bilge pumps

[lisaann]

how many pumps are resonable, my boat 1968 41c hatteras put one in the bow and one in the stern. i am going to add a backup in the bow since this pump is the primary pump while the boat is in the slip. and a light on the bridge to indicate when the stern pump is running. this will show any pump activity while under way. i plan to also add one in each engine bay total of five pumps. is they way overkill? mark

[nor'easter]

Hard to say that anything is overkill for a dewatering system in my book. I am planning to add a 4th higher flow pump to my 39 SX that would only operatee at higher water levels.

[Skip]

I have two comments for your consideration:
1. In your largest bilge area, put a second bilge pump about 1 inch higher that the other bilge pump inlet.
2 Put a simple electric counter on your higher bilge pump (read out on the console) and monitor how frequently it turns on. Usually you can spot a trend as the lower pump fails.
Good luck,
Skip

[REBrueckner]

You can't have too many bilge pumps.
I have six on my 48 ft YF plus two small ones in pails under the shaft logs that empty into a sump, two more for shower sumps. In addition I have a separate high water alarm system with float switches in six different locations....that way if water anywhere overpowers a pump I get an audible and visual alarm at my Helm stations.

Overkill? well, I awakened one time and found 55 gallons of diesel fuel under one engine...a flex fuel line had rotted through....before I had all the safety alarms and pumps..I smelled it and began a search. With today's regulations detecting a fuel leak is almost as important as detecting a water leak. Two weeks before my incident, in Provincetown Cape Cod, the harbor master told me a guy overfilled his gas tanks...pumped some overboard...presto, a $10,000 fine...

In my case I used a spare bilge pump to evacuate the bilge diesel into five gallon pails, dumped a few back into my tanks (diesel floats on top of bilge water) then in a 55 gallon drum and paid about $150 to have to recycled....

Rule makes a 2" diameter 120 volt pump (Home Depot). I carry one of those for emergencies with 25 feet of flat hose...stores in a small space just in case...It's also a portable aid to assist others in an emergency. Well pumps also would work, but I prefered the plastic case Rule type.

[MikeP]

Read this/follow the recommendations and you can't go wrong!


http://www.yachtsurvey.com/bilge_pumps.htm

[Pascal]

yep.. this is great article that cover jsut about it.

i currently have 4 rule 2000 (bow, aft, port ER, stbd ER) plus a 3700 back near the bow buti don't think that's enough. I'm going to add at least a 3700 near the stern.

each back up will be connected to a different battery bank... directly with jsut a fuse.

I might also add an another pair of back ups in each ER, for these I'm probalby going to use 12v 3700s connected to the large inverter bank.

Most boats come with insufficient pumping capacity, eventhough bilge pumps are the only one that will keep you afloat or buy you time to find and plug the leak.

[Jaxfishgyd]

I have 5 pumps on my 43' wired thru float switches ( 2000 gph each) "1 in front, 1 under each motor, 2 in the stern section.
The boat came with 3, all 1000 gph (not sure original but only have 3 switches on panal at steering station).
Also put in two high water alarms (with 2000 gph pumps) and have a 8000gph Rule pump (paid $270 for it) with 50' of wiring and 50' of hose that I can throw into any location as a backup should I have a problem.
I do not have a 120v pump but as we are liveaboards and the people next to us on both sides are also liveaboards.... If something happens at the dock when we are not here feel safe.
And if something happenswe have a total of 22,000 gph pumping capacity we should be OK..... As long as we can run the genset to charge the batteries !!!!
My figuring is, if water is coming in faster than I have the ability to pump it, nothing I can do is gonna save it.

[SKYCHENEY]

It's good to have backup pumps. But the problem is most people don't check the pumps that they have to make sure that they work. I know none of us here is guilty of this, but I thought I would bring it up. Maybe it will help to remind those of us who have been putting it off to reach in there and lift that float switch every month just to be sure.

I checked mine while on the hard and I found a float switch that had shifted around and was getting caught under the discharge hose. I added another screw to hold it in the proper place. Should be good to go now.

[luckydave215]

I have 10 if you include the shower sumps, I wish I had more. There's no such thing as too many.

[Jaxfishgyd]

Dang,
I forgot to include my shower pumps....

On my check list, the pumps are checked every 3 months.

In reality, every time I'm in the engine room I lift the floats under each engine, which is weekly.

My thing is, I'm paranoid about the boat.......

After working for Towboat/US WHEN I retired in 2000 for 6 months and seeing what happens all the time to others, plus seeing 3 boat fires at docks we've been at, this is OUR HOME and we have grandkids on the boat all the time...

(Remember my post about "wake up... I smell smoke" a few months ago)