Jabsco Par Max Belt Driven Pump. Worth fixing?

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gardnersf

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Hello,

My water pump has been tripping the breaker after a minute or so of continuous operation. The pump is an older PAR version of the current Jabsco Par-max 36800. When I inspected the pump, I noticed that the motor shaft appeared to be bent and rotate eccentrically. I'm pretty sure it is supposed to rotate in a circle. It looks like the pump may have been dropped the last time is was out as a gear is chipped and the drive pulley has a chip as well.

In any case, The real question is what is the advantage of a belt driven pump over some of the other types of pumps. anew motor is about $115 plus I will need a new pulley. If it were you, would you

1. Fix the current PAR pump
2. Replace with a new Jabsco Belt Driven Pump
3. Replace with a different pump.

The water system is a 40 gallon tank, Head sink, Head shower, 6 gallon HW heater and galley sink and FW hose in the cockpit.
 
Replace it.

As to which pump to replace it with, the Jabsco belt drives are pretty reliable. But some of the wobble drive pumps can be quieter.
 
I'd replace the pump with a direct drive diaphragm pump. Why use a belt when you don't need to? Modern fresh water pumps will easily service your boat needs for something north of $200. Expect 3-5 years of service and then buy a rebuild kit. I like ShurFlow, but there are others that are just as good.

You have to understand that these are not really industrial quality pumps. They are advertised as being able to run dry but they won't for long. Parts, five years from now, may not be available or if they are, customer service that you think you should be get won't be there.

Fresh water pumps, like so many other things sold to recreational boaters, is probably a crap-shoot. Buy one now and know that you will replace it in a few years.

I don't mean to lecture, but that the way it really is.

Bill
 
That's why I asked. I see pumps fro Shurflo new for less than what I can fix the belt driven pump for. I just didn't know why the belt driven pumps held such a premium. I had diaphragm pumps in my previous boat and they were quieter.
 
The time I had a belt driven pump was 10+ years ago and i cant day it was that reliable.

For non lives board use a dumb shurflo is fine, although some of them don't have a weep hole so when the diaphragm goes it ruins the motor. I have bad experiences with the not so smart electronic version and would never use one again
 
buy a new one and keep the old one on board for a spare to use in a pinch.

RWS
 
Well I guess I've had better luck with belt drive diaphragm pumps than some of you. While they can be noisy if you don't replace the dampeners before they harden up that some come with, they are at least as reliable as most other pumps, most can run dry without damage, they are easy to rebuild and parts are and have always been, readily available.

If you really want perhaps the best DC pump around, take a look at the Headhunter Excalibur. But be prepared for sticker shock. :-)
 
Don't recall what the Excalibur is , but the AC Headhunter is the best pump on the market, although obviously an overkill on anything under 50... $1000 or so and they have an excelletn exchange program when out of warranty, 50% off the new one and you get the old one back once they remove the serial number sticker, so you can use it for spare,
 
http://www.headhunterinc.com/products/waterpressure/WaterPumps/xcaliber.html
 
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