bilge pump

57lawney

Seaman
Joined
Feb 26, 2010
Messages
59
bought a attwod automatic bilg pump 500 gph. do i need to hook up a switch? or can i run the wires straight to the battery? thanks for any help.
 

Cudos

Seaman
Joined
May 20, 2010
Messages
69
Re: bilge pump

You'll need a three way switch. Automatic, manual and off. The float will trigger the pump when in the auto position providing the water lever is high enough to trigger the pump. Attwood has wiring PDF's on their site.
 

seabob4

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Jun 10, 2008
Messages
1,603
Re: bilge pump

A bilge and float switch wiring diagram...
BilgeFloat2.jpg


The brown fire running forward goes to the bottom terminal of the switch, the ground terminates at a ground bus (or your batt neg). the switch is fed from a 12V+ feed under your helm...
 

nofuss

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
May 15, 2010
Messages
141
Re: bilge pump

I like the idea of the float directly wired, like in the diagram above. I dont like the three way switches. a buddy of mine was in a big hurry to either show off the pretty new girl, or show her his boat, he ended up in the bay with switch in off position. 2000gpm bilge pump, and drain plug out. when i noticed his boat floating low i went on board and threw him overboard and switched on the pump. while he was cussing i handed him his drain plug. all cussing stopped and he went and installed it. thank God the admiral on another friend's boat pointed out to me that something looked wrong, he was about 1 inch from submerging his bilge pump outlets.
another point that i still cant get to him. have your bilge pump hose travel as high as reasonable above the out let and then loop back down to the pump. some people recommend 12" above but in smaller boats that is sometimes not practical. however this loop helps prevent water from coming into the boat through the bilge pump outlet at least for a while longer if u like the 3 way switch, and if for some other reason it is submerged. I have had water come in during turns on my 15footer, before i learned this trick.

No Fuss :)
 

57lawney

Seaman
Joined
Feb 26, 2010
Messages
59
Re: bilge pump

what i was trying to get at is i really dont want to instal a 3 way switch if i dont have to, automatic would work for me, thanks againbtw this pump has 4 wires, black,tan/white stripe and redish tan
 

NYBo

Admiral
Joined
Oct 23, 2008
Messages
7,107
Re: bilge pump

Hm. You only described THREE wires, which makes more sense anyway.

A simple on/off switch to supply power to the lead directly to the pump (the one that bypasses the float switch) would give you the ability to manually cycle the pump. Good to have that ability in case the float switch fails. If you use a lighted switch, the light will also come on if the float switch activates the pump.
 
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