Rebuilding the fresh water pump and maccerator

[journey on]

This isn't the most popular subject, but it may help someone.

I just rebuilt the fresh water pump and the macerator on Journey On. I thought I’d share a few thoughts on the effort. One way of looking at it was one pumped it in and the other pumped it out.

IMPORTANT. For some reason, unknown to me, C-Dory used Bostic sealer on ALL plumbing connections. Not only does this not provide a good seal, every bit of that sealant must be removed prior to reassembly. I only wish that the guy who decided to put it on would be the guy who had to remove it.

Also, the factory hard spliced the pumps into the power wires. I cut the pump wiring to remove them and used crimp-on spade connectors when reconnecting the pumps to power.

First, the fresh water pump.

The problem was that the pump cycled whilst we weren’t using water. Since there was no external leak, this indicated an internal leak in the pump. The Flojet 04405143A pump incorporates an internal relief valve so that no accumulator is needed to prevent overpressure. I ordered the service kit, Flojet 20409-043 from Fisheries Supply (lowest price) and went to work.

The pump in installed in the hot water heater cabinet in a wall. Unscrewing the mount was done by feel and cutting the feed and outlet hoses and the power wires.

The service kit has good instruction on disassembly/assembly, which are also available on the Flojet web site. On disassembly I found the pump filled with plastic shreds, which I cleaned out. They must of come from the water tank, and they must have been there from manufacturing the !@#$ tank. Again, never happened before, but it did this time. All the old parts looked good, but I replaced them anyway, since I had the kit.

IMPORTANT> Whilst reassembling the pump, I noticed the relief valve half hidden under the pressure switch. The relief valve is not mentioned in the rebuild instruction at all. Pulled the switch off and was able to remove the relief valve retaining plate. And there was some plastic sitting under the seat, the source of my problem. Not in the parts kit, no mention in the instructions, but you’d best check that valve.

Re-installed the pump with new hose. Used spade connectors on the wires, so they could easily be disconnected next time. Also spliced a Flojet 255-123 filter in the water supply line, even though I suspect all the stuff had already ended up in the pump. Used a new supply hose since the old one looked as if the lining was deteriorating.

Now the poop pump.

This pump is located next to the bilge pump, on a vertical bulkhead. It leaked and that isn’t pleasant. The Jabsco 18590 pump needs a 18598-1000 rebuild kit.

First I flushed that holding tank by running water in through the pump-out fitting and then pumping out the tank with the macerator. I removed the pump from the bulkhead and pulled the inlet and outlet hoses loose. Again, useless and irritating Bostic sealer. I again flushed the tank, and this time the bilge. Since the boat was on a trailer, it was easy. Found a lot of sand in the bottom of the tank; not a clue as to from where it came.

The pump body was cracked, which caused the leak, but the kit supplied a new one. Followed the instructions for the rebuild. It’s important to remove the rubber boot on the motor end, so that one can hold the shaft stationary, whilst you remove the chopper plate locknut. Also the kit only comes with 2 ea. short brass studs, while in my experience the 2 long ones corrode. The bolt shop sold me 3’ of stainless steel “All Thread” and I made 4 new studs. Put it back together, crimped on the electrical connectors, and installed it. Used a new piece of tubing for the outlet, but the inlet looked good. That tubing was a bear to install. Had to remove the valve from its mount, put the tubing on and remount the valve.

Boris