Understanding Your Automatic Bilge Pump
An automatic bilge pump isn’t top of most people’s excitement list but when it comes to boating equipment, it is an crucial and useful piece of equipment. Though you might never have had to exchange it or have it serviced it’s useful to realise what can go wrong with it. The bilge pump is for all intents and purposes an electrical water pump.
The bilge pump on a boat is usually located at the lowest possible point of a floating vessel. You could try having a look in the lower deck or the hold to find it. The Rule 2000 bilge pump is a common and popular pump these days and since it is electric, it will somehow be hooked up to your boats power supply. More than one bilge pump is not uncommon in bigger vessels.
The bilge pump works in much the same way as a toilet cistern mechanism with a float that kick the pump into action. At some stage of your boating career, you’ll no doubt need to service or replace your automatic bilge pump. It’s advisable to always have a good bilge pump in fine working order. You’re principal task is to find out where the bilge pump is.
Once located, you should see on your bilge pump a 3 setting switch. These will probably be ‘On’, ‘Off’ and ‘Automatic’. The automatic setting means the pump will start it’s mechanism when the water gets to a certain level. If you want to check out the functionality of your bilge pump switch it to the ‘on’ setting. The only thing to remember is to turn it back off or to the auto setting once you’ve tested it.
A pump that doesn’t turn on may be the victim of a nonfunctional or dodgy switch. Obvious things to look for are haggard wires or a blown fuse. If, after you’ve checked both of these things, the pump is still not working then it might well require to be replaced.
If you do substitute the fuse make sure it’s the correct size. If you discover that the fuse is blown after you’ve replaced it, it probably is the improper size.
The pump’s strainer will also need to be cleaned if it has accumulated a lot of waste over time. Any blockage of the strainer from dirt or waste could cause the pump to over heat and blow the fuse again.
Finally, if you still haven’t located the trouble, try looking at the hose connections. If the connections are not strong, the bilge pump won’t work efficiently. Hoses could have holes in them or might be disconnected.
An automatic bilge pump is an all-important piece of boating equipment so it pays to grasp it and make sure it is in good operative condition.