[C320-list] shower / fridge drain

[jbrown03 at sympatico.ca]

Hi

Your hull number is close to ours.  I have found that the shower sump pump 
does not always "self prime".  The solution is to simply run a hose with a 
fold in it into the boat, push it hard on the outlet with the pump running 
and use the water pressure in the hose by easing the fold carefully to prime 
the system.  This can lead to a a shower for all and I would not want to 
force too much pressure against the pump, hence care is needed

Regards

Jerry Brown
Indigo #1039

-----Original Message----- 
From: Dennis Harris
Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2012 9:34 AM
To: C320-List at Catalina320.com
Subject: Re: [C320-list] shower / fridge drain

Stephen,

This year my shower sink did not drain in early spring.  I opened the
thruhull and using a piece of galvanized wire, I probed the line with the
wire and eventually broke the jam.  If you do this, I found that it worked
better (didn't hang up as bad) if I bent the end back 180 degrees (so it
laid flat against the longer piece of wire) to give a rounded tip. Since
there is a little curvature in the hose, the wire needs to be flexible
enough to follow the curvature, but also stiff enough to punch out any
obstruction.  It is possible that this might also be your problem.

Dennis Harris  C-320 #694

-----Original Message----- 
From: Stephen Cox
Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2012 4:31 AM
To: C320-List at Catalina320.com
Subject: Re: [C320-list] shower / fridge drain

>
> The list helped me with a related issue a few years ago
> involving the shower / fridge sump. New issue and I checked
> the archives so maybe a couple of questions will get me going.
> I am getting power to the pump under the sink ( it vibrates)
> but am not getting the shower or fridge to drain. There is a
> Jabsco "pump guard" between the Y valve and the pump. Is this
> the strainer that was mentioned in the archives? I attempted
> to remove the front but it wouldn't budge so didn't want to force  it.
> Also there was a suggestion to "clear" the hose to the pump.
> Would I remove it to the left of pump? And then what?
>
> Any ideas / suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>

Robert,

I had trouble getting my shower sump pump to prime at one stage.  It was
very awkward getting to the strainer but the cap does come off.  I had a lot
of hair, etc stuck in mine.  After clearing, the pump still wouldn't prime.
Ultimately I got the pump out and stripped it down.  There were four little
valves in mine and there was a small amount of debris caught in one or two
of them that stopped the pump priming.  Once this was all cleared the pump
worked again, thank heavens.  To service my pump I ended up taking the board
it was all mounted on out - not fun at all.  It was then that I found out
the hoses mount to the pump with a sliding lock to hold them in.  Had I
known this it would have been a lot easier than removing hose clamps
everywhere and I could have left the mounting board in place - hindsight is
a wonderful thing.

Hope this helps,

Stephen Cox
Tegwen #1141