Bilge pump installation

[Ram]

Andrew,

You may recall that the bilge pump, a RuleMate 1100, originally installed in my R25 had gone bad awhile back. I finally got Rule to honor the warantee and send me a new pump. Unfortunately, the new design is fatter and won't fit through by the prop shaft, so I'm back to ground zero.

I'll either find an older RuleMate, which I've still seen in stores, or go to the Attwood such as I think you are now using.

In any case, I have some questions about the installation. My pump was installed into two (count them, two) strainer baskets, one inside the other. The bottom one was screwed to a piece of wonderboard, which may have been glued to the bottom of the bilge but is no longer attached. I'm wondering:

Was there some reason for inserting one strainer inside the other, or did someone just make a dumb mistake?

Was there some reason for raising the height of the pump by mounting it on the wonderboard?

Was there some reasonwhy the pump base wasn't screwed down on the bottom of the bilge?

If I put a new pump in I'd prefer to install it as low as possible, and would want it secured in some manner, not just floating. But I don't know what the scantlings are in that area at the bottom of the keel. I don't want to be putting screws through the hull.

 

[doke01]

My RuleMate 1100 died to, within the first year. Luckily they were still making the same model when it happened to me. Mine is secured to the bottom of the bilge.

Doug K.
Nauti Dream

 

[Ram]

Well, I finally found a place with a stock of the older RuleMate 1100's, got one and installed it - and still have the same problem. That is, motor works, float switch doesn't. So I started thinking, maybe it's the wiring, not the pump. If it was wired the way Rule suggest, both the manual switch and the automatic switch would have a common positive, so if the manual worked the automatic should be getting juice. Since that's not the case, I'm suspecting they're wired separately. A quick meter test seemed to indicate that is the case.

So my question here is, does anyone know where the positive lead for the aft bilge pump originates (presumably somewhere in the battery compartment), and in particular, where is the fuse (assuming there is one). I've checked all the in-line fuses that I could see in the battery compartment and they seem ok.

By the way, I also figured out why they have shimmed up the bilge pump above the bottom of the bilge. The hose is too stiff to bend enough to allow the pump to fit all the way at the bottom. I'll probably replace that section of hose with something more flexible. I don't like the idea of several inches of standing water in the bilge all the time.

 

[doke01]

In my R25 the fuse for the pump is in the space behind the helm (access door in the v-berth). My positive wire comes off the fuse to the DC panel switch.

 

[Andrew Custis]

Ram,

Your boat was built before my time, but let me throw my two sense in here. "I" think the reason they used a platform to mount the bilge to, was for one reason. Probably something to screw in to. The problem with using a starboard material in a bilge is exactly what you have already mentioned. It wont stay. No glue or epoxy will stick "well" to that material.

You have already done the obvious in trying to fix the float switch on the bilge. A real easy way to check those rule pumps is by turning them upside down and seeing if they activate. If it doesn't activate then you would check power to the "hot" side next, which this is the step you are on.

I would then look for a brown wire located in the battery compartment. This would be going direct to a battery with an inline fuse. Bilge pumps floats are always run with a brown wire. Shouldn't be too difficult to locate. Thanks!

 

[Ram]

Thanks Andrew, that was actually very helpful. I was able to locate two brown wires in the battery compartment, both of which went through in-line fuses to the isolator (not directly to the battery). When I jiggled these the pump kicked in briefly, and I was able to determine which one went to the pump and re-seat the fuse. It's working now, and maybe in nicer weather I'll put some dielectric grease around the fuse socket.

I was even able to force the pump all the way down into the bottom of the bilge with some effort. And bonus prize - I now have a spare bilge pump that probably still works.