Liberty 404 Pump: What the installation guide doesn’t tell you
Upgrading from a Liberty 403 to a Liberty 404 residential drain pump? My guess is that you probably installed the last one about twenty five plus years ago, because these pumps seem to last forever. And my guess is also that you have totally forgotten how you installed the last one.
Well, there’s a few things that you need to know before you get started. For starters the liberty 403 pump is now obsolete and no longer made by the manufacturer, which you should overall be happy with if you need to replace your pump. The Liberty 404 is by far a better pump than the outdated Liberty 403, generating slightly more power at a higher RPM.
There are going to be two main differences between the two that are going to present some obstacles that you will need to overcome to install your new pump.
The first main difference is the profile of the pump itself. The Liberty 404 is three inches shorter than the older Liberty 403 pump. This means that you will either need to raise the pump up or extend the pipes. I personally suggest that you extend the pipes. Why? You may ask… Well, that leads me to the next main difference between the pumps.
The second main difference (despite what every source on the internet told me) is that the inlet and discharge pipe on the Liberty 404 pump is a two inch fitting, whereas the fittings for the Liberty 403 pump are one and a half inches. This is why you should just extend your pipes from the earlier issue. You will need two and possibly three 1-½” to 2” adapters along with three 2” threaded fittings in order to make the connection between the new pump and your existing plumbing.
Overcoming these two hurdles is a minor simple fix to making your pump upgrade. The final and somewhat minor hurdle to overcome is that the holes do not line up exactly as the old ones did and some maneuvering of the pump and whatever plumbing needs to be attached if you are attaching a deep sink to the side inlet.
After two return trips it was discovered that thread sealant needs to be applied to the pump outlet. The customer was saying that the outlet was leaking when a load of laundry was done. The first return trip I just snugged the fitting up a little, but that still did not solve the problem. Therefore on a third trip I returned and applied thread sealant, I then heard back from the customer a few days later saying that the thread sealant had done the job and that the leak did not come back.