Headhunter Mach5 Water Pump

[davidbrady]

Has anyone here considered a 12V backup pump for redundancy in case our Mach 5's fail? Has anyone here ever experienced a failure of their Headhunter pump? Can you flush your Headhunter toilet from CG shore water? I always run my water pump while camping, connecting to shore water only to fill my tank. When I leave for the day I turn off the pump so I'm not greeted with any flooding surprises upon return.

[ERNIEE]

While we were in St Marys' KOA by Glacier, I was connected to shore power and water and everything worked fine.

[cmillsap]

David,

Marathon installed a 12V Sureflo pump for backup on my coach. It is just plumbed into a parallel circuit around the 120V pump. You would think all converters would realize the necessity for a backup water pump or at least a means to connect directly to CG post water. If your 120V pump goes out, you are dead in the water (no pun intended) until you can get it repaired or replaced.

I have a headhunter toilet with a Grundfos 120v pump in my coach. Works great to flush the Headhunter toilet and to provide water to all the faucets and shower.

CG water is used to fill the tank only through the auto-fill system which can keep the fresh water tank full if left on to operate. The 120V pump (on demand) keeps water supplied to the toilet, shower and faucets. Also, the 120V Grundfos is programed to shut down if the system water pressure isn’t reached within a minute or so. This works great to limit water damage if there is a leak large enough to prevent the pump from reaching system pressure but a small leak may not be of sufficient volume to stop the pump.

To limit the amount of water that could possibly leak into the coach from a small leak, I allow the auto-fill to fill the fresh water tank and then shut it off. That way, it limits only the remaining water in the fresh water tank to leak into the coach if a leak ever happened. Each time I fill the fresh water tank, I dump the grey and black tanks. That way I never need to worry about overfilling any of the tanks.

We also shut down the water pump when we leave the coach and I like to shut it off before going to bed at night.

[CC_Guy]

I know some that have changed their plumbing so the pump only supplies water to the HH toilet when they are on city water. I don't know why this isn't the way they all are.

Yes, others have installed smaller backup pumps. If you pick the right one you won't have to add an accumulator tank.

[davidbrady]

Chuck,

That's a very well thought out system; although, it's quite a trick distinguishing a long term small leak from a lengthy shower. It can be done though and kudos to Marathon for covering all the bases. I don't have a backup pump. I'm wondering if the Shurflo 5.7 Extreme is a good candidate. I like this pump because it gave me good service in my Wanderlodge LXi and CampingWorld carries it. It provides 5.7gpm of flow and 60 psi of pressure. Of course the flow/pressure curve tells the full story:

[cmillsap]

David,

Usually the Grundfos pump will run to replenish the system pressure each time the toilet is flushed or faucet water is run for a while. I can hear it come on and it will run for about 10 seconds and then shut off.

If it started to run or cycle frequently without the toilet being flushed or water being drawn, that would be a good indication that water is leaking somewhere. So, with the system configured to supply water only pumped from the tank allows me the ability to find leaks much faster than being hooked directly to CG post water.

If I was hooked directly to CG post water with the CG post valve left turned on, I probably wouldn’t notice a water leak until I seen it running across the floor or under the coach. By then the damage would be way more. So, I’m a fan of pump supplied water from the tank only but, as with all the critical household systems, I would want some redundancy with a backup 12V pump included in the water delivery system.

I think, although I can’t read the model # on my 12V Surflo pump, it is rated at 5.5 GPM at 60 PSI. So, the one you are considering should work fine if you have space to install it.

[Hisham Amaral]

David
this is what I was told by Headhunter if you add a pump that will produce min.55 psi and and hock it up to the accumilator the toilet will flush there for
surflo 12 Volt pump that produce 60 psi and 5.0 gal. will work on our system with no issues.
The are many pumps that will do that. Sorry I have not been on your site the parks WiFi is not very good. We are going to Mira Loma next Sunday for service then home. talk again then.