www.iFourWinns.com

I finally got around to summerizing the water system on my 298 this weekend. It was a beautiful 53* and rainy down by the lake today. At the end of last season I installed a hot water heater bypass and a fill bypass just in front of the water pump for ease of getting the pink stuff in next year. Everything went well, so I thought. Today I filled the tank and kiicked the pump on and flushed the system. The issue is the pump never shuts off. The shower, both sinks, and wash down on the deck all have good pressure with both hot and cold. When the water is running the pumps runs normally, but when I close all the faucets the pump continues to pulsate. Not the same noise as when water is flowing but more of a pulsating action. I've checked the strainer and like I said all the lines are clear.

I also disconnected the bypass in front of the pump and had the same symptoms.

Any ideas what the problem can be?

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-Tom
2003 298 Vista

If there has to be a leak somewhere in one of the fittings you have installed. It only pulses to build pressure back up.
Are you sure that the bypass is not leaking into the water heater? Now that you have system flushed of antifreeze, fill water heater with water and test again. Maybe possible that the back flow valve on the water heater does not completely close???

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2000 248 5.7L DP
'92, '94 SXI 750, '08 STX 15F, '12 Ultra LX 300
Videos

+1 on the leak somewhere.

I had the same problem when I installed the bypass on my cruiser but only in the bypass mode so it didn't really matter. But it sounds like you may have taken that out already. If not I would check there because, my valves at least, let some water through.

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2008 Horizon 260 VP 8.1 Gi

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I too figured I had a leak in one of the new fittings. As a test I completely removed the bypass in front of the water pump and also connected the cold water supply from the water heater to the hot water hose that was connected to the exit. This should have taken both the water heater and the bypass I installed there out of the loop. Perhaps I'm wrong on the water hose configuration. Could it be a bad pressure switch inside the water pump?

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-Tom
2003 298 Vista

I suppose that is a possibility. I guess I never really thought about it but, there must be a sensor/switch of some sort. I don't claim to know how they work, but if the sensor/switch was bad wouldn't the pump just run continuously? I can't think off hand of a way to test the switch though.

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2008 Horizon 260 VP 8.1 Gi

I've got a similar problem. I dewinterized my 348 this past weekend and noticed the pump pulsating, but only while the head sink faucet was on. I didn't have time to look into it further. The obvious has already been suggested, look for leaks. It's entirely possible something froze and split over the winter. I forgot to drain my water filter and it broke quite spectacularly. I put a filter inline from the shore fill before it feeds to the rest of the boat. I took the filter out of the loop to avoid filling the filter with antifreeze. I just forgot to actually drain the water out of it. Anyway... look for water in the bilges.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Well I went down to the boat last night and had the same problems. I removed the cover on the pressure switch and adjusted the screw. I could get it to stop pulsating when loosening but then it would sputter when I needed the pressure. I checked all the lines the best I could for leaks and didn't see anything. It really seems like an issue with pump/pressure switch.

The only thing that worries me, is this is the first year I did the water system myself and now I have issues. I thought I ran more pink stuff then needed, but maybe I missed something.

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-Tom
2003 298 Vista

It sounds to me like there may be a small leak somewhere, mine pulsates just before it shuts off, and occasionally thru the night it may cycle once or twice to build the pressure up to the pressure switch.

I would try to fill your water tank to a known level (mark it with a piece of tape or something) don't have it hooked to shore water. Leave the pump on for a day or two and see what happens. if the water level is down, you know you have a leak and the pump is just doing what is supposed to do.

I had a leak one time under the head sink, you never even realize it because you cant see it leaking and the water simply goes into the bilge and is pumped out.

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Jeff

'14 Cruisers 380 Express "Simon Sez"
Merc 8.2 Mag MPI 380
DTS B3X, (x2) Axius Premier


(SOLD)
'08 V318
Merc 350 Mag MPI 300
DTS Seacore, B3 (x2)

Good idea, I did mark the tank with a piece of electrical tape I just didn't leave the pump on. Didn't want it to pulsate for 48hrs till I'm back at the boat. I'll test it out when I'm back there.

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-Tom
2003 298 Vista

I thought I had the same problem when we first launched this season. Come to find out after spending the weekend on the boat and having to shut the water pump off to avoid the noise that my swim platform freshwater wash down faucet was on and it caused a small amount of water to drip into my bilge and kept the pump cycling on and off. I was in the bilge looking for other causes and that's when I discovered the problem. Simple but didn't think of it right away. Hope your issues are that simple to resolve.

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2008 Four Winns V358 (T 6.2L Merc Bravo III's with DTS and SeaCore)
2006 Sea Ray 340DA
2006 Sea Ray 320DA
2005 Maxum 3100 SE

Does your locker for the shore power/washdown have a drain in it? Mine doesn't. It can only drain back down the hole for the washdown sprayer. I've seen that newer models have drains on the transom, covered by chrome fittings. Is that how yours does it? I may add something like that to mine.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Well I was down at the boat the whole weekend and got the pump fixed, by replacing it. I checked every line I could see and also marked the water tank and let the old pump pulsate for a few hours. No leaks...

So I bit the bullet and installed a new pump, got the exact replacement from iboat. While I was at it I removed the brass backflow preventer on the hot side of the water heater and installed a 2nd brass bypass valve. Now there is a bypass on both cold and hot with a bypass hose between them. It takes two turns to bypass instead of one for winterizing but I trust it more then with the backflow preventer.

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-Tom
2003 298 Vista