Bilge pump again!

[Random guy]

Maybe some of you boat wrenches can explain what is going on. My Stratos has a small army of bilge pumps, livewell pumps and circulation pumps all lined up in the bilge. All are original except the one bilge pump that is on a auto switch. Two other bilges I can turn on by switches on the dash but I burn up the auto pump (comes on with water level in the bilge) constantly. Normaly two a season, now it went bad over winter? It worked the last day I was out in some nasty waves. Yesterday I was washing out the inside of the boat and left the plug in to see if the auto bilge would work and nothing again.

Is it the type of pump I'm buying or is this thing turning itself on for some reason and running constant. I can't figure out what keeps smoking these pumps but I'm getting tired of crawling in the bilge to replace it.

[DTro]

Just a thought, but there could be some sort of short in the wiring that triggers the auto switch and it is running dry.

I would think that you would hear it, but maybe it's happening when you are not in the boat (garage or driveway).

[Satchmo]

Hard to tell sight unseen, but dtro may be right, it sounds like it's turning on and running dry for some reason. Could be a wiring location problem. Make sure the connections for the pump are high and dry, undamaged, and insulated from each other. This pump should be wired directly to the battery with an in-line fuse of appropriate size. Sometimes these auto switches can stick on if exposed to a lot of crud in the bilge or shavings from new boat construction. I like the pumps with external swithes for their ease of replacement along with the cartridge pumps for the same reason. That way you only have to replace the guts, not the housing. Good luck, Greg

[efgh]

My bilge pump is a auto too,it turns itself on and checks for water every 3 or 4 min. I cut the wire leading to the pump and added a on-off switch, I only turn the switch on if I think there is water in the bilge pump area, some times there is and some times there isn;t, all depends on how rough the water on the lake is.

[Wayne Ek]

Jon, I've had the same problem with two of my rigs. I finally had wires cut and now turn both bildge pumps on with manual switches. So auto bildges have floats that get loaded up with crud and just stay on and on and on and on.

[Random guy]

Quote:

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Just a thought, but there could be some sort of short in the wiring that triggers the auto switch and it is running dry.

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Bingo! When I first got the boat the auto bigle was smoked and I was unimpressed with the mounting situation. At the time I was still working part time as a Iron worker part time as a Mortgage guy. So I cut out early of the mortgage job and built a fancy stainless steel mounting plate for all the bilges and live well pumps. Two wing nuts and the whole works lifts out. Apparently the edge of this wore into the float wire and was starting the pump and running it dry.

I put the new pump in and was screwing around with the transducer cables and the little bugger started running. A little wiggling and a bunch of sparks the problem was solved.

I would just disconnect it but when I'm fishing three day tourneys I leave my boat docked overnight. If a rain storm rolls through that little bilge is the only thing that going to keep me floating at 3am.

[Satchmo]

Good to hear Jon. It is pretty handy to have your rig floating in the morning isn't it!!

[End of the Line]

Depends what kind of float switch you have. Like mentioned above since its on an auto switch if the float gets stuck the pump will burn out if the float gets stuck. You should always have at least one bilge pump on auto for safety, like if you ever forget to put the plug in!