Bilge Pump Question

[turbinedoctor]

If that works for you then everything is fine except you dont have a means to stop the pump if the float gets hung up or burns closed keeping the pump running. I have heard some pumps can run dry with out damage so that may not be an issue either.


I prefer mine wired where I can choose auto/off/manual.

[spareparts]

had a surveyer rasie a stink about a three position switch once, he said the auto portion should be wired hot all the time per code(don't know which code he was quoting). I would have to say, the majority of the boats I see with the three positon switch, the switch is left in the off position allmost all the time. I have two 2000 gph pumps in my V, each one plumbed with smooth wall 1 1/4 hose, each one with its own dedicated ground wire, float switch, inline fuse for the switch(may be changing to a breaker), and a separate line and power supply for the dash mounted switch. I keep a spare pump with aligator clips and 10' feet of hose in the cuddy for jic!

BTW, we've done the auto switch at the stop light before with a 34 Searay, it dumped about 10 gal of bilge water into a Chyrsler convertable at the light. At least it got here off the cell phone

[bcmarinamanager]

[QUOTE=spareparts;121315]had a surveyer rasie a stink about a three position switch once, he said the auto portion should be wired hot all the time per code(don't know which code he was quoting).

He was probably speaking about the ABYC (American Boat and Yacht Council) code for electronics. It's kinda like a general building code for anything that floats. The funny thing is it's a voluntary thing, and builders don't "have" to follow it. Just good general guidlines for safety for boat systems.