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Here is my setup, installed on a Sherwood GC5 pump. It uses the existing pressure-side tap, which the Sherwood drawing calls a drain plug but which the Cummins manual indicates as the test point for raw water pressure (book is 15 psi max; no minimum specified). Donald is probably right that a true flow sensor at the farthest downstream point is better, but this seemed easier and cheaper than a flow measurement device. I think I got the kit for less than $100 including tube and fitting. The lowest scale I could find was 30 psi, which seemed like it would do.
I abandoned the Vetus alarm display, which was dim and weak, and drilled a hole in the pressure gauge trim ring for a tiny 12V LED (still too dim) and connected a 12V siren from eBay, which even behind the dash console was so deathly loud that I wrapped it in foam. It gets your attention. I had installed the Vetus sensor years ago farther down the exhaust hose than I recalled (~3 ft?), but you don’t want it any closer to the elbow since during the Chesapeake dog days the water temperature can be 90F, when the alarm will still trigger after coming off plane and idling in for awhile.
I haven’t thought much about how to monitor the water pressure until now. I figured I’d get a baseline with a new impeller and fairly clean raw water circuit and be able to tell by a pressure drop if I sucked up a plastic bag or weed in the strainer, or the impeller starting going bad. I guess it would also indicate a restriction or gradual occlusion upstream in the raw water circuit by a pressure increase. Anyway it seemed like an additional layer of prevention. Don’t ask me how I know how important raw water flow is LOL!
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