It is now the 2nd of December. The last few days have been 23C (73F) and gorgeous. It gets dark around 5pm and the nights demand a light jacket, but at noon every day you would think it is summer. We have had a few windy/rainy days….but the weather generally has been glorious. Fall as a continuation of summer. Rain is coming later this week….which is what winter in Crete brings, so maybe the long summer will be ending soon.
A few days ago the fresh-water pump I had just replaced/installed went crazy. It should run until it reaches a set pressure and then turn off. There is a ‘pressure vessel’ in the water system that absorbs pressure by compressing air so the pump doesn’t have to run continuously. Suddenly the pump began running uncontrolled…..overheated and over-pressurized everything….and then stopped. We once again had no fresh water. I didn’t want to take it apart (obviously the pressure sensor failed) because it is still under warranty. We drove to Heraklion to exchange the pump….a 1 hour drive….but when we got there they didn’t have a replacement. So we are without water again until the replacement we get in 3 or 4 more days. Swapping in the new one will take me about 5 minutes. I could literally do this with my eyes closed after doing it 6 times recently!
After we got back Victoria mentioned that there was a funny sound outide. I went out and it was our bilge pump running. I went to check and the pump was running but not moving any water. I then tried the backup manual bilge pump….and it didn’t work either!!!!! Very weird (and a bit scary….I had tested the backup a few months ago)……I wondered if it could be the same root cause.
I had been thinking that I should clean the bilge (the Amel’s have a central bilge where all grey water goes to be pumped out). It becomes clogged with hardened soap scum and needs to be cleaned a few times a year. This is a very stinky job. I wondered if the gunk had somehow plugged up both pumps. I also knew that it would be extra special to do this smelly dirty job with no running water on the boat! (We do have a hose from shore.)
The first thing I did was take the main bilge pump out and open it up to see if it had any damage. There are a few rubber parts inside, a main large bladder that goes in and out to create pressure and suction, and 2 ‘Y’ shaped valves that hold or pass fluid. Everything looked fine….so I cleaned and greased and put it all back together. Still didn’t work. Sometimes there are little tears in the rubber that are hard to see….maybe I missed a small tear. I wish I had a way to measure the pressures produced by the pump when it is running.
The next day I decided to clean the bilge properly. I took out the bilge-float (I always clean this) and both suction hoses for the main pump and the manual pump. I had not taken a very close look at the main pump hose before, and when I took it out I discovered it had a valve at the bottom! I did not know this! This valve would help hold the fluid in the hose.
This valve was destroyed.
I took this apart and examined the old broken valve, which looks identical to the valves used inside the pumps….but is actually different. It had a wide base that needed screws to hold it in place. I didn’t have this part….and it would probably cost 30 to 40 euros! But I did have a spare valve.
I had an idea: I could trim off the old ruined valve and sit the new valve on the old base. The valve is held inside a tube and it just needs the base to hold it in place. After making a bit of a mess trimming the old rubber off with wire snips and a razor blade I had the 2 pieces which looked like they would fit together.
I had to find some slightly longer screws to hold the base in since it was a little thicker now…..but it worked!!! (I’m a bit amazed I had slightly longer screws of the right size lying around.)
Here is the repaired part:
I put everything back together…..and it still didn’t work! I had mentally prepared myself for this, and started plan ‘B’, which was to replace the bilge pump with a backup pump I had purchased in Sicily that I already had on the boat. It was bigger (and heavier). The pump I was replacing was continually needing new parts……so maybe a newer pump was a good idea. (I’ve read online complaints that the new replacement parts are no longer of good quality and don’t last very long.)
It was tiring installing the new pump….hunched over in the engine bay, holding up the pump with one hand while trying to screw it into a support board with the other hand (one hand gets to support a screw AND a screwdriver while the other holds the pump in place), and I had to re-route the hoses a bit….but finally it worked!!!
I’ll service the old pump, again, and keep it as a spare. Hopefully the new once lasts a long time but I’ll need to buy spare kits for the new pump.
I also need to figure out why the manual bilge pump has stopped working. Always need a backup!
Adventures on Spruzzo 