Cikira 18CC grey water pump?

[Mac89]

I'm the owner of a new to me 2006 Cikira Classic Cruiser 18FD. I noticed under the sink in the bathroom there is a keyed switch for, labeled in marker, a grey water pump. I've never heard of such a thing and I don't hear anything when I turn it to the on position. Is anyone familiar with this in their RV? I just got the trailer this weekend and have yet to figure out what all the other two keyed switches up under the left side bench seat are for. I believe they're battery disconnect switches but why two of them? There's not much about these trailers on the web, well other than the typical people either love them or hate them that is. Any help is appreciated!

[Mac89]

Interesting thought. There is a capped off pipe saddle attached to the grey water pipe, it is standard pipe thread not hose barb. I believe the switch is for an external macerator pump that is no longer with the trailer. Someday when time permits I'm going to try to track down where the wires go since I can't find the outside the trailer. Thanks!

[4x4van]

One possibility is that the previous owner had a pump to pump grey water into the black tank. Many people fill their grey before their black, so transferring some of that grey into the black extends their camping time before needing to dump. Just a thought.

[deadticket8]

All this talk about tank emptying and hose connections on the valve cap reminds me why I never drink the campground water. So many campgrounds do not have backflow valves on the water outlets as NY state requires.

[Mac89]

I might just do that. I can't find any wires outside the trailer and the plumbing is so straight forward I can't see why a pump would be inside. Strange there is a fuse in the power distribution box for it if it were an after market accessory. Really wish the fuse box was labeled from the factory. Thanks for the help.

[Gdetrailer]

Previous owner may have connected the hot and ground wires together with a wire nut and tucked it out of the way somewhere.

Generally most times the macerator pump is not permanently mounted as it needs to be lower than the bottom of the tanks in order to work properly. Previous owner may have added some sort of wired plug in near the tank valves and may have removed that but left the switch and rest of wiring behind.

I would just disconnect the wiring from the switch for now and then try to trace the wire back to the fuse position that blew. If you can find that wire near the fuse panel, cut, terminate it at the fuse panel and if nothing else try to remove that wire for good..

[Mac89]

Great info. I get what you're saying and the last owner did live in it for some time. I think you're on to something with the garden hose since the drain cap has a garden hose connector in it and there was a pile of sludge behind the cap when I removed it. Not a pleasant experience. There is also an added steel pipe saddled onto the grey water side after the valve I haven't looked into yet. Maybe a way to flush out the downstream side of the valves.
They might have taken the pump but the wiring is still in the trailer disconnected. I still have to track down where it goes to. I connected it turned on the switch and blew a 20amp fuse so that tells me the pump is still there and locked up or the wires terminate in a dead short. Thanks for the input.

[Gdetrailer]

Some folks would rather use a macerator pump with a small 3/4" diameter garden size hose instead of a large 3" stinky slinky.

Sometimes it may also come down to the previous owner didn't have a sewer clean out, easy access to a sewer clean out or clean out was above the trailer height and a macerator pump was the only way to empty the tanks at home.

But from the sounds of your posts the previous owner disconnected and took it with them instead of leaving behind.

[Mac89]

Great Idea. I do have an outer access cover for the fridge so I'll try to get into that today and see what there is to see, daylight permitting.

The tanks do drain normally. I agree, easy stuff first. Not sure why a macerator pump would be necessary on such a simple system. The mystery continues. Thanks for the feedback

[Grit_dog]

Do your gray and black tanks drain normally or not?
Check the easy stuff first.

[Boon_Docker]

Do you have a outer access cover to the fridge? If so, check there for a plugin that might have been used for portable macerator.

[Mac89]

Well last night I dug a little deeper and found two wires, one from the switch disconnected and wire nutted off. I connected the wires, turned on the switch and instantly blew a 20amp fuse in the power distribution box. One of the wires runs into a closed off area under the fridge so I will have to do some disassembly to see where it goes. I looked under the trailer and found no pump or extra wires running to either of the holding tanks. Only level sensor wires. Ran out of daylight so maybe a little more investigation today.

[Boon_Docker]

Could possibly be a switch for a macerator with a plugin somewhere close to the holding tank outlets.
I don't have a switch for my pump, but I do have a live plugin close to the holding tanks behind the outer access cover to the fridge.

[Mac89]

Thanks for the thoughts. I believe I'm the third owner so I have no idea what the previous owners might have done. The switch does look like factory install like the battery switches, not sure why there are two, so I will definitely keep looking into this. Kind of wondering if the person who labeled the switch mislabeled it and it is actually for the black water. The joys of buying used!

[Grit_dog]

Sounds like the gray water tank may not be gravity drain?
Sounds like a little investigating is in order.
Most campers have gravity drain waste tanks.