Reliability of 12v. water pumps?

Surfer

Surfer

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I'm looking for a backup water pump (for a land based system)to draw from a 400-500 gallon poly tank and have been looking at the ones Boatfix sells. It will power 2 or 3 faucets and be used in case of water outages (common in the area of the cabin).
But the reviews of the Shurflo and Jabsco on-demand types are horrible, citing constant failures, some within weeks or months of use.
So, unless someone has a better idea, I'm off to investigate heavier duty 120 volt pumps.
Anyone have reliable long term use from your yacht pumps? What type or brand? Thanks.!
Buzz
 
Check out headhunterinc dot com and take a good look at their X-Caliber water pump. Their pumps are not toys.
 
Headhunter is as good as it gets, although an overkill for home. The Shurflos aren't that bad for occasional marine use. Their diaphragms has a limited life so if you're going to use it a lot (like as a liveaboard) you may want to have a spare on hand.

that said, for a home application i'd use a shallow well pump. $150/200, will last forever... I have one on my boat which i use as my primary pump, with a Shurflo hooked as a back up, ready to to go with just a couple of valves.

On Charmer, we have a headhunter and a shurflo, same thing, i can switch from one to the other by flicking a couple of valves.
 
The GROCO Paragon-series pumps are excellent pumps, heavy-duty and pump very well. They were formerly manufactured by the ECO Company. It is a rotary-piston pump, very unique and expensive to manufacture. But they pump like crazy and seem to last forever.

The rotary-piston pump was invented by the late Gordon W. Crowell, who sold the design to ECO, and later on GROCO took over the pump. Ol' Gordon was a clever old codger, who for some reason unknown to me, never believed in patenting his inventions. If he had, he'd have been a zillionaire by the time he passed away.

He was the engineer who originally designed the Raritan Crown Head. The name "Crown" was based on his last name, Crowell. He claimed to be a direct descendent of Oliver Cromwell.

He smoked two packs of cigarettes a day and drank two quarts of bourbon a week. He died in 2004, at the age of 96! Quite an accomplishment by itself! Through the years he taught me a lot, and I'll miss him forever.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Vic Willman

He was the engineer who originally designed the Raritan Crown Head. The name "Crown" was based on his last name, Crowell. He claimed to be a direct descendent of Oliver Cromwell.

He smoked two packs of cigarettes a day and drank two quarts of bourbon a week. He died in 2004, at the age of 96! Quite an accomplishment by itself! Through the years he taught me a lot, and I'll miss him forever.
Click to expand...


Wow. Vic, you were truly lucky to know the man. I wish I could have met him (and had a drink or two with him :-)
 
Perhaps I misunderstood. Are you looking for a backup pump for when the power goes off? Or for if your water just stops flowing?
 
Kurt, having had a few drinks with you, I can say for certain that you'd have loved him! His first love was flying (boats were his second love) and many of his inventions were for small private planes.

Two that immediately come to mind are a vacuum-powered power steering unit for his own plane, as well as a gizmo that he added to the "T" bar to pull the plane out of the hangar, using a modified cordless electric drill as a power source. He was in his late '80's, when he developed it, when he no longer had enough strength to pull the plane out of the hangar on his own. The cordless drill sent power to a reduction gearbox that in turn powered a friction wheel that pressed against the nose wheel of the plane. He simply pushed down on the "T" bar, then walked backwards, steering the plane with the "T" bar. It moved the plane at approx 2 miles an hour, a comfortable pace that he could handle, without taking forever to get it out of the hangar.

His personal plane was a speed-modified Mooney, that he was very proud of. He was able to pass his annual flight physical all the way up to the age of 90.

We shared many a drink together, and told a lot of lies to each other, while sitting at his kitchen table.
 
I love guys like that. Always thinking. You were very lucky to know him.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Capt. Bill1

Perhaps I misunderstood. Are you looking for a backup pump for when the power goes off? Or for if your water just stops flowing?

Click to expand...

