did note that there is a fitting on each side of the pump which is joined together by a small tube, don’t have a clue what this does!!
Any other suggestions?

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Chris,
If you need a replacement GalleyMaid 32v head pump, I have one in my garage. I'm near Lansing. I replaced all of my toilets with the Raritan Atlantes. Let me know if you need it. I sold the other 2 for $75 each.

 

[Nonchalant1]

Yes, There's a stator and rotor on the discharge side too, along with the macerator. Sometimes they just get plugged up with hair, string, or other things. I'd get new a Galleymaid rubber stator and take the big macerator side housing off. Rubber gloves and eye protection of course. Mine didn't smell much at all. There's a trick to getting the rotor off. It has the macerator screwed into the end of it mostly permanently with a left handed thread that is then jiggered with a punch awl to keep it there. The actual helical rotor has a standard right hand thread. To get it loose, you have to hit the macerator "T" with a copper or lead headed hammer, or even a regular hammer. Give it a pretty solid rap and it breaks down the resistance to unscrewing and lets you unscrew it. Sounds counter-intuitive, but it works and is the recommended way per GalleyMaid! The macerator T stays on the rotor all the time. Just clean everything off if it's clogged and wrapped and try it again, or put a new rubber stator on it (like $100 for a stator I think ).

The little tube is a discharge side priming tube that runs from the raw water intake pump to the discharge pump to prime the discharge pump if there happens to be a low spot in the discharge tube that lets air get into the stator/rotor area. GalleyMaid stopped putting these tubes on their pumps many years ago because too many times the intake side would leak raw water and it follows that tube into the discharge side and slowly fills your holding tank while you're away. They now recommend removing the tube and plugging the holes with pipe plugs. In fact, GalleyMaid just put pipe plugs in those holes in their new pumps and labeled them "priming plug".

When one of my tubes started dripping endlessly into the holding tank while I was on a cruise, I simply cut it in half and then flattened and double crimped each cut end to seal them. I then did the same to the other two head pumps on the boat. Eventually, I'll get around to replacing the crimped tubes with pipe plugs, but I expect they'll last like that longer than the pump.

Doug Shuman

 

[mariah]

Call Galleymaid. The toilets will NOT work (always losing prime) if the pump is above the toilet. I had to replace one original on my 58LRc with as Atlantas.

 

[chris piazza]

Well I got Superior Nights to her home port. Wonderful trip, no major problems. Ran for about 16hrs, some at 9kts, and some at 18.1kts, 1950rpm. Had a small water leak from port “dripless shaft” and a very small fuel leak from the drain on the engine filter. Also I noted that on the intercooler a small pool of oil on the top of the box. Is this or should this be a huge concern? I am going to pull it off this weekend and clean it and replace the gaskets. I purchased some cork gasket material to use to make new ones. The freshwater pump (32v galleymaid) I pulled it out and it was rusted solid on the inside. Took it to a local starter shop and rebuilt at a very good price (less that a hundred!) One last question, is there an adjustment on these dripless shafts or do I just live with it till its hualed out in the fall?

Chris

 

[MikeP]

The oil on the intercooler is there because the gaskets not sealing as well as they should and, BUT more importantly, it is a result of oil being ingested into the air intake system. This could be either via the oem cranckcase ventilation system, non-functioning airseps (if you have them) or poor turbo oil seals.

My 8V71TIs intercoolers did the same thing until I put RACOR CCVs on the engines to handle the cranckase ventilation. Fixing it by replacing the gaskets on the intercoolers is fixing the wrong problem. It will ensure that there won't be any external evidence that the oil is being pulled into the intake. But it won't stop it from occuring.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Chris,
You can adjust the dripless seal, but loosening the set screws on the SS ring and moving it aft slightly. This will put more pressure on the sealing surface. If the leak continues, it may be that the sealing surface is not smooth.