[jeff1]

I had some problem with my pump last week, The pump would run with no problems at all, it just would not prime it self, so I had to suck the water through the pipe to get it going : I told my supplier and he did not hessitate to send me a new one. fantastic after service in my mind.

Anyway he informed me tonight that they stripped the pump down and found a piece of what they could only describe as plasic from the tank, it was the size of two grains of sand and stuck in the membrain, once they cleaned it out the pump worked fine, he was under the impression I did not have an in-line filter, but I do have one fitted, the thing is these in-line filters/strainers seem to have large holes and would not stop anything the size described by my supplier, do any of you guys use anything else to stop these small particals entering your pumps? or do you take any other precausions to prevent this happening?
This is also a good tip for the DIY'ers make sure you do fit an in-line filter/strainer, at least you will add some protection to your pump, I just need protection down to the size of two grains of sand, and any advice will be welcome.

[JM123]

what pump do you use?  Shurflo and flojet both do strainers for their pumps.

[jeff1]

Its a 100psi shurflow pump.

[JM123]

shurflo do a strainer -  give williamson pumps a ring in the morning.

who's your supplier, they should stock some of the strainers

[jeff1]

I already have one fitted supplied by shurflo, its just the size of the holes, they seem on the large side, I was just wondering if there is any thing I could put in the filter/strainer to catch small particals.

[JM123]

I find the best thing is a piece of soft foam in the pipe before the strainer - this way the foam can't get near the pump because the strainer will stop it plus it filters the water much better than the strainer

[jeff1]

Thats a very good idea JM, I have some spare foam (new) for a pump for a fish pond, do you recon this would be any good?

[JM123]

yeah the real soft stuff that you would find err somewhere.  It needs to be really soft, yeah - cut a sponge up, preferably an expensive one from halfords, preferably a blue one.

[jeff1]

Thanks JM, I'll take a trip to halfords tomorrow thanks for your help.