Bilge pump General Forum Forums

The reason we went up to the boat for the last few days was to clean her up a bit and get the bilge pump working again. A few months ago the bilge pump had come on continuesly and for some reason couldn't be turned off. I'm not sure that Angela even knew it was the bilge pump as it is a really nice diaphram unit that sits up in the back of the engine compartment and doesn't really look like a what you would think a standard bilge pump would. It ran for a  day or two before she found out where the noise was coming from. It's pretty quiet when running dry. Finally she just cut the power line to it to get it to turn off. I think what happened is that the automatic switch went bad or the control panel for it went bad and left it running.

Me in the engine compartment reconnecting the power to the bilge pump.

The new panel I ordered to replace the old one.

The Sea-Dog 422035-1 provides an audible and visual means of warning that water level in your bilge is beyond your bilge pump float switch level and it has a control switch to select between automatic and manual mode of the bilge pump.

I am planning on getting two

JOHNSON ULTIMA AUTOMATIC FLOAT SWITCH
Patented Mirus field effect detector cells producing micro-electrical fields that detect disruptions caused by water and fluids. Detector cells are totally sealed and are never in contact with water, will not corrode and are not affected by oil or foreign debris. No moving parts. Totally sealed solid state electronics

One will be the lower switch to turn on the bilge pump. The other one will be mounted a few inches above the first so that if the bilge pump doesn't come on or can't keep up with water in the bilge an alarm will sound. Hopefully these will work well and not have any issues such as float switchs do with gettig jammed etc..

I also in researching the bilge pump found a used one on ebay for sale and purchased it as a spare. They retail for 400+ dollars though I have seen them on sale on the web for 280 to 320. They will pump 480 gallons an hour. I plan on having a second bilge pump installed. I have a 1200 gallon an hour rule sitting around that I plan on plumbing in. As a secondary pump.

Manufacture	Open Flow	Suction Lift	Ports	Volts
Jabsco 36600-0000	8 GPM	10'	3/4″ Hose	12 Vdc

Jabsco diaphragm bilge pumps are self-priming, so they can be mounted above and outside of harsh bilge environments. Because they are mounted remotely, the intake hose can be routed to the lowest point of the bilge regardless of space limitations. They are supplied with an in-line strainer to prevent damaging debris from entering pump. The reliable diaphragm design is not damaged by dry running.

 Right now untill all the parts come in I have just wired a manual on off switch in place to opperate the pump if needed. While we were messing around in the bilge will soaped it up and ran 8 or 9 gallons of water into it and pumped it back out. Also put a few gallons in and pumped it out with the manual bilge pump from the cockpit. All worked ok. I had read about how little access there is to the bilge and it is no joke. It is almost impossible to access anything in it. I had to pull some things that had fallen in out and was able to using a close hanger with a hook bent on the end. Not fun. I plan on putting a stainless steel or fiberglass grate over  the opening into the bilge in the engine compartment so that nuts and bolts and misc other stuff can't fall in easyly.