Bilge alarms

[pcatterall]

After last weeks problems ( finding 12" of water in the boat) I need to properly address the issue of flooding.
I still havn't found the leak but suspect that I turned the raw water cock off and then on again ( senior moment!!) there is a slight leak at the heat exchanger and a steady drip 24/7 mounts up.
Foolishly I had also changed a sea cock ( galley sink) just before leaving the boat, I did check it but doing it last thing before going away for days is, on refelction, risky ( but that still seems dry)
Considering the alarm, I guess that the first thing I have to do is restore the automatic switch on the main pump!
Then consider how long the batteries will last, then think about an alarm.
My mooring is regularly patrolled by the harbour staff so perhaps a red flashing LED or audible signal would alert them.
Some kind of agread standard warning would help as I am sure there are still some of us left who would help or at least report a signal we recognised as 'help Im sinking!!'
I am going to investigate the gadgets that wake you up from a hundred miles away to tellyou that some thing is amis, meanwhile what do you do chaps??

 

[Leighb]

A fellow club member had an interesting problem this week.
He has 2 pumps 1 auto electric and the other manual. Both feed into the same hull outlet. He had a problem with the manual pump so took it home to fix. The cockpit drains into the bilges, and in this rain the electric pump was recirculating the rainwater vigorously though the - now open - manual pump connection /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Result?

You've guessed, totally flat battery and a bilge full of rainwater.

 

[pcatterall]

Being a wheelhouse softy I dont have one of those cockpit thingys but I am suprised that wate rdrains from there into the bilges?
I have seen some cheap internal battery ( and a 12volt version) water alarms and may get a couple they are made for home owners so dont carry the marine price tag.
next question is what level to mount the alarms and the float switch ? should the alarm start before the float switch is activated or after the batteries are flat because they cant cope?

 

[Roger_D]

I have seen a bath level alarm in Lidl, which may be useful.

 

[PilotWolf]

Couple of points:

Do you want some one alerted everytime the auto pump runs? If so marina staff might quickly get fed up - especially as some run every couple of minutes and then stop if no load is detected.

If using a float switch then unless your leak is regular I doubt you ll flatten the battery that quick.

'Usual' indication seems to be an amber beacon of some description - B + Q used to sell alarm strobes for about £10 - low current draw and work fine on 12Vdc. Connect it in parrallel with the pump but see above... might get ignored eventually.

I d be inclined to put another float switch (or sensor) higher than the pump one, at the (water) level you ll be concerned about if the pump has stopped working or isn't coping - connect that to the strobe and/or alarm. Let the staff know if it goes off then the boat probably needs some fairly urgent help.

Try Ebay (I KNOW!) for some SMS type alarms.

W.

 

[colvic987]

Sorry to hear about your leak, and you have not found where it is coming from yet, do you know wether it is fresh or sea water, as you have done some deck work in the past few months and it could have been freshwater coming in, i normally do a finger test to taste, but the oil in the bilges might put you off.

The reason i question fresh or sea water, is that i had my cockpit sole up during the winter months and had left the boat for a month in the yard (it was also covered with a cockpit cover) and was astonished when i returned with water an inch below the boards, and spent an hour or two, mopping up and it was just rain water trickling in, amazing how much a trickle accumulates to in time.....

 

[moody1]

We converted a Bath water level alarm. Runs of AA batterys for months. You can either leave the cute sucker detector end on the cable or as we did cut it off and hotmelt glue the bare wire ends apart at suitable level in bilge. It is independent of on-baord battery systems, has a 100dB siren or music - you choose. We also use similar as water level indicator for filling FW tank when only one person available.
Ebay have them as : Homesafe Bath alarms about a tenner each.

Auto- bilge pump. We have one permanent wired as all condensation runs down behind mouldings to bilges. Outlet is via the sink overboard, pipe curves up under sink edge to be higher than plug-hole. The pump only runs a few secs to take out small amount and seems not to flatten battery till boat left for considerable long period. To compensate, we would imagine a small to moderate solar panel would be enough to top-up whatever used.

 

[buxa]

Bile pumps and alarms can be confusing, may I offer the following.Do you have access to shore power? If so the charger should take car of your charging needs as to not allow the battery to flatten in your absence. What condition is your battery in?, if it is time to change them, I would recommend for your domestic supply an AGM or deep cycling gel battery (plenty of oomph unil the last bit of energy in the battery). One bilge pump with it´s own auto switch, with anti return valve so whats pumped out does not come back. Remember to have permanent 12V supply independent of battery switch but with a fuse. Also an antisiphonic loop in the out pipe. For your alarm a second float switch higher than the primary so if the primary pump cannot handle the pumping out the second float switch (and possible second pump) activates the alarm. Alarm kits are availble from a number of sources, the easiest I have seen were from Rule. I hope this helps.