Boat was just over 2 years old when the Shurflow Aqua King raw water pump failed. My service shop turned in a warranty claim which the OEM initially declined because they claimed the pump was excessively corroded. After some arguing, they recanted. There are several pumps in the bilge area of various manufacturers' (bilge, live well) and only this Shurflow pump and the identical fresh water wash down pump show any signs of corrosion, mostly around the base. The boat spends most of the time high and dry in a lift in Florida. About the only water that collects in the bilge is the fresh water from rain that does not drain out through the cockpit drains and the bilge pumps do not remove (about 7-8 gallons). This water is either removed by pulling the plug or wet vacuuming so it never sits long in the bilge. Has anyone else ever seen this issue with Shurflow pumps? Is there any way to avoid the issue other than spraying down the affected areas with something like Corrosion-X or similar? Thanks.
Shurflow Aqua King pump corrosion
- Thread starter Blackbird
- Start date
Every Shurflo pump I have had on a saltwater boat has developed external corrosion but continued to perform well. My present boat has only 2....and as you can see, are getting corroded but working fine. You can see on the first picture, they are from 2004. I can't figure why yours would puke so soon.
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usmm1234
Well-Known Member
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- Jul 21, 2019
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- Location
- Myrtle Beach SC
- Model
- Express 330
My company, U S Marine Marketing has been the Shurflo Marine Reps for the East Coast for over 30 years. I opened Grady back in 1989. I don’t know who you were dealing with on your pump, but we would never decline a warranty claim on corrosion. Especially a Grady Owner. Battling corrosion on these pumps has always been a problem. The motor housing has to be steel because the use of magnets in the motor. Encapsulating the motor in plastic causes very short brush life due to heat build up so we don’t do that. In conjunction with Grady and Boston Whaler. We developed different coatings over the years. At one time we had a heavy dip coating that was eventually shut down by the EPA in CA. We currently use the same electrostatic paint process that Brunswick uses on their Mercury outboards. It works fairly well. We have to balance cost against quality. We are the most expensive pump out there. But there is a limit as to what the builders will pay for. Back in 1992 we developed the only water resistant pressure switch in the industry. You can note that we actually mold the wires into the grommet going into the switch. We also use a seamless motor can, soft rubber O-Rings under the end bells of the motor, and a waterproof wire entry. Non of these features are available on our competitors. We run about 1 1/2 % warranty on washdown pumps which is incredibly low for an electric motor in the bilge. We have over 90% of the OEM Marine business in the US due to low warranty.
With all that said. We do get pumps that fail. At least 50% of the time. We can determine that the pump has been submerged or exposed to massive salt exposure.
My 2002 330 has the original pumps in it! The bigger the boat. The longer the pumps last because they are mounted up out of the moist areas.
A couple suspect issues I see in your post. Grady White has NEVER used the Aqua King for washdown. They use the Pro Blaster? The other thing is. How would the livewell or Bilge Pump show a sign of corrosion when they are housed completely in plastic?
I use BoeShield on my metal equipment on the boat.
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