Is it possible to use an electric raw water pump?

[Luhrs28]

Has anyone ever used an electric raw water pump instead of engine-driven? I'm thinking that would have an advantage in that it could be located in an easy-to-access place and a complete spare could be carried. That way if it fails at sea it could be swapped out in 10 minutes or so.

The downside is, the electric pump wouldn't be variable-speed so it would have to put out the max. required GPM at all times, to be able to cool the engine + oil coolers at WOT. That means a fairly big electric pump drawing quite a bit of amps.

Has anyone ever tried this?

 

[mkast]

Re: Is it possible to use an electric raw water pump?

My first thought was, A/C or D/C?

 

[Luhrs28]

Re: Is it possible to use an electric raw water pump?

It would have to be 12VDC, to run on battery/alternator power when underway.

I'm wondering how much power a typical rubber impeller pump takes to drive it. I'm thinking it's quite a bit, like 2 HP, but that's just a guess. If so that makes it impractical because at 12V the motor would draw around 120 amps which is probably more than my alternator puts out.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Is it possible to use an electric raw water pump?

Ayuh,... If it were at All practical,... It would already be Done....