Bilge Pump Counter

[carolinacoast]

During the current haul out the yard embarrassed me by letting me know that I had the small bilge forward of the port engine with some dirty water and a dead pump. My fault for not checking more diligently. As I thought about it, I remembered a 1000 mile voyage that I crewed on a sailboat that tracked on all watches among other things the bilge pump counters. They used a Hobbs type counter, and it was newly added after 12 years of ownership. Has anyone done that? My friend who owns the boat added that innovation after 100000 miles in the ocean, and said it cost about a Boat Unit(akin to AMU-aviation monetary unit=$1000). That sounded high to me.

In reflection, that information is critical out in the deep blue, but really helpful to us all if we could easily wire that into the dash near the switches at the helm. Many of us have 5 or more pumps not counting the sumps.

Anyone done this and how did you do it?

 

[GJH]

I know some guys with these, but have no direct experience, we are on the boat most of the time and the bilge pumps going off catches my attention via the helm lights. Not a bad idea if you are away from the boat a lot. Not expensive at all.

https://www.aqualarm.net/comerus/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=32

 

[q240z]

Lots of options come up if you do an online search for "bilge pump counter." I know a couple of people who use them. They're cheap and easy to install.

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|51|299222|84462|316439&id=1527107

 

[Boatnut]

I just have to ask this silly question. Do the pump counters detect actual water flow, or do they just monitor that power is applied to the pump. In the later, you know the switch has closed to run the pump, but no indication the pump is actually moving watr.

 

[DCMY #92]

I installed them years ago. As previously said they are inexpensive and easy to install. When we used to live aboard it wasn't necessary to have the counter to notice that the pump was cycling more than usual. When the boat sits unattended for long periods a small leak can easily go undetected. Having said that, I've never experienced an incident where the counter earned it's keep.

 

[Fanfare]

The counters I know of all report just the time the circuit has been carrying current, not the amount of water removed. To check the amount wouild require some sort of recorder in the water stream which could somewhat restrict this flow and/or increase the resistance and chance of additional blockage in the line. The time counters just go in line with the bilge pump wires so are easy to install. However, they won't detect a failed switch.

For most of us, the bilge alarm is the first defense. Yours should have gone off. Regular pump and alarm checks are important. The cheap float switches are often the culprits since the reliable mercury switches were banned by the EPA. There are better electronic switches available which can be used for both the pumps and the alarms.

A small leak in my air conditioning circulating pump bronze piping was caught early by my Arid Bilge counter ( www.aridbilge.com , see "hour meter panel" on 50 ft. Hatteras). It showed that my outboard port engine room stringer was running longer that the other eight pickups on the boat. The boat was in storage in the water, this showed exactly where to look and long before the alarm would have sounded. In addition to keeping my bilges bone dry this system may have recouped its cost by preventing a sinking.

Years ago I had the bow bilge pump back siphon, which, coupled with a failed bow bilge alarm, would have sunk the boat had the next engine room alarm not alerted me. I installed a second set of bilge alarm pickups in each compartment wired into the alarm center. Also a totally reduntant set of 3000 gph bilge pumps for each compartment. A few years ago my then-insurance company required me to install yet a third set of automatic pumps in my engine and generator rooms, then cancelled me the next year for being in a hurricane zone.

By the way, the danger of having automatically operated bilge pumps is that without a counter you won't know that they are working until they can no longer keep up with the water influx, at which point the bilge alarm will sound. In the above instance the entire crew had blistered hands from frantically working the hand emergency bilge pumps. You won't believe the amount of water a Hatteras can hold until you have removed it one stroke at a time!

 

[carolinacoast]

Thanks for all of the great feedback. I had a bad pump, not the switch (a first), and not enough water in the bilge to set off the switch. That would have given me a clue, if it had. When I ran all of the bilges the lights lit up, but this one did not cycle. So a cycle counter would not have caught this. I really like the idea of a counter for the aft bilge in particular. The best advice I can give myself is use and stay on the boat more often. Thanks for the help.