I HATE AUTOMATIC BILGE PUMPS!

[Jeff J]

They never fail to fail ON and drain the battery to ZERO volts. Most chargers today won’t even attempt to charge a flat battery and the odds favor the battery being trash at that point anyway.

I don’t see a reason to have bilge pumps hard wired to the battery if all they can do is kill the battery and not pump anyway.

 

[Mc Tool]

My bilge pump has on -auto-off switching so you can isolate the pump if the boat is not in the water.
I guess you could just disconnect it and hope that whatever turned it on in the 1st place doesn't sink your boat .
If your boat is moored maybe use a separate battery and solar panel / charger to power the pump . I got a solar panel and charge controller of temu for peanuts to run the sump pump ( 12v bilge pump ) under my garden shed .....been working great for nearly a year .

 

[alldodge]

If pumps and floats are maintained they don't turn on unless water is present that lifts the float. Over years the float and/or pump may need to be cleaned or replaced. If something falls into the bilge and gets under the float, that is stuff happens

If you trailer only, you could connect it to a helm switch.

Otherwise you can save your battery but sink the boat

 

[bajaman123]

most common annoyances with them IS the various issues that cause them to come on (when not needed) or STAY on when they don't need to. Usually caused in some part at least by faulty float switches. Most of the "leaf style" switches fail eventually...and most are in THE most inaccessible part of the bilge, often right under the engine, so unless you're a spider monkey the only way to service/replace is to pull the engine.
The modern electronic switches are FAR superior and rarely, if ever, fail to run the pump correctly.

 

[Jeff J]

These boat are on lifts in covered docks. Most have covers on them. At any given time I can walk the slips and hear one or more pumps running for no reason, even on boats only a couple of years old. The boat today is six years old and the bilge is surprisingly clean. I am glad it wasn’t the Volvo Penta.

 

[airshot]

Ran auto pumps for many years with no issues, but then again I went overboard on maintenance and inspections to be sure things are in order. If the bilge pump is in a bad place, move it to a better one. Back when I moored my boat, I had two pumps and two batteries just in case ! Now a days you can get water monitors that send signals to your cell phone line or they use in basement sump pumps. While not always convienient, sometimes we need to adjust things to make it convienient.....

 

[froggy1150]

 

[froggy1150]

I have 2 "sensors" the higher one is a regular float. The lower one is an actual electrical sensor that is made from a piece of 1/2 copper pipe, 12guage copper wire and a transistor with some other misc electronics and a relay. No float to get stuck up and never had pump stuck on because of debris

 

[froggy1150]

The lower is normal pump and the upper is high volume. I did this because I have a omc stringer with the bigass rubber baffle

 

[Bondo]

They never fail to fail ON and drain the battery to ZERO volts. Most chargers today won’t even attempt to charge a flat battery and the odds favor the battery being trash at that point anyway.

I don’t see a reason to have bilge pumps hard wired to the battery if all they can do is kill the battery and not pump anyway.

Ayuh,..... I run bilge pumps through a float switch,.....
Years ago, I bought a rule automatic bilge pump, that was 'puter controlled,.... turned out to be trash in my book,....
It would turn on every few minutes, if it "Sensed" water it pumped it out, but the time it spent "Sensing" ran the battery flat in a couple days,....
I hard wired it through a float switch instead,....

Years ago, Ted was in my area, 'n stopped by to visit me at my river house,....
After chatting for awhile, we were going to go for a boat ride in my ole tinbarge, but the batteries were flat dead, because of that automatic sensing bilge pump,.....
The next day, I rewired that pump, through a float switch,....

 

[airshot]

If debris is making your float stick, make a cage from some aluminum screening and enclose the float switch to keep debris out of the way. I use the pumps with the built in float switch. I always make a quick simple screen cage to go around the pump so debris has never been a problem.

 

[Jeff J]

Every one I have seen has a screen built into the mount. This last one unclipped from it pretty easily… but then I had decent access for a change too.

 

[Chris1956]

Gee, I currently use a electronic-sensing auto bilge pump. It has no float to get jammed and they last 5 years or so, before breaking. Every of those pumps that I had (say 6), failed in the electronic water sensor module. The pump would still work on manual.

I transitioned to the auto-sense pump, because a piece of crap got under the float, and guess what happened?

 

[airshot]

Every one I have seen has a screen built into the mount. This last one unclipped from it pretty easily… but then I had decent access for a change too.

Having decent access is key ! I have often moved the pump for better acess.

 

[airshot]

Gee, I currently use a electronic-sensing auto bilge pump. It has no float to get jammed and they last 5 years or so, before breaking. Every of those pumps that I had (say 6), failed in the electronic water sensor module. The pump would still work on manual.

I transitioned to the auto-sense pump, because a piece of crap got under the float, and guess what happened?

Never cared for the water sensing units, most complaints of any type. Had a flooded basement due to a failure.

 

[aspeck]

I would prefer a dead battery to a sunken boat. But on lifts with covers, I don't see much of a need for an automatic bilge pump. I would manual switch the pump so when I was using it I could turn the switch on and it would pump if necessary. If not using and out of the water, switch would be off and no need to worry.

 

[Mc Tool]

When home appliances still used a pressure switch and air bell to measure water level we had no issues ,but then they had to go all smartypants with various sensors and float switches, and then it was continually hittin the fan .
I think that an airbell and pressure switch it by far the most reliable but I aint never seen one on a boat .

 

[Scott Danforth]

I don’t see a reason to have bilge pumps hard wired to the battery if all they can do is kill the battery and not pump anyway.

because IMO says you do it.

because IMO requires it, so does the USCG and its on the CFR

 

[Jeff J]

My boat didn’t come from the store with an automatic bilge pump. It’s not that much smaller than these ski boats. Where is the size break?

 

[Bondo]

My boat didn’t come from the store with an automatic bilge pump. It’s not that much smaller than these ski boats. Where is the size break?

Ayuh,..... Bigger is better,....