Pump Faucet

[Richard]

I have a '99 Coleman Cheyenne. My question is about the Shurflo pump faucet. When I picked up the pop-up the faucet was broke so the owner got a new one and I put it in. It works great when hooked up to city water (after I fixed two leaks) but with water in the holding tank it only pumps a little water. It sounds like I may be getting air.
    Any help on finding the leak ? Should I just silicone (food grade ) all the joints ? Thanks for any help. This list and the people on it have been very helpful.
Richard

[mike4947]

Trust me RTV silicone won't help.
If the tubing between the pump and faucet had a hole/leak/crack, you know it as it would spray water.
Since you don't mention that; the main thing to check is the pump inlet connection and the tubing to tank connections. They can have a crack/leak, and not leak any fluid, but when the pump comes on they will suck air.
The only other problem that's fairly common is that the strainer mounted inside the tank gets crushed and won't allow much flow.

[tlhdoc]

There is a small strainer inside the pump.  Check and see if it is clean.  Cleaning it is regular maintenance.  Just unscrew the clear section of the pump from the water lines and then take the clear part, apart.   Do you have enough water in the tank?  You need a couple of gallons in order to have the pump draw with out sucking air.  It also takes a while until you pump all of the air out of the lines when you first start drawing water from the pump.  Good luck and let us know how you make out.