Quick Question Re: Bilge Pump light

[guidothesquid]

I've been noticing that my bilge pump light comes on on the switch at the helm when I am underway, but the pump is not active. If I flip the switch on/off, the light goes out. But it comes on later. Is this normal?

 

[walldog]

The bilge pump is probably coming on and not going off. Remove and clean debris from shaft of pump or intake.

 

[baz]

Paul: You seem adamant that the bilge pump is not active and Walldog (Herb) is stating it is quite likely on and for you to check the crud that maybe is causing you a problem.

When docked without engine running, switch the bilge pump on and listen for its whining noise so you know exactly how to tell that it is running. Don't let the pump run for to long if no water is being pumped.

Do you have any water in the bilge ?

Pour say half a bucket of water into bilge to see if pump is activated and the light comes on. This should at least satisfy yourself the light does in fact indicate the pump is active.

On our MY2010 R-25 there's no light on the switch for the two bilge pumps. :roll: I wonder why you have a light... and maybe it's just something that Ranger adds to newer boats these days. I do think the light is a good indicator, especially when underway as the overall noise will drown out the whine of the small bilge pump motors.

Post back what you find out.

 

[swillmerchant]

On our 2010 R25, I recently noticed that the bilge switch light does come on when the bilge is operating under automatic or manual modes. So, Herb might have something there.

 

[baz]

Yes... I was down on boat to check out a few things today.

I do have small orange/yellow button lights for every breaker switch, and the lights do come on for the bilge pump switches when the pumps operate automatically and when operated manually. To verify the automatic operation I poured a bucket of water into the bilge under the prop shaft to verify and that worked famously and the pump sure pushed that water out the starboard side in a hurried stream. I notice that there's a gray looking one-way valve in the output line from the rear bilge pump and assume this is to stop water falling back into the bilge. When the pump stops there's a gurgling noise as the water tries to drain back into the bilge presumably. This gurgling sound lasts for maybe 5 secs and slowly reduces in noise level.