Bilge pump always on...

[pistolpete33]

Hi Raiders

Took the boat out on the weekend and heard the bilge pump running (without any water in the hull). Has worked fine since I bought the boat over a year ago. Tried switching off at the dashboard but no luck. After pushing the off button pump would turn off for 1 second then turn on again. Pulled all the terminals off the back of the dashboard switch but pump still running. Sometimes the pump would fade in and out of full power.

Got home and pulled bilge pump out. Looked pretty ordinary (8 years old) and was poorly mounted to the hull (one of the release clips was snapped off as it was hard up against the fuel tank). Being a sealed unit thought the pump circuit board might be stuffed so I chucked it out and bought a new rule mate pump. Wired up the new pump same as old and as per wiring diagram. Switched battery back on but pump still running. Thought the new unit might have some sort of auto run on cold start/battery on so left running out of water for 30 sec. Pump wouldn't stop so turned battery off.

Removed in-line 7.5amp blade fuse thinking it might have blown (thinking a blown fuse would lead to activating the pump). Fuse wire looked fine but one of the blades showed signs of corrosion. Didn't have a spare fuse so scrapped off the corrosion and roughed up with sandpaper. Put fuse back in and battery on but pump still running.

Before I trot off to the nearest auto electrician, does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions? Anything would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Pete

[Welster]

Is there a float switch that turns the pump on if there is water under the hull with the dash switch a secondary manual switch.

My guess the float switch is stuck on for some reason.

Edited January 18, 2016 by welst

[Geoff]

At the risk of stating the obvious the positive (red) wire is getting power to it from someware other than the pump switch , the trick is to find out from whare .

Perhaps start by inserting the pump fuse so the pump is running then remove the other fuses one by one & if the pump stops that will indicate the power source.

Trace the wireing for both & see where they are touching

The other option , trace the red wire from the pump back to the pump fuse & switch pannel , some ware it will be touching a positive cable , possibility the main cable running from the battery to the switch panel

Geoff

[Ric001]

Hi guys. Sometimes it is easier to run a new supply per wire and check the circuit that way. Just lie the wire in loose to confirm the switches and fuses are operating correctly. My bet would be that the bilge float switch is shorting internally. In some cases they are hard wired to battery so that if boat fill with water whilst in attended the pump will kick in. It all depends on how smart the original installer was. It should still be fused. Ric.

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[bessell1955]

I'n with weist and Ric001. The bilge pump float is malfunctioning and is stuck on. Locate it and try to manually manipulate it. It may be corrodeed in the on position. You could also run a temporary circuit bypassing the float switch, to see if the pump stops.

[Welster]

[quote name="Ric001" post="574385" timestamp= In some cases they are hard wired to battery so that if boat fill with water whilst in attended the pump will kick in. It all depends on how smart the original installer was. It should still be fused. Ric.

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I have a one year old Stacer and the bilge pump is wired direct bypassing the 1-2 off switch as you describe Ric.

[pistolpete33]

Is there a float switch that turns the pump on if there is water under the hull with the dash switch a secondary manual switch.

My guess the float switch is stuck on for some reason.

Thanks welst.

Both the old and new bilge pumps have built in float switches (mercury switches). Strangely both are doing the same thing which may indicate a wiring issue of some sort.

Cheers

Pete

[pistolpete33]

At the risk of stating the obvious the positive (red) wire is getting power to it from someware other than the pump switch , the trick is to find out from whare .

Perhaps start by inserting the pump fuse so the pump is running then remove the other fuses one by one & if the pump stops that will indicate the power source.

Trace the wireing for both & see where they are touching

The other option , trace the red wire from the pump back to the pump fuse & switch pannel , some ware it will be touching a positive cable , possibility the main cable running from the battery to the switch panel

Geoff

Thanks Geoff appreciate your advice.

Yeah I'll have to trace the wiring looms when I have some time on the weekend. Will also replace the dodgy fuses once they're tested.

Cheers

Pete

[pistolpete33]

Hi guys. Sometimes it is easier to run a new supply per wire and check the circuit that way. Just lie the wire in loose to confirm the switches and fuses are operating correctly. My bet would be that the bilge float switch is shorting internally. In some cases they are hard wired to battery so that if boat fill with water whilst in attended the pump will kick in. It all depends on how smart the original installer was. It should still be fused. Ric.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Cheers Ric001.

