Galleymaid Fresh Water Pump

[tunasea]

My Galleymaid 32v pump comes on and cuts off when pressure is correct. Go wash hands and it works great. Hop in shower and it kicks on several times and then "flips" the breaker. Any suggestions?

 

[magnawake]

Does it come on and stay on for a while (10-15 secs) or 1-3 secs? Your pump should come on and fill your accum tank, then cut off. It takes me about 1-2 minutes for the water to drain from the tank and pressure gets low enough for the pump to turn on again. So when you open the shower, how long does it take before the pump turns on?

 

[tunasea]

It runs 10-15 seconds initially and this morning came on once pressure dropped. It did it three times and it was fine, but the last time it flipped the breaker. I have another pump but I wanted to see if I could do anything before replacing it. I think the pump may have a short or other issue.

 

[magnawake]

Initially, like when you turned on a faucet? the pressure should drop and pump turn on. 10-15 sec run time is OK. Its filling the accum tank. However, if it fills the tank and then when you turn the faucet on the pressure drops very quickly and the pump turns on just as quick then your system is solid without your Accum pressure tank pressurizing the system. That means the pump has to keep turning on and off faster than normal as the pressure drops. Mine did that a couple years ago. I can see that tripping the breaker if it keeps turning on and off as the pressure drop. Mine would cycle every 5 secs, then off for 5 secs. The water pressure coming out the faucet would also be strong the week. I guess people call that short cycling. If I turn on a faucet, it takes at least a minute or two for the pressure to bleed off enough for the pump to turn on. It does runs about 10-15 sec then turns off for another couple minutes. If the accum tank is working correctly, you cant really even tell the pump is turning on. There should be a constant water pressure coming out your faucet. I hope I explained it OK.

 

[Dan Mapes]

Monitor the pump and see if it stalls while pumping the water. If it stalls or slows down too much you might get results by tweeking the high pressure cut off.
I keep mine under forty psi.

 

[tunasea]

Luckily I am close to boat. Am going to go down and test then I can reply with greater accuracy. Stay tuned!

 

[GJH]

Have you put a volt meter and an amp meter on it? Could be just a loose connection, as well as what dan and Pate said (pressure switch too high, accumulator tank not set right). You could also call Raz Marine in Ft Lauderdale, 954-525-5513 , they are experts on these pumps and usually very helpful, and anyway, if for some reason you do have to replace the pump, they're the ones you would want to rebuild it or supply the parts. These are really nice pumps.

 

[Dan Mapes]

P.S. if you replaced the stator yourself do not over tighten it. It's very easy to.

 

[tunasea]

Thanks for the replies. I think I will call them. I went down to the boat and this is what I found; I tried all the sinks one at a time. Pressure was still up from this morning so the pump did not come on intially. The water will run for 15 to 20 seconds and then the pump comes on for 7 to 9 seconds. I did this for five minutes and it repeated that cycle pretty accurately and the breaker never flipped. I then tried to shower. The water turned on and ran about the same amount of time but then the pump turned on and ran 12 to 15 seconds. It's seem like it had trouble keeping up but did finally catch up and shut off. It cycled through and the second time flipped the breaker. The pump was surprisely warm to the touch. I have a spare but only want to do that if needed.

 

[tunasea]

Also we have had the boat since this past April. We never had to use the pump until the water was cut off yesterday. Always used dockside and had plenty of pressure. May need some help in locating correct pressure guages etc. once I'm backed out on the boat but I appreciate all the help and suggestions.

 

[magnawake]

Man, thats strange...Well it doesnt sound like its short cycling. It would be turning on and off much quicker. If the pump is struggling to keep up it might mean you have low voltage from your house bank. Mine did that one time when my batteries were low and it ran for what seemed to be 30 secs then the rpm's on the motor became very slow. I thought my breaker was going to trip but it didnt. I also thought my pump was on the was out but referring to many people here said right away it was low voltage. They were correct it was low voltage. As the voltage drops from the batteries the amperage goes up so that might explain the warm pump motor. I'm just guessing here so maybe someone else will chime in and give more advise. You have a pressure gage on the pump, so what is the cut in a nd cut out pressure? In being when it turns on and out when it turns off. Otherwise it sounds like its doing what its supposed to do. Not supposed to trip breaker though.

 

[tunasea]

I called the place in Florida and he said to check three things; connections, pressure and the tank. I will check level of batteries but everything should be okay. They looked good on the meter. Just seems like pump cant keep up so it could be the pressure. Will check this weekend and report back.

 

[tunasea]

Update: Pressure was way to high on the pump. Called down to Florida and they were a great help. Thanks for the advice and info. Everything works fine now. Next job is fixing the water counter attached to the system!!!

 

[tunasea]

To be more exact the pressure was set at 40-55PSI. Florida group said 18-30 while on the pump. While on dockside it can be changed to higher PSI.

 

[MikeP]

I have had our oem GM system cutoff pressure set at 38PSI for years. Works well at that - cut in occurs at around 25 or thereabouts. We seldom use shore water ("almost never" is a better description) but the regulator for that is set at 30. In effect, with those settings, shore and pump water end up being essentially the same in operation - there is no effective difference in the water pressure/use whether tethered or cruising.