Bilge pumps both failed

[SJI Sailor]

A post-snow visit to our 2019 C30 late yesterday revealed water in the bilge covering the aft pump. The auto timer for the AFT pump is triggering (according to the helm light) but the pump itself is not doing anything. It does not activate with the 2.5 minute timer when it shows as active on the helm; nor does it activate using the manual helm switch.

The FORWARD pump has the reverse problem: it activates and runs manually via the helm switch, but not via the 2.5 minute timer (no light at the helm and also no sound). This is a bad situation, because it means the only working pump is the manual side of the forward pump via helm switch.

For the forward pump (not activating automatically) I replaced the fuse in the quarter berth for the automatic side; that did not fix it. My conclusion is that the automatic side of the forward pump has probably failed. Later today I will try to clean it, etc -- but the fact that the light is not even activating, and doesn't come on even when I first pull and replace the fuse, suggests a complete failure to me. Does that sound right?

For the aft pump (not actually pumping when activated), I cleared out the standing water. Later today, I will try cleaning the bilge and fish around for any debris. My guess is that it activated during the snow event but was perhaps blocked by ice, and ended up failing or burning out the pump fuse. I would like to check the fuse for the pump.

Question: where exactly is the pump fuse? Is there one? I know where the automatic timer fuse is (in the fuse block in the quarter berth) but I assume there is another fuse for the pump itself for manual activation. The manual diagram is split up and difficult to follow. I don't detect anything happening with the helm breakers, and I couldn't find any pump fuse in the vicinity of the house/engine/thruster switches and ACRs, in the helm block, or in the quarter berth block. So, is there a pump fuse in the battery compartment [will try to look today] or ...?

Overall, my takeaway for them is the following:

FORWARD: fuse replacement has not fixed the auto mode, so the pump timer/sensor has probably failed. AFT: need to find & replace the fuse for the pump itself (if there is one). If that is OK, the pump itself has probably failed.

So I should expect to replace one or both pumps, after a bit more testing and cleaning. Any other thoughts??

The causes for failure are unknown. For the AFT pump, I assume it may be due to ice blockage. There is a lot of ice outside the boat, although bilge heater has kept the bilge itself to 41F consistently. (BTW, the twin hornet bilge heater has been great). For the FORWARD pump, no telling.

It is unnerving to have them both fail at the same time (or approximately the same time; there was no standing water a few days ago).

 

[CruisingElvinRay]

The bilge pump in my engine pod stopped working. After concentrating a few minutes of a strong stream of water at the base of it with a hose, it started functioning again. Works normally now.


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[Rocky Lou]

I have 3 auto bilge pumps including the one if the engine pod that stopped working. I put power to it directly and it worked, however, it would not activate via the switch nor auto sensor. Hence, the switch had to be bad in the pump and changing the pump fixed the problem. I now carry a spare given the reliability of these pumps.

 

[Ralf H]

Hi Rocky,

Best thing to do would be to check and make sure nothing is obstructing the bilge pumps. (Including ice) The fuses for the pumps are located in the small cabinet at the aft end of your quarter berth. There is a fuse panel with what we call the 24/7 fuses in it. You will see that they are labeled. Should be two purple 3-amp fuses (if memory serves) Hope this helps get you started.

Cheers,

Ralf

 

[SJI Sailor]

Thank you, everyone! It sounds like there is only 1 fuse per pump, located in the quarter berth, and I was wrong to imagine that there could be a second fuse for the manual side of the pump.

Both of the fuses for each pump are good. So that strongly suggests that both pumps have failed -- in two different ways -- within the past few days. I will still try cleaning and blasting water (when things thaw here), and meanwhile try to get replacements lined up.

 

[Bob/Bradenton]

SJI,

I replaced my aft bilge pump (2019 C-28) with a traditional flapper and separate 1100 pump, both Rule.

The aft pump had failed and would only work with the manual switch at the helm.

With the flapper I can manually test the pump to see if it is working or is clogged. Can't do that with the auto-sensing pumps.

I made a mount from 1/8" acrylic so that the flapper is slightly higher than the pump.

I'll eventually replace the forward auto-sensing pump with a flapper combo too. Plus I'll be adding a huge 2000 GPH pump and flapper wired directly (with an in-line fuse) to the House battery set as an emergency pump. Mounted higher than the aft pump.

Bob/Bradenton

 

[Capt’nKarl]

This topic made me stop and consider the bilge pump set up on R-23 ‘s and I would like to hear from others. On the R-23 there are two bilge pumps located in the center lazaret. One of the pumps is labeled FORWARD and the other AFT. There are switches on the helm that correspond to each pump and each pump can be activated individually. Here’s my question. On my R-23 only the AFT bilge pump cycles automatically every 90 seconds or so. Is that the only pump that cycles?
Thanks and Happy New Year!

 

[MACHAYA21]

Capt karl
The center cockpit compartment had a bilge pump in its forward section. Also cycles on about the same interval.

 

[Hamster]

Karl - look at the make of the model on the aft and forward bilge pumps. Should be on top of pump. If the same, your forward pump is not working as designed. They do fail. I had two fail.

 

[CruisingElvinRay]

Bilge pumps are easy to test. Do it often.


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