The wiring loom looks ok but I'll keep your suggestion in mind in case I can't trace the problem.

[antonywardle]

How easy is it to get the pumps out?

I'm guessing that your old one was probably ok, so it might be

worth taking it out of the bin

Anyway, remove your pump. Your pump will have three wires.

One is the negative and the other two are the power.

Grab your jumpstarter (or a battery) and the pump and maybe a bucket of water

twist the two power wires together and then attach to the positive on your jump

starter and the neg to the black. The pump should start working. You might want to

consider putting it in the bucket of water, or don't run it for too long

Next split the two power wires and take turns at connecting them to the power on the jump start

and with the pump out the water, one wire will make the pump work and the other won't. This will show you which one is the manual

and which one is the auto. If you use the auto, and you turn your pump upside down or put it in a bucket of water, it should start running again.

Assuming that this all works, then the problem you have is that something is sending power to the automatic wire.

If the pump runs all the time with either power wire connected then the problem is with the pump.

From the sounds of things, its a wiring issue. Two pumps doing the same thing is a bit (but not impossible) unlikely

Apologies if the above isn't clear, my typing isn't keeping up with my brain!

[pistolpete33]

How easy is it to get the pumps out?

I'm guessing that your old one was probably ok, so it might be

worth taking it out of the bin

Anyway, remove your pump. Your pump will have three wires.

One is the negative and the other two are the power.

Grab your jumpstarter (or a battery) and the pump and maybe a bucket of water

twist the two power wires together and then attach to the positive on your jump

starter and the neg to the black. The pump should start working. You might want to

consider putting it in the bucket of water, or don't run it for too long

Next split the two power wires and take turns at connecting them to the power on the jump start

and with the pump out the water, one wire will make the pump work and the other won't. This will show you which one is the manual

and which one is the auto. If you use the auto, and you turn your pump upside down or put it in a bucket of water, it should start running again.

Assuming that this all works, then the problem you have is that something is sending power to the automatic wire.

If the pump runs all the time with either power wire connected then the problem is with the pump.

From the sounds of things, its a wiring issue. Two pumps doing the same thing is a bit (but not impossible) unlikely

Apologies if the above isn't clear, my typing isn't keeping up with my brain!

Cheers Antony much appreciated and makes perfect sense!

Yeah that sounds like the way to trace the problem to either a wiring issue (suspected) or a faulty pump. I've taken the old pump out completely (had to turn myself inside out whilst doing a hand-stand to get to the bottom of the hull) but glad I did. The old mounting bracket had one release clip snapped off thru sloppy installation, so it would have been possible for the pump to be rolling around the hull. Not good if both the power wires break off. Now I've got the new rule mate I'll sika the base to the centre of the hull so that it can be removed without too much effort.

Thanks again for your help and I'll let you know how the testing goes over the weekend.

[antonywardle]

No problem

know that the pump is good makes things slightly easier I think.

I had the opposite problem. I couldn't get mine to go at all. Figured it was

dead, which was annoying because it was pretty new. Pulled it out which is a pain

and couldn't get it to go. On the off chance I cut off the crimped bit of cable and restripped it

and it started working.

So at some point the crimp stopped working. A bit annoying but I now know what the problem was

[pistolpete33]

Finally tracked the problem down to faulty wiring. Had to pull the battery out and trace the automatic line to the pump. Re-wired tested and all good!!

Thanks for everyone's help.

Cheers

Pete

[bessell1955]

Well this is great demonstration of Fishradier help.

[antonywardle]

So now you have two good pumps?

Annoying that you had to buy another one but at least you know that

youve got a spare and that the new one will last a while.

Great work! You get a bit of satisfaction knowing that you fixed it yourself

cheers

[pistolpete33]

yeah I've still got the old one but it definitely needed replacing with the broken housing. I've known it was always dodgy so probably a good thing it shorted before failing when I need it!!

I'm testing the bilge pump after every wash down to make sure it's working. Just run the garden hose into the bottom of the hull (with bung still in) before plugging in the ear muffs. Nice to see the pump kicking in and water coming out the waste.