Auto bilge pump trouble

jmarty10

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Aug 6, 2007
Messages
560
I put in a new Rule Mate 500 GPH auto pump about 5-6 weeks ago. Was working just fine until last night. Went to flip blower on before starting boat and i was dead. I couldnt start boat. Went back to car to get jumper. Hooked up jumper and all of the sudden I hear the bilge pump working? The manual switch to the pump was off (I'm positive) We got torrential rains last week and I'm sure enough water got into bilge to set pump off. But the mystery is why did the pump keep pumpin and not shut off? Has anybody ever seen problems with the automatice function of these pumps just going without shutting off and draining battery. Two other questions ......

1. The brown wire next to the battery has a fuse. If I take the fuse out does that kill the auto function of the pump?

2. Since the pump supposely ran for hours and drained the battery is it burnt out? The manual says you can run these pumps dry? But for how long?

Thanks
 

Home Cookin'

Fleet Admiral
Joined
May 26, 2009
Messages
9,715
Re: Auto bilge pump trouble

this is why I believe in a seperate float switch.

Hard to say about the fuse since it could be wired up a lot of different ways, but generally that fuse blocks all power to the unit.

Something hung up or malfunctioned in the float switch to keep it on. Running dry probably didn't hurt anything but it's easy to test it--is it pumping water? You can't rely on the sound.

Take that pump back and ask for a replacement.
 
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