Dora Mac has fourteen different electric pumps onboard. Twelve of them have already been replaced by new ones. Depending on brand and quality they seem to have a lifespan of around 10-15 years. Some of the Jabsco pumps only 3-5 years.

On our last tour to the Dominican Republic we started to hear bad murmur from the Village Marine low pressure pump. Considering the watermaker essential for cruising Turks&Caicos as well as Bahamas we needed to bring a new one from Europe.

As always the new pump looked different than the old pump but installation was straight forward. Once testing the system though initially mainly air was produced and bleeding the system segment for segment was tedious and difficult. Once free of air the watermaker was working but leaking from the Fresh water flush 3-way valve. As often is the case with aging plastic one connection was broken and leaking. Fortunately we had spares onboard and now all is up working. 

With all pitfalls on the way it took a day to do the installation.