2017 R25SC Shower sump pump FUSE location??

[wa7pug]

After few busted knuckles and good quantity of my submariner's vocabulary, I tracked down the box under the sink in the head that contains the sump pump and float switch. My survey says it does not work, my troubleshooting is (1) fuse - does it have power? (2) float switch (statistically fairly unreliable) and finally (3) replace pump (or at least test it) if (1) and (2) fail to solve the problem. I can replace the float switch with a manual - not a problem - but I need to test power first. The wires disappear into the bilge underneath 'other stuff'' so my effort to hand-trace it failed. So .... I looked at the fuse panel in the back of the helm in the Vberth, and most things are labeled ok, but some of it is pretty cryptic .... so does anyone have any idea where the fuse is for the shower sump pump? This R25SC seems to be kind of a hybrid (electrically) between a R25 and R27. I looked in R27 manual and it shows it to be a 10A fuse in the main DC bus, which I would think would be where I was looking, but maybe I am lost in space .... anyone have experience or epiphany?
Many thanks ... this forum is an amazing resource .... I appreciate the help.
Doug

 

[Red Raven]

Hi Doug,

On my 2014 R27 the there are two fuse panels (a larger and smaller one) right below the Engine and House battery disconnect switches. My manual shows the shower sump pump as a 5 amp fuse the fourth fuse down on the right in the larger panel. Don’t know if that is actually correct on my boat as I did not test it. In any case, I would look in those two panels for a wire labeled shower and/or pull each of the fuses and check them for continuity. The fuse size recommendation often changes over time so I would check all of them 10 amps and under. The v-berth/dash fuses are only for the equipment in the forward part of the boat.

I assume you have lifted the float to see if it activates the pump. In my case the float switch itself was bad, a new one took care of it.

Curt

 

[wa7pug]

Hi Curt - you were 95% correct: on a '17 R25SC, those disconnects and the two fuse blocks are in a storage space on forward port side next to the engine compartment (4 disconnects), but once I knew what to look for (big and smaller fuse block), rest was fairly easy. It was labeled once you knew where to look, but I put a bigger(er) label on it because from the forum, this is a weakness. Any you were also right: it is the float switch failure. OBTW: it has a 20A fuse in it .... will look in 27 manual and see what is recommended.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/6JND1DnQaV81Fw6w9
At this point I am not sure whether to put a manual switch in it like we had on our old Grand Banks, or , since the sump is so small, just replace it and keep good notes for the next time. I have a feeling this thing has a high mortality rate, because the boat is not that old and since it is a 25, I doubt many showers have been taken .... marina showers are more convenient most of the time.
Anyway, thank you: It would have taken a long time to find it back there for me!

 

[Chimo]

Curt has saved me a lot of time, effort and grief over my Tugnuts existence.

 

[Red Raven]

Hi Curt
…
At this point I am not sure whether to put a manual switch in it like we had on our old Grand Banks, or , since the sump is so small, just replace it and keep good notes for the next time. I have a feeling this thing has a high mortality rate, because the boat is not that old and since it is a 25, I doubt many showers have been taken .... marina showers are more convenient most of the time.
Anyway, thank you: It would have taken a long time to find it back there for me!

Doug,

You are welcome, glad I could help.

FWIW, since replacing my float switch with the same 8 years ago it has worked flawlessly. I suspect there was a bad batch of float switches. Also, like most systems the shower likes to be used. We use ours every day we are on the boat and I do a thorough cleaning of the sump annually.

David,
Thank you for the kind words. Hope to see you around again!

Curt

 

[wa7pug]

Good idea on annual cleaning and there is a tradeoff on using a bit of chlorine in it (great algae killer but pretty hard on 'tronics'.
One thing I have given great thought to: When I was in submarines, instead of butt connectors, we used ring connectors in the connection box of the motors and pumps, bolted them together with small SS machine screws and nuts that had star washers built on... I think they call them KEPS nuts - and then put heat shrink over the whole enchalada ... reasoning was that if it goes into a boat, someday it is gonna have to come out. I looked in ABYC specs and they say that the two bladed spade connector must have the flanged tips so it cannot pull of out a terminal block, but no mention of butt splices. My trust factors on butt splices is marginal at best, so I will most likely do the bolted ring connectors and heat shrink, but I thought I would throw that out there for pondering .... to me, a submarine is always the most challenging of servicing conditions (with the exception of pleasure boats), so seems that if it is good enough for boats, it should be good enough for personal boats ..... any thoughts?