C-28 Bilge Pump Wiring

[Bob/Bradenton]

Bought our 2019 C-28 this past June.

Something I just noticed is that the manual switches for each pump (on the helm) only turn the pumps ON and OFF when the House main switch is turned on. That's not good if the automatic feature of the pumps also will not run if the House main switch is turned OFF.

In past boats, the bilge pumps were wired directly to the batteries (with a fuse or breaker) so that even if the House main switch was turned OFF, the pumps would still operate if needed, manually or in the auto mode.

Due to my past zinc electrolysis issue (I've installed a Galvanic Isolator), I've been turning everything completely OFF when I'm not on the boat, shore power unplugged too. (Zincs seem to be fine after a month).

But if the pumps have no access to DC power and a hose fails, the boat is going down.

So, is the automatic mode of the pumps wired directly to the batteries and the manual mode wired through the House main switch?

Thanks, Bob/Bradenton

PS: I changed out the rear sensor pump for a traditional 1100 with a flapper. I want to be able to test that main pump from time to time and you can't do that with the auto/sensor pump.

 

[it4llc]

The auto function of the bilge should be wired directly through the 24/7 fuse block and will run regardless of whether the house power is on.

 

[JonR]

It would be very easy to test this. With Power off, add fresh water and see what happens 🙂

Jon R

 

[jlhowland]

Yes, the auto function is wired to the 24/7 block and will operate regardless of the house battery position. The easier way to test Is to raise the engine hatch and listen for a the test whirl about every 2 min. That is the auto function engaging and checking for water.

 

[Bob/Bradenton]

Note to Bob (Me!):

Bob, the reason why you got rid of the aft auto sensing bilge pump and installed a traditional non-auto pump with a flapper is so that you could reach down with your grab-stick, pull the flapper up and see if the pump turned ON (or not).

So, Bob, turn OFF the House main switch and move the flapper to the up/ON position and see if your new bilge pump works. (Same as the noted, "fill the bilge with water" test).

Thanks for all the comments. Sometimes the obvious is right in front of you...Bob/Bradenton

PS: The last time she was up, I moved those nasty barnacle/oyster encrusted blue LED underwater lights to up under the swim platform. Same effect but now no barnacles. Easy to do...