Yes, a backup pump exactly. The 500 gallon tank is cylindrical an dhas threaded fittings at the base. I want to be able to "T" into the main inlet to the cabin and have the on-demand pump take over in case the municipal water goes out. After the rare hurricane, it's common to not have utilities for a month or two. The Admiral would not stand for that, nor I.
It just seemed a simple solution to run a shurflo or jabsco off solar panels and a couple batteries to the cabin main supply line.

Having to go 120 v. is my last choice. (the power may be off just as the water).
I haven't had time to check the Groco or Headhunter pumps out, but did search Boatfix for Groco and found nothing.
Buzz
 
I went through a half a dozen Shurflo smart sensor pumps in two years all under warantee. It's not even a live aboard boat. The boat gets used about 75 days a year. I finally gave up on Shurflo and replaced it with a Parmax4. That was three years ago and it's still going strong.
 
I have three 12 volt pumps on my boat; a Johnson washdown, a Shurflo, and a Flojet. These pumps are all approaching 3 years old and still work. For occasional use I would go with the 12 volt idea and probably get Flojets due to pricing or maybe a Johnson. In either case having a second or even third pump on hand as a backup is not that expensive. I would never trust commercial power (120volt) in your example.
 
but a basic shallow well pump (120 V.) was suggested as it would last much longer. The Parmax 4 was also voted not reliable...? But if you're going on 3 years, that's good.

On the other hand..something has come up that may change the situation. We may need to use this pump as the MAIN supply, for day in day out. In that case, a 120 v. shallow well pump might be necessary, but are they available in on-demand? I haven't found any yet that state that..but I've been looking at places like Home depot or Sears..
Buzz
 
I have a shallow well at my house with a shallow well pump that is on demand. The pump output is all pvc pipe. Mounted on the pvc is a tee that contains a pressure swith and associated relays. The pump power runs thru this box. When the pressure switch sees the appropriate pressure (adjustable) the switch disengages the pump power relay. An additonal thought is mounting your tank high enough to use gravity feed instead of relying on pumps if that is possible. A roof mounted tank is high enough for sufficient in home water pressure unless you are picky.
 
"In that case, a 120 v. shallow well pump might be necessary, but are they available in on-demand?"

Yes they run on demand. Just hook a pressure switch to it if it doesn't already have one.

But if you loose 120v power to the house you're still out of luck. For true back up I'd go with the Headhunter and a couple of batteries hooked to a solar cell.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Vic Willman

The GROCO Paragon-series pumps are excellent pumps, heavy-duty and pump very well. They were formerly manufactured by the ECO Company. It is a rotary-piston pump, very unique and expensive to manufacture. But they pump like crazy and seem to last forever.

The rotary-piston pump was invented by the late Gordon W. Crowell, who sold the design to ECO, and later on GROCO took over the pump. Ol' Gordon was a clever old codger, who for some reason unknown to me, never believed in patenting his inventions. If he had, he'd have been a zillionaire by the time he passed away.

He was the engineer who originally designed the Raritan Crown Head. The name "Crown" was based on his last name, Crowell. He claimed to be a direct descendent of Oliver Cromwell.

He smoked two packs of cigarettes a day and drank two quarts of bourbon a week. He died in 2004, at the age of 96! Quite an accomplishment by itself! Through the years he taught me a lot, and I'll miss him forever.

Click to expand...


I have this pump on board, I hope your right and they last for ever, I think last I looked it was around 1,500 to replace- just 4 years ago it was 1,200. Does give great water pressure though.

I like the idea of having a standby pump for just n case. No water = No Fun.
I should investigate options myself.
 
actually the best back up system is much simpler, raise the tank about 10 feet above your highest point of service. you'll get all the water pressure you need and no question it will work.
 
I was thinking about that. It's possible to put it about 8' up but what happens when the tank is drawn down to one third full? Would pressure drop?
Also, we'll need to use the water for gardening etc. and to move it laterally or slightly above the source so I like the idea of a shallow well pump, maybe run off solar panels and inverter.
Like the scientists say, "more study is needed"!
Buzz
 
My tank runs centerline and midship, it is a great ballast in a way - boat runs better full of water .
 
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