electrical questions/bilge pump issues

[emmy116]

Hi All--I have a 2008 21EC Ranger Tug. We had a series of Noah's Ark-type rainstorms, and I am docked at a slip without power. Both the bilge pump and I couldn't keep up w the water, and had water in the cabin/engine compartment, etc. So after some serious bailing w a friend I moved to a slip in the marina w power. No accessories were working; I assume the bilge pump drained the battery (the auto bilge pump does work off the house battery, correct??) The bilge pumps runs with the faithful Yanmar on, I replaced the house battery with a fully charged marine battery and accessories now work, but the bilge pump didn't turn on w the fresh battery, even though the pump discharges water when the engine is on. I wasn't on the boat for long. ..Your thoughts? Also, I have almost never been hooked up to power, and am not sure how this all works. Should the accessories have turned on with live power, even though the house battery was dead, or does the house battery need to be charged enough to function, and power works to keep both batteries charged . .. . Am I now looking at a fuse issue to have the bilge pump work when the engine is off? I appreciate any input.
Thanks in advance,
Emmy

 

[bob daily]

Emmy, the auto (float switch) is fed from the start battery, a fuse is on the hot wire by the terminal post. The switch for the bilge pump (by helm station) is powered from the house battery. The shore power connection on the 21 is just a battery charger and should go to both batteries one marked #1 and the other marked #2, both hot leads have a fuse. Hope this helps. Bob

 

[emmy116]

Thanks, Bob. Found a blown fuse and the bilge is now working perfectly!

 

[boatymcboatface]

Please post if you get this issue sorted. I am having the same issue with the automatic feature.

 

[SJI Sailor]

@boaty it is possible for the automatic feature to fail independently of the manual side (and unrelated to fuses). That happened on one of my pumps a while back. Manual activation worked fine, and all fuses were OK but the auto timer check wasn't triggering. Was only solved when we replaced it.