Fuel Pump Trouble

Standard RV10 and today I have connected the fuel pump for the first time. I can hear a faint clunk sound from it but nothing else on Pump On. Yes I know that it should not be run without fuel, but thought one or two seconds will do no harm. It trips the VPX even at 15A. Monitored it with the laptop and I am getting a Short Circuit message from VPX.

I have even tried an independent supply at 12V with the same result.

Wondering if it will help to push a bit of Avgas through it and then try again? Your advise is welcome - before I dive n there to get it out and halfway around the world

Step one: disconnect the wire at the pump, and measure from positive to ground with an ohm meter to see if there really is a dead short. (Could be a bad pump.)

Step two: with the wire held away from any ground contact, turn on the pump switch to see if the circuit protection still trips. (Could have a wiring problem.)

Jan---which pump? It is possible that the pump sat for quite a long time, and the motor has bound up. I would remove it from the plane and determine if in fact the pump has seized, or if it was possible that some storage liquid locked it up. Briefly apply power and tap the motor with an object---hammer, mallet, bucking bar, and see if it frees up. IF so, run some fuel through it from one container to another and see if there is any debris present.

Tom

It will be hard to fly without confidence in the pump.

What is the brand of the pump?


Sounds like the confidence has dried up, regardless, I might remove the pump, fill it with some mineral spirits, leave sitting for 2 min, tap it with a soft hammer on the end and side then add a fused jumper to see if it will free up. No better than avgas, but much less flammable for a test. Most pumps are tested with a"test fluid" anyway.

Good luck!!

EDIT: Tom beat me to it!

I bought a used boost pump setup and the pump was dead. The AFP boost pump uses a pretty common Airtex fuel pump. I was able to get one on Amazon for about $80.

If you can't resolve your issue, the pump replacement is inexpensive and only takes a few minutes.

Larry

Thank you for all the advice. Late evening here in South Africa and I just got back from a meeting.
Brand new Airflow Performance pump as supplied by Vans. It has been sitting for almost two years already installed into the tunnel. I have already tested wirh a seperate supply and wire - same result. So in the morning I will attempt to prime or fill it with avgas in place. And hit it with a rubber hammer while applying the power.

Then take a bigger hammer .......

Janekom said:

Thank you for all the advice. Late evening here in South Africa and I just got back from a meeting.
Brand new Airflow Performance pump as supplied by Vans. It has been sitting for almost two years already installed into the tunnel. I have already tested wirh a seperate supply and wire - same result. So in the morning I will attempt to prime or fill it with avgas in place. And hit it with a rubber hammer while applying the power.

Then take a bigger hammer .......

Click to expand...

My AFP took a little longer than that before operating and it did spit out some test fluid. Good luck!

Glad to report back that it is working.
Made a contraption to run Avgas through it with a header pipe and funnel and left it like that for a few hours. Made sure that clean fuel ran out on FW side.

Then proceeded to pulse it with a descent power supply that can deliver higher Amps. No luck. Then decided to reverse the polarity and pulse it like that a couple of times. Then back to normal and it started running and all is well - for now.