manual water pump

[patches]

Hi, I am new with the pop up camping.  I bought a 1986 Coachman.  In good shape.  But, I had to connect everything myself.  I can't seem to get the galley sink faucet to work when connect to the water tank.  This is important to me because I want to dry camp in the state parks here in Maine (beautiful).  soo...did I misunderstand something?

[Arizona Native]

Hi, I am new with the pop up camping.  I bought a 1986 Coachman.  In good shape.  But, I had to connect everything myself.  I can't seem to get the galley sink faucet to work when connect to the water tank.  This is important to me because I want to dry camp in the state parks here in Maine (beautiful).  soo...did I misunderstand something?

My camper has an obscure switch down below the galley that turns the 12v water pump on.  Don't know if that helps you but you might want to look for a water pump and then follow the wires.


[edit]  Ok,  I feel like an idiot now,  didn't read the manual part of your title,  sorry [/edit]

[tlhdoc]

Are you pumping the handle up and down?

[patches]

Hi, I am new with the pop up camping.  I bought a 1986 Coachman.  In good shape.  But, I had to connect everything myself.  I can't seem to get the galley sink faucet to work when connect to the water tank.  This is important to me because I want to dry camp in the state parks here in Maine (beautiful).  soo...did I misunderstand something?

I want to add that when I first connected the hoses to the faucet everything worked well.  I had a stream of water when I pumped the handle.  Now I get only little spirts.  I am wondering if the suction action was broken - I am assuming this works on suction - when my daughter left the pump faucet handle in an on position instead of all the way off.  OR - what?

[chip]

Sounds like the pump is sucking air, instead of water.  Check for loose connections and/or cracked hoses from the fresh water tank to the pump.

Don't know that leaving the pump handle in an "on" position (I assume you mean "up?") would cause a problem.

[pershingd]

Don't know that leaving the pump handle in an "on" position (I assume you mean "up?") would cause a problem.

Some pumps will lose their prime if left in the on position.

I doubt that this is the case.

In addition to the tips the others have given, make sure that there is enough water in the tank. I've had pumps that started acting like that just as the water was getting low.

David

[edwardr132]

Is it hard to replace a manual pump with one that runs off electric or battery?

[mountainrev]

In our old Starcraft, we had to put a finger over the spiggot when first pumping in order to create a bit of suction.  This helped to prime the pump.  After that, the water would come out fine.

I seem to recall that if we didn't pump water again for a while, we sometimes had to repeat this procedure.  Try it.  It might work.

[tlhdoc]

Is it hard to replace a manual pump with one that runs off electric or battery?

It isn't hard to do, but you have to add an electric (12 volt) on demand water pump to the system.  

[tlhdoc]

I want to add that when I first connected the hoses to the faucet everything worked well. I had a stream of water when I pumped the handle. Now I get only little sports. I am wondering if the suction action was broken - I am assuming this works on suction - when my daughter left the pump faucet handle in an on position instead of all the way off. OR - what?

When you have a hose connected to the city water outlet the water will flow from the water pressure in the line.  If you are drawing from the tank you don't get a steady stream of water.  You only get water when you are pumping the handle.  Do you get water on each pump?