Aft Bilge pump on and dry

[chapman7132]

Hi, checked in on my boat at my dock last night. It's plugged in. And I noticed the aft bilge pump was on. i checked the panel. All switches off on the DC side but the LED was on for the bilge pump. I toggled that switch on. Pump stayed on. I toggled that switch off again. Pump turned off.

Not exactly sure what was going on. Does this bilge pump have an electronic moisture sensor which is not working properly? It has been raining. But not in several hours prior to my arrival at the dock.

Any theories or similar experience appreciate. And sorry if there is a thread on this issue already.

Randy

 

[Kevin Lamont]

Hi, checked in on my boat at my dock last night. It's plugged in. And I noticed the aft bilge pump was on. i checked the panel. All switches off on the DC side but the LED was on for the bilge pump. I toggled that switch on. Pump stayed on. I toggled that switch off again. Pump turned off.

Not exactly sure what was going on. Does this bilge pump have an electronic moisture sensor which is not working properly? It has been raining. But not in several hours prior to my arrival at the dock.

Any theories or similar experience appreciate. And sorry if there is a thread on this issue already.

Randy

Hey Randy,

Sounds like you have the Johnson bilge pumps we used to use in our boats. They use a remote float switch that is a black box that is mounted to the base of the bilge pump, sometimes you can clean the face of it and it will fix the problem you were having or the float has failed and needs to be replaced. If you look closely at the box you will see two circles on it, by putting your fingers on these circles at the same time it will turn on the pump if it is working correctly. Hope this helps and if you need further assistance feel free to email me at the below address.

Thanks,
Kevin Lamont

 

[chapman7132]

Thanks Kevin - will check that. So that is expected behaviour then, that toggling the switch will end up turning off a malfunctioning pump like that? Also for how many hours can a Johnson pump run without any water? Any issue there? - mine may have run for 6 or 8 hours, not sure. Randy

 

[Kevin Lamont]

Thanks Kevin - will check that. So that is expected behaviour then, that toggling the switch will end up turning off a malfunctioning pump like that? Also for how many hours can a Johnson pump run without any water? Any issue there? - mine may have run for 6 or 8 hours, not sure. Randy

Replied to your email.

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[Ronk]

Thanks Kevin - will check that. So that is expected behaviour then, that toggling the switch will end up turning off a malfunctioning pump like that? Also for how many hours can a Johnson pump run without any water? Any issue there? - mine may have run for 6 or 8 hours, not sure. Randy

Replied to your email.

Thanks,
Kevin

Same happened to me, removed pump and sensor cleaned off with soapy water and cleanes oil sheen from bilge, replsced and working fine now. Have bought spare pump and sensor.

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[jaredjensen]

Same problem here. Turned out the sensor was flooded. I could run the pump manually, but it wouldn't pump. Replaced both the sensor and pump.

 

[BGW]

I often find my bilge pump running after coming back from running the boat. Especially during rougher seas. Luckily it’s loud enough to bring attention to itself when everything else is shut off.

Once I turn off the breaker and turn back on again it doesn’t continue to run. To me this suggests it initially turns on to clear the bilge but there’s a fault involved with the auto cutoff. If the float was at fault and was stuck down, it should turn on again after the breaker was reset.


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[Wee Venture]

Yes, when the sensors are dirty and trigger the pump to run, somehow turning the circuit breaker on and then off again interrupts the cycle. But it will probably happen again unless you clean the sensors. I had the same problem and started a thread on this last June. Dan (NorthernFocus) set me straight. Here is a link to the thread:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13285

I should add that once I cleaned the contacts (easy to do) I had no more problems. Now I just quickly clean the contacts every few months. I actually like the Johnson pumps and the little maintenance procedure is not a problem.

 

[BGW]

Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll try that.


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[Chimo]

When we had that type of pump aft. We now changed to the later style with the pulsing when I found the mounting for the black box was broken. I had an issue using bilge cleaner. When the pump came on the cleaner would foam. The sensor would see the foam covering the two 'dots' as water and keep running. That would generate more foam and the process would continue. Turning on/off at the manual switch would break the cycle most of the time. Maybe check that your cleaners are not an issue?

 

[asm777]

In addition to cleaning the black sensor unit of oily residue, it's a good idea to periodically pop out the black pump portion from the red housing and remove any hair/debris from the impeller (tan portion in photo below) as it can cause resistance and make the pump think there is still more water to pump (or so I recall being told!).

There's a black tab that you pull away from the housing that will allow you to unlock the top and twist to remove it.

 

[BGW]

Thanks again. I’m not at home at the moment but will try that in a couple days time.

I have no idea where the pump is but I hope it’s easier to get to than the filler cap for the transducer. ( I wanted to check the fluid level but that seemingly requires a body with the proportions of an orangutan. I can just touch the cap but can’t get any grip on it to turn the thing).


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[Chili Pepper]

I have an RT29CB. It takes a very skinny person with long arms to service especially the forward bilge pump! That's not me!! Has anyone mounted a bilge pump w/float switch on a pole? Other end of pole attached to bulkhead, etc. in an easy to reach location. Would make servicing bilge pumps much easier. This is often done on sail boats.