Hi Alistair and others.

There are aftermarket pumps of very similar size to the Westy OEM one. I'm guessing you can find a Princess Auto somewhere nearby on Vancouver Island. I bought this one:

http://www.princessauto.com/all-seasons/seasonal/pumps/electric/4270013-bilge-pump

Operates on 4.5 to 12V batteries or transformer
Cap. approx. 170 GPH
Use 3/8" I.D. discharge hose
Fully submersible
Inlet at bottom
O’all dim.: 1-1/4" x 2" x 3-1/2"
They are sometimes on sale for $8, but now they seem to be $15.

I'm sure there are similar ones on ebay also. Or order from reimo.de; the one I bought for my Westy in Europe (unintentionally but remarkably) survived freezing with water in the tank one winter.

Martin

----- Original Message -----
From: Alistair Bell <albell@SHAW.CA>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Cc: 
Sent: Friday, August 12, 2011 8:37:13 PM
Subject: bilge pump as fresh water pump replacement

I put in an inexpensive (24 bucks Can) bilge pump as a replacement for an ailing stock freshwater pump. It is rated at 400 gph at 3 ft. The stock pump had "7 litres" moulded on the housing and I wonder if that is litres/min?

If that is so, then 7 l/m = 420 l/hr

400 gph = 1,514 l/h, or 25 l/m (US gal)

So it seems that the bilge pump would pump more/better. But to tell the truth, it didn't "seem" much better. But it works all the time as opposed to the baulky old stock one.

alistair