[anthem]

I have a 2002 38 Open. It has two fresh water pumps. I have always turned both on. I have noticed recently that one of them never shuts off. I have two questions....one...is the second pump just a backup? Two....If I were to replace it, what would be a recomendation for a replacement. More water pressure would be good.

[trit21]

I also have 2 pumps on my 2000 3500 Open (not sure what Open you have). I used them like this: Pump 1 which is louder (for unknown reasons as they are the same pump same mount) I use during the daytime. Pump #2 I use at night for when we use the head, ice maker runs so it is quieter and doesn't wake us up. I use them seperately so I do have a backup just in case one does go out but I still like to use them both just to exercise them. When I need more flow I will turn them both on for example if I need to rinse down the cockpit of fish blood while fishing or something like that.

Not sure why one doesn't shut off but if you have a water pressure tank (accumulator tank) you might want to replace or at least check it because the baffles do break in them more often than I would have thought. Just replaced my second one in 3 years. There is also switches on the pumps that turn the pump on and off so maybe the switch on the pump that is continuously running if bad.

I used Jabsco pumps I go from West Marine to replace mine, 50PSI I think. Didn't want too much pressure as I don't want to blow a fitting on the boat someplace and 50PSI is more than enough for us.

[ReelMagic]

I have a 2003 38 open w/2 fresh water pumps as well.. Use both all the time. It's designed to support the multiple faucets without causing pulsing at the faucet.. WRT to the pump not shutting off I suspect the internal pressure switch has failed..... You can get the switch from the manufacturer, in my case a flowjet pump....

[trit21]

If you have pulsing at your faucets the accumulator tank is bad, the bladder has broken. Even with only one pump running, you should not get any pulsing when all is acting correctly.

[ReelMagic]

Agree in part with your comment regarding the accumulator. If you open multiple faucets at the same time you can required more water volume than a single pump can provide causing a pressure drop that the accumulator can't take care of resulting in pulsing... The second pump provides the additional volume required to maintain the pressure....Had a discussion w/Tiara engineering regarding this when I took ownership of my boat (sea trial question why 2 fresh water pumps)...