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Bilge Pump Failure

PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2009 6:47 pm
by auriga
Hi all,

Just to share,

Out of curiosity today i lifted the cabin sole and discovered a substantial amount of water in the bilge maybe 150 litres + (thoughts she was running a bit low!)

Investigation revealed that a fishing sinker had found its way into the bilge pump, lodging and killing the pump (pump is auto float switched). The outlet for the bilge on my mark 3 is located in the cockpit just outside the cabin door, obviously someone has dropped, or the sinker was washed down the pipe into the pump recently.

The pump had tried its best before being overloaded, luckily the fuse kicked in and disabled it before it got too hot, pic attached of the pump, check out the deformation!!

Will be checking the pumps and lines more often from now on!

As for where the water came from, some would be rain making its way in, i suspect the rest is from a failed galley sink hose, when heeled over she would have been like turning on a tap
Image
dan

Re: Bilge Pump Failure

PostPosted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 5:24 pm
by Miker
So what's the outcome Dan? With all this rain about it's not surprising there is some water in there.

I'm really lucky, Dulcamara is as dry as a bone. Even out on the water on Saturday with my old uncle dunking the rails she is still dry. He had the lower lifeline under water a few times, and it was lapping the bottom of the windows. I don't have a diesel so there is no need for a float switched pump as far as I can see so far. Perhaps you could rig a sender to alert you via phone/sms if the water gets too high and the pump isn't working? Just a thought, because a freind has a similar set up with his digger when it get's tampered with.

Michael