Problems with 12v water pump

[AI4KK]

Hi, I've been using a Remco 12 volt 2.2 GPH 60psi severe duty pressure washer pump to pump water from my IBC tote to a 25 gallon pressure tank. For some reason the pumps only seems to last a few weeks and then stop pumping, they still spin but no water comes out and on my first two I was able to blow water or air backwards through the pump... the third one is still hooked up and I haven't tried that yet.
Any idea what's going on? I've talked to Remco and they say this should not be a problem for that pump... I'm thinking maybe the pump is not made to withstand that kind of constant 24/7 pressure and maybe they just never considered that kind of use, usually people hook it up to the water cube and the pressure washer, do their job, and then turn everything off and depressurize the system...I leave mine pressurized 24/7.
Thoughts?

 

[timselectric]

Need more solar panels.

 

[OzSolar]

2.2 GPH or 2.2 GPM?

How long it pumping every day? Minutes? Hours?

Are you sure it's not cavitating?

Might be getting debris in them, do you have a filter in front of it?

That's a diaphragm pump and most are field rebuildable in a only a few minutes by changing out the diaphragms. Have you inspected them?

 

[Checkthisout]

Hi, I've been using a Remco 12 volt 2.2 GPH 60psi severe duty pressure washer pump to pump water from my IBC tote to a 25 gallon pressure tank. For some reason the pumps only seems to last a few weeks and then stop pumping, they still spin but no water comes out and on my first two I was able to blow water or air backwards through the pump... the third one is still hooked up and I haven't tried that yet.
Any idea what's going on? I've talked to Remco and they say this should not be a problem for that pump... I'm thinking maybe the pump is not made to withstand that kind of constant 24/7 pressure and maybe they just never considered that kind of use, usually people hook it up to the water cube and the pressure washer, do their job, and then turn everything off and depressurize the system...I leave mine pressurized 24/7.
Thoughts?

Well, do you have a pre-pump filter?

Sounds like it's getting clogged.

If this is your living water supply then I would get a more robust pump that runs off 120Volt. Like a shallow well pump or something like that. 12V rv pumps day in and day out are lame.

 

[kommando]

If you can blow backwards then they have worn out maybe from being clogged upstream and the innards running dry with no lubrication/cooling from the water.

 

[AI4KK]

My bad, it is GPM
I do have a screen but at this point my water supply is a pair of clean water cubes filled from a city water source... I have one on a trailer and one by my camper and then just gravity fill one from the other after filling it up at the Elks Lodge campground. Once it gets warm enough to play in the creek again, I plan to hook up my ram pump to fill the cube
I'm beginning to think that an actual well pump might be what is needed to withstand 24/7 pressure. Yes I could rebuild it, but they wanted almost as much for the rebuild kit as the pump cost plus it sounds like I would have the same problem again in a few more weeks if the pump being pressurized 24/7 is actually the problem.
As for 12 vs 110, my system is 12 volt based so I see no reason to run it through an inverter just to pump water plus have another point of failure. I do have a 5,000 watt pure sine wave inverter running off of 8 golf cart batteries but that is mainly for the fridge, freezer, power tools, entertainment, plus the occasion where I might want to use my induction cooker or do a little welding.
When the system works, it works great. I have 60 PSI water at the tap and between the standard well pressure tank in my bathroom and the travel trailer's built in pressure tank under the bed, I have 50 gal of pressurized water stored inside my travel trailer and safe from freezing.
I guess I'm mainly trying to figure out what would be the most reliable replacement since it's pretty much a given I won't be using the pressure washer pump anymore

 

[AI4KK]

I

If you can blow backwards then they have worn out maybe from being clogged upstream and the innards running dry with no lubrication/cooling from the water.

No clogs, I can easily suck water just fine and even replaced all my hoses with transparent so I can see any bubbles in case I was sucking air somewhere. It's only about 7 ft from the water cube to the pump so not many chances for it to clog up and replacing the pump has worked every time

 

[kommando]

When I ran a pump to feed the house from an IBC I set the pump to only start when the water pressure dropped so it was only powered when water was being drawn inside the house. Once the tap was closed then the pump stopped once the psi topped 25.

 

[AI4KK]

Duplicate deleted

 

[Jack Rabbit Off Grid]

Put a check valve on the output side of the pump.

 

[AI4KK]

When I ran a pump to feed the house from an IBC I set the pump to only start when the water pressure dropped so it was only powered when water was being drawn inside the house. Once the tap was closed then the pump stopped once the psi topped 25.

That's the way mine is, it kicks on at 40 and off at 60 psi... Just like a well pump but drawing from an IBC.
I actually bought a pressure switch to use with it but the pump has one built in

 

[Checkthisout]

I

No clogs, I can easily suck water just fine and even replaced all my hoses with transparent so I can see any bubbles in case I was sucking air somewhere. It's only about 7 ft from the water cube to the pump so not many chances for it to clog up and replacing the pump has worked every time

It's probably just a junk pump. I had a couple seaflow that worked amazing even though I was expecting quick failure and I have had better name brand pumps fail just hours into service.

How much room do you have to fit a pump?

I'm currently running a grundfos Scala. It's amazing but spendy.Grundfos 98562818 SCALA2 3-45 AVCBDF 1x115V 60Hz Pressure Boosting Pump https://a.co/d/9UDh7nW

 

[Jack Rabbit Off Grid]

I run duel 3.3gpm sureflow diaphragm pumps in parallel from my 500 gallon cistern to a pressure tank then to my tiny home. Set @ 30-50 psi.

 

[Checkthisout]

Try one of these. I had good luck. They have a bypass. I ran two of them in parallel. I prefer the 120V pump though as the output doesn't fluctuate with battery voltage.

SEAFLO 12V 3.0 GPM 45 PSI Water Diaphragm Pressure Pump - 4 Year Warranty!!! https://a.co/d/6FUMXLm

 

[kommando]

It's probably just a junk pump.

Sounds like the right answer.

Mine only gave up the ghost after it froze and the casting cracked after I forgot to put it away in the autumn.

 

[740GLE]

That's the way mine is, it kicks on at 40 and off at 60 psi... Just like a well pump but drawing from an IBC.
I actually bought a pressure switch to use with it but the pump has one built in

60psi is on the high end, try lowering down to 50psi max.

I have an ecoflo 12v pump that’s only rated on 45psi, the flow as it gets close to my cut off of 35psi is sooo low. That it takes twice as long to go the last 2psi as it does the first 10psi.

I use an external AC pressure switch and it works way better than the internal switch.

Also be mindful the GPM rating isn’t at rated PSI it’s as zero psi back pressure. So once you get up to max psi it’s piss slow.