New bilge pump blowing fuse

Mike Robinson

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jun 29, 2005
Messages
752
I recently installed a brand new Rule 500 Automatic Bilge Pump as a second pump. It's the kind that switches on for a second every few minutes and will keep pumping if it detects any resistance on the impeller (water). I used it on a couple of trips and had left the boat in the water at the marina over night and it worked fine.

Yesterday I went down the marina after a couple of days and noticed a bit of water in the bilge (rain). I checked the switch to make sure it was still in the automatic mode, which it was, so I figured the pump had drained the battery. I checked that but no, the fuse had blown (2 amps). So replaced it with a 3 amp fuse and it worked for a couple of hours then blew that fuse. When we got back from our trip I pulled out the pump, checked the strainer and cleaned it, checked the impeller orifice, no sign of obstuction, put it back in the bilge sump and replaced the fuse again. This time the fuse blew after a few seconds!

Anything else I should check or should I just return it?

Thanks
 

ChampionShip

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Mar 18, 2010
Messages
202
Re: New bilge pump blowing fuse

Piece of line or chunk of dog hair in there maybe?
 
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