Replacing a BROKEN water pump in my Motorhome - ON MY OWN

It’s inevitable that things will need replacing on a motorhome, just like they do on a car. Or any other vehicle. I always say to people, it's a good idea to have savings, or a back up, in place for situations like this.

Obviously you don’t need to know how to fix these things yourself, that's what garages and mechanics are for. But what if you can’t get to a garage? Or maybe you want to learn to fix your motorhome or campervan yourself (a skill that can come in handy when you’re full-time).

That's what I decided to do when my water pump started making funny noises. I have no mechanical experience but thought I'd have a crack at changing it myself.

What was the issue with my water pump?

The pump was constantly making a whirring noise and I was getting air coming out of the taps, making the water sputter. I thought it was the diaphragm in the pump itself. But, as I said, I am not a mechanic, I was purely guessing. I was confident that the pump needed changing though.

I ordered a new pump and got to it. 

Amateur at work

I would like to point out that this is no official tutorial, because I had no idea what I was doing! But it is good info for anyone else wanting to change their own water pump in their motorhome. Also, if you would like to watch the video of me fitting my water pump, you can do so here.

I started by adding connectors to the wires on the new pump, crimping them in place and making sure they were on tight. 

My water pump is located in a cavity under the floor of my wardrobe, along with the boiler. I stripped the wardrobe out and then started disconnecting the old pump.

Removing the old unit

I placed a wad of kitchen roll under each connector on the sides of the pump and undid the water lines. Once both lines were disconnected, I grabbed my trusty ratchet screwdriver and removed the pump from the wall.

The old water pump was out! And I was chuffed; the biggest spill of water was over the sink when I turned the pump over.. And there's a new one. 

At this point, I was pretty pleased with myself. I was doing it on my own with no one else there.

Cleaning the filter 

A quick google told me the white sphere looking’ part on the end of one of the water pipes was the filter. It looked clean but I decided to give it a rinse anyway.

It wasn’t bad inside, considering I’ve never touched that filter in the 5 years I’ve owned the motorhome. Still, I’m glad I cleaned it out, no point in doing half a job!

It took a bit of persuading to get back the filter back together. You have to push the top part right down so the connecting lugs go meet the holes. I then used a pair of pliers to hold the top in place and twist the bottom so it locked together.

I didn’t apply much pressure with the pliers, they were literally used as a grip so I could twist the filter back together. The final job was to put some teflon tape around the joint at the top of the filter to seal it, before screwing it back on the water pipe.

Fitting the new water pump

I then put teflon tape around the joints on the new water pump as well. Considering I had never used it before, I found it simple to use. It's really flexible, easy to apply, and worth doing if it helps with leaks.

The new pump didn't come with screws, so I used the old ones I took off the old pump. 

I decided to screw the new water pump to the wall and before attaching the water pipes. I figured if it's held in place, it wont be putting pressure on the joints of the pipes.

I'm not sure if I was right, but it made sense so the pump wasn’t just dangling before I had screwed it on the wall.

Once the two pipes were connected nice and tight at either end, I reconnected the wires.

The moment of truth

Now came the moment of truth, time to turn the pump back on. I knew there was going to be air coming through when I first turned the tap on but it eventually bled through.

No leaks. No. That seems to be working. Obviously it's filling back up what It drained out.

Once it had cleared itself, I was back to having a constant stream of water again. Success!

I still needed to fill up the tank again, because I suspected I needed quite a bit of water to finish properly bleeding the system through.

While I was refilling, I was also running all the taps, just to get any more air out the system.

I ran the kitchen tap, the bathroom tap in the sink, flushed the toilet, and turned the the shower head on. They all ran sweet!

I successfully fitted a new water pump ON MY OWN

It's safe to say it was a success. There have been no leaks since and the pump is a lot quieter than it was. 

I'm pleased with myself, I did have a little assistance from Youtube university of course. But I did the actual work myself which I’m pretty chuffed with. As I said before, I think if you are confident you can have a go at a repair safely, it never hurts to learn how things work on your motorhome or campervan.