Clark Pump Troubleshooting

Asymmetry Asymmetry in the Clark Pump is when one stroke of the Clark Pump is not acting the same as the other. When you hear the Clark Pump shift, all the internal components move from one side to the other and it begins pumping water from the opposite side. As it is a fixed recovery system, symmetry between strokes is very important. When a Clark Pump has no internal leaks or internal wear the needle on the pressure gauge rises, spikes and falls at very regular intervals. When you see the ...

General Clark Pump Check Up If your Clark Pump is not functioning properly, this is a good method for identifying more common issues. You can take apart the whole Clark Pump and rebuild it (email the Spectra factory to obtain a rebuild SOP, details at bottom of page), or, if you want to inspect it one part at a time you can use the below procedure that is used when it should be working but is not. Note that if the Clark Pump has not been rebuilt in 5 years, or has seals that are older than 5 ...

Clogged Check Valves, Kink Brine Discharge Hose Something we have seen happen when systems suddenly cannot build pressure is debris clogging the check valves. There is a non-invasive solution that may be able to remedy this without disassembly. Please reference the below linked video, specifically the procedure at the 1:48 mark. If you kink the brine discharge to stop flow when the system is running under pressure, you will see the feed water PSI rise quickly. It should cut out at 125 PSI f...

Symptom: 0 Feed Pressure or Low Feed Pressure 1.Inspect Pressure Relief Valve O-Ring 2.Open Pressure Relief Valve and run for 30 seconds (in run manual if necessary). This will help bleed out air in the event of an airlock. 3.Check static pressure versus spec pressure (Static Pressure = Pressure with relief valve open, Spec Pressure = Nominal pressure for system model during operation) 4.Build and quickly release pressure by Brine hose restriction (attempt 5-10 times in succession). This ...

High feed pressure on Spectra systems can be from environmental factors like cold water or high salinity. The feed pressure could also be high because of issues with the installation. Both the brine discharge and the product tubing should be vented to the atmosphere. That is, they should not be routed into parts of the boat that can generate back-pressure. Watching the feed pressure when these lines are both running freely into a bucket is an easy way to rule this out. Internal factors that can ...

The below document goes over the available Clark Pump kits as well as factory rebuild options. See the link at the bottom of the page for a higher resolution PDF version. To place an order for a kit or to begin the process for a factory upgrade, contact a Spectra authorized distributor. Our distributor network can be seen at: Store Finder (https://www.spectrawatermakers.com/us/us/storefinder)

Low product flow with high feed pressure is commonly caused by clogged up membranes and/or prefilters. However, in rare instances, some 700 and 1000 model watermakers may exhibit these symptoms due to “tight pistons”. The pistons and/or the piston bushings, can swell slightly especially in very warm waters which will cause the piston assembly to expand inside the cylinder, slowing the Clark Pump and causing the feed pressures to rise and production to fall. In most cases the system will also be ...

Tight Piston Repair Low product flow with high feed pressure is commonly caused by clogged up membranes and/or prefilters. However, some 700 and 1000 model watermakers may exhibit these symptoms due to “tight pistons”. The pistons and/or the piston bushings, can swell slightly especially in very warm waters which will cause the piston assembly to expand inside the cylinder, slowing the Clark Pump and causing the feed pressures to rise and production to fall. In most cases the system will also ...