Gin
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2012
- Messages
- 874
- Fluid Motion Model
- R-31 S
- Vessel Name
- Echo II (2019)
Hi all,
Seems like I have seen a post about this. Or maybe I'm confusing it with a post about the light switch in the cockpit. It was a post about the possibility of inadvertently hitting the switch, leaving the pump to run (or the light on??) after leaving the boat. Either way, I can't find the prior post . . . Hence this one. Looking for a solution to inadvertent tripping. Here's the story.
I was on our boat yesterday afternoon to do some maintenance. As I stepped aboard, I could tell something mechanical aboard was running. I could hear a very soft hum and feel an equally soft vibration under foot. They are dredging the marina, and I thought at first it was the dredge operating nearby. But then I could tell it was OUR BOAT making the noise. "The bilge pump?" I wondered. Opened up the engine hatch. Nope. Not the bilge pump. But I could hear it better. Ah, the fresh water wash down pump! The cap was on the hose outlet, the seacock valve was closed, so I'm not sure how much it had been cycling. But it was running more or less constantly as I stepped aboard. Sure enough, the switch to the side of the outlet had been tripped to on.
How did that happen? I have no idea. We hadn't used the wash down recently (or hardly at all, for that matter). Maybe we bumped and tripped the switch connecting the shore power cord before we left the boat last time. Or maybe the canvas maker who is working on our aft enclosure bumped it. Someone tripped it inadvertently. That's all we know.
I flipped it off. Then opened the seacock. Attached the hose, flipped it back on. All was well. The wash down pump ran and pumped fine. Can't have been good for the pump. But no obvious harm done.
Still, we'd rather it didn't happen again. My solution for the time being was to remove the fuse from the holder that is right next to the switch. We rarely use the pump. The fuse is in a place where we can quickly grab it and put it back in if needed.
But does anyone have a better solution?
My temporary one, while it will work, seems a little clunky. (I assume the switch is hot with the house batteries, which we leave turned on when we are on shore power).
- Gini
Seems like I have seen a post about this. Or maybe I'm confusing it with a post about the light switch in the cockpit. It was a post about the possibility of inadvertently hitting the switch, leaving the pump to run (or the light on??) after leaving the boat. Either way, I can't find the prior post . . . Hence this one. Looking for a solution to inadvertent tripping. Here's the story.
I was on our boat yesterday afternoon to do some maintenance. As I stepped aboard, I could tell something mechanical aboard was running. I could hear a very soft hum and feel an equally soft vibration under foot. They are dredging the marina, and I thought at first it was the dredge operating nearby. But then I could tell it was OUR BOAT making the noise. "The bilge pump?" I wondered. Opened up the engine hatch. Nope. Not the bilge pump. But I could hear it better. Ah, the fresh water wash down pump! The cap was on the hose outlet, the seacock valve was closed, so I'm not sure how much it had been cycling. But it was running more or less constantly as I stepped aboard. Sure enough, the switch to the side of the outlet had been tripped to on.
How did that happen? I have no idea. We hadn't used the wash down recently (or hardly at all, for that matter). Maybe we bumped and tripped the switch connecting the shore power cord before we left the boat last time. Or maybe the canvas maker who is working on our aft enclosure bumped it. Someone tripped it inadvertently. That's all we know.
I flipped it off. Then opened the seacock. Attached the hose, flipped it back on. All was well. The wash down pump ran and pumped fine. Can't have been good for the pump. But no obvious harm done.
Still, we'd rather it didn't happen again. My solution for the time being was to remove the fuse from the holder that is right next to the switch. We rarely use the pump. The fuse is in a place where we can quickly grab it and put it back in if needed.
But does anyone have a better solution?
My temporary one, while it will work, seems a little clunky. (I assume the switch is hot with the house batteries, which we leave turned on when we are on shore power).
- Gini