Bilge and Shower Sump Questions

[Spree]

Hi all,

Just bought a new (to me) 2012 C-26 and I'm in the process of figuring out all of the systems. I have a few questions regarding the various pumps onboard as I am getting the feeling the previous owner made some changes.

Bilge - I have a forward and aft bilge pump, both operated by the rocker switches on the dash. My surveyor told me each pump also has an electric eye instead of a float switch for the automatic operation that should operate regardless of batteries being on or off. I recently had a fresh water leak and the bilge filled with a ton of water and the pumps did not activate. Does anyone know where I can look for these electric eyes and if I can locate them, short of filling the bilge, is there an easy way to test their operation?

Shower sump - I've noticed the clear box housing the shower sump has water in it, but probably not enough to trip the float switch yet. Is there a way to manually activate the sump without taking the housing out and lifting the float switch? Is there a rocker switch on the dash somewhere that needs to be on to get power to the pump?

Thanks for your help!

 

[trailertrawlerkismet]

I’ll jump in.....if you have the same bilge pumps as on our R29S then the sensor is a rectangular sensor attached to the bilge pump. On the outside face of the sensor are 2 raised round ridges. These sensors need to remain fairly clean so wipe them off. Also there is a small lever on the side of actual bilge pump that you release the tension on to be able to raise the pump up out of the housing. It might be a good idea to lift the pump up/out to inspect the little impeller and clean the housing. On the shower sump..... on our boat I pour water into the head shower drain to set the sump off. Lastly the shower bilge tray needs opened up n cleaned from time to time.

Jim F

 

[CaspersCruiser]

The shower sump box bilge pump is not self priming. If it hasn’t run in a while, it may take a bit before it achieves a prime and pumps out out the sump box. The sump box is small so pump run time will be very short— only a few seconds. As Jim Favors suggested, the only way to test the pump is to pour water into the shower drain until the float switch activates the pump. It may take as much as a quart. If the pump doesn’t run with the sump box full of water, then either the pump or float switch is bad, or the pump is not getting power or ground. On my 2012, there is fuse for the pump on the Power Distribution Panel.

 

[Red Raven]

Just to add a little more. The two raised bumps that Jim mentions are test contacts. After cleaning them well put a finger on each to activate the pump. If it doesn’t start then check the fuse. The bilge pump fuses on our boat are located near the main battery switches. Even if this fuse is blown the rocker switches on the dash will work (as they have an independent power connection) so that is not an indication of a good fuse. If the pump still doesn’t come on with a confirmed good fuse the rectangular sensor is likely bad. I have had two of these fail.

Curt

 

[rpmerrill]

There is always going to be a little water in the shower sump. I don't think you can expect to see it pump out completely dry.
If you don't use the shower for a long time it could dry out by itself.
But, it is an item on my list that gets a dose of antifreeze when I winterize.

 

[tdellaviola]

Just to add to the shower sump conversation.... They are notorious for not coming on when they should and the opposite, coming on and not shutting off. I added a manual switch so that I can control the sump pump.
I also had issues with the automatic bilge pump, as discussed above clean the sensors with some soap (they get mucked up with oil) and check the fuse (I have had the fuse burn out twice in the last 3 years).

 

[CaspersCruiser]

There is always going to be a little water in the shower sump. I don't think you can expect to see it pump out completely dry. If you don't use the shower for a long time it could dry out by itself.
But, it is an item on my list that gets a dose of antifreeze when I winterize.

I just worked on my shower sump box. All of the above is absolutely correct. In fact, the mounting bracket in which the bilge pump rests has the pump water pickup resting about 1/4” off the bottom of the box. On top of that, the float switch doesn’t activate (at least on my unit) until the sump box fills with about 3” of water so, in normal operation, there’s a fair amount of water that remains in the bottom of the sump box. That water, I think, keeps the bilge pump water pick up submerged so the pump doesn’t lose its prime.

 

[rpmerrill]

The water remains just because the pump can't grab it all, and when it reaches the "no more flow" point and shuts off, the water in the discharge line drains back into the sump.

The pump really doesn't need to stay primed to work. When the sump fills, in use, the water naturally fills the pump body such that the impeller is flooded and primed, ready to go into action when the switch trips.

On some other pumps (like the bilge pump on my boat) they installed a check valve in the discharge line. This is because it has a long discharge hose. Without the check valve, a ton of water flows back to the bilge and causes the pump to short cycle. This is another item that needs to be winterized. You can disconnect the check valve and drain the line or you can fill it with antifreeze. I do the latter.

 

[CaspersCruiser]

For sure, the pump needs to stay flooded to reliably pump out the box. I tested the sump box on my boat in preparation for a trip where the shower was going to be used. The box was dry when I started. Initially, when I filled the box with water, the pump would run, but not pump out. That led me to remove the pump from the box to check the pick up for obstruction. There was none.

Eventually, I did get the pump to function as intended a couple times, but I replaced it on the hunch that maybe there was some freeze damage in its past. At first, the new pump did the same thing— run without pumping out. Then it seemed to achieve a prime and pumped out the box. With the pump resting in residual water, it has functioned fine ever since.