I am sorry to report that our Reich water pump has failed AGAIN!

To recap the story of our water problems . . . our Hymer B544 came equipped with a Reich Twin motor pump; that pump worked until August 2022, 6 years, so we had no real complaints about how long it worked. We spend a lot of time in our motorhome, so the water pump gets a lot of use.

We replaced the pump by another Reich pump because the first had given good service, although I did consider changing from a submersible pump to a Shurflo diaphragm pump. One of the reasons to stay with the Reich submersible pump was that we had a long trip to Spain and Portugal booked and I would have had to make the changes to the water system before we went. With all that in mind we ordered a new Reich pump from Caratech at Lincoln, it arrived quickly and was fitted very easily. The flow and pressure were much better than the original Reich water pump so we were very happy.

Unfortunately that happiness did not last long, 6 weeks later while we were at Sanxenxo in northern Spain the pump stopped working, I could not believe that it failed in such a short time. I contacted Caratech immediately and they were very helpful, advising that we should return the failed Reich pump for a refund when we returned home, but in the meantime we should do whatever was needed to acquire a new pump.

My first task was to find the appropriate Spanish words to add to my vocabulary and then go to speak with the site owner. I explained that nuestra bomba de aqua (water pump) no funcionaba (was not working).  He was most accommodating and said he could order a replacement via Amazon and it would be delivered quickly (Prime). We were planning to move on, but stayed at Sanxenxo extra nights until the new Reich pump arrived. A second pump in only 6 weeks, that was hard to believe. However, that pump worked and we continued our holiday trek returning home in early October 2022.

Caratech refunded the cost of the Reich pump and the long months of shrinking day-length began. We had short motorhome stays parked on the driveways of our children to provide childcare and enjoy Christmas. As the day-length started to increase we wanted to get back into the Hymer, so at the end of February we booked a short break in Worcestershire at Clay Farm Motorhome and Caravan Site. Imagine our predicament when on the first night the water pump failed to deliver any water.

I checked the fuse, it was not the cause. Next I listened carefully, no sound from the pump. I lifted the pump out of the water tank, still no sound. The impeller was jammed, so I carefully tried to turn it and the pump sprang into life, but that was short-lived. The Reich pump did work, but only in a horizontal position, as soon as it was returned to vertical in the water tank it stopped, and after a couple of times even that brief activity stopped.

So there we were, our first night away but no water for food preparation, no hot water for washing etc. Yes, we managed with a watering can and heating water in a kettle on the stove top, but it’s not convenient. We stayed two nights then abandoned the holiday and went home.

I have contacted Reich pumps via their website to explain the problem. The pump has failed but I don’t have an invoice that I can show to demonstrate when it was purchased. Will Reich believe my account of what has happened?

The original Reich pump failure

Click any photo to enlarge

I like to know what has gone wrong with anything that fails, in the case of the water pump I cut it open and discovered that water had got into the motors and corroded them.

The Third Reich pump to fail

As this pump is likely to go back to the maker I don’t want to cut it open to find out what has gone wrong. However, I can report that some of the water that came out of it was dirty, so I suspect that water has gone into the pump and caused corrosion.

This could be a manufacturing problem.