Bilge pump (electric) replacement . Decision, decision, decision.

sarabande

sarabande

Well-Known Member
Joined
6 May 2005
Messages
36,182
Visit site
I have fairly shallow bilges, prob about 6 inches before the floorboards start floating. . The boat is 32ft, and not divided into separate compartments, but with all parts draining to a central bilge under the main cabin sole. One small electric pump in the bilges, and one larger one on a wander lead and hose.

The little grey/blue electric bilge pump with separate float switch has done sterling service for many years, but on a flying visit yesterday to install a new battery and small solar panel for the pump, I found that the bilge switch produced no happy whirring sound. Dedicated, always on, bilge pump fuse (15A) is OK but signs of corrosion in the terminals of the wires going into the pump. I will remove it on next week's visit and bring home for testing/chucking.

Perhaps the time has come to buy one of the new generation 'clever' Whale baby bilge pumps with integrated switch/sensor (and not because they are just a nice bright yellow ! )

Whale Marine - Products (whalepumps.com)

The present pump strategy is

#1...a small electric pump in the bilge to deal with rainwater, dripping clothing, the occasional dollop of seawater down the hatch or even some floor cleaning

#2... a bigger electric pump on a wander lead with about 5m of hose to deal with big lumps of water down below or as a contingency resource for a flooded dinghy or adjacent boat in difficulty

unless someone can persuade me that it would 'make sense' to change to the first line of bilge defence being a really beefy high-capacity one, the biggest that can fit under the floor boards ?


PS> There are manual pumps on board as well.
 
I've stayed with a separate switch, but have moved away from float switches to the newer sensors, i use the Whale BE9006: Whale Marine - Products

That's connected to a Whale Orca pump. The combination seems to work well. The pump is fairly new, it replaced a Rule pump that just got noisy.

The sensor is about £32 and a 1300gph pump £36, whereas the 1300gph auto pump is £102 and i suspect the sensor will outlive the pump at least, in fact, it already has done once.
 
The sort which spin up every 20 minutes to sense if there's any water are great for wet open boats, but not where they will run dry in a yacht.
 
There are latterly hundreds of float switches that can be used with any pump a am automatic bilge pump.

I fitted an electro mechanical counter across my bilge pump so I can see how many times it has run while I am away so I can tell if and how big any leak is

Jabsco have a pneumatic switch where the electrics are mounted high above the any water and have proved to me to be totally reliable
 
The little yellow Whale Supersub pumps look quite attractive, but some posters here have reported problems with early failures.

Generally, the Whale IC system seems to work very well, and seems to be extremely reliable compared with float switches. I have a Whale Gulley IC on my shower drain, and it's superb.

However, the Whale pumps with integral sensing do seem to be rather pricey, so the combination of a conventional pump and an electronic sensor (as PaulRainbow suggested) would save some money.
 
PaulRainbow said:
I've stayed with a separate switch, but have moved away from float switches to the newer sensors, i use the Whale BE9006: Whale Marine - Products

That's connected to a Whale Orca pump. The combination seems to work well. The pump is fairly new, it replaced a Rule pump that just got noisy.

The sensor is about £32 and a 1300gph pump £36, whereas the 1300gph auto pump is £102 and i suspect the sensor will outlive the pump at least, in fact, it already has done once.
Click to expand...
Sadly I had two of that sensor fail in a year - integrated in to their sump box with bilge pump shower tray thingy
 
pvb said:
The little yellow Whale Supersub pumps look quite attractive, but some posters here have reported problems with early failures.

Generally, the Whale IC system seems to work very well, and seems to be extremely reliable compared with float switches. I have a Whale Gulley IC on my shower drain, and it's superb.

However, the Whale pumps with integral sensing do seem to be rather pricey, so the combination of a conventional pump and an electronic sensor (as PaulRainbow suggested) would save some money.
Click to expand...
The Whale IC bilge pumps are great but have quite low capacity (LPH) compared to their Supersub Smart things

My own take was to run the Gulley IC deepest in the hulls (made easier by the narrow strum box head) and above that the Supersub - that way of the capacity of the Gulley IC is overwhelmed the more capable impeller pump takes over but for normal issues the Gulley, a diaphragm pump , does the job and can run dry endlessly so those annoying last dregs of water that trigger a sensor but cant be sucked up will not lead to issues with running dry and overheating as the impeller pumps have done .

Sadly with a catamaran of some size this has meant 2 gulley ICs and 6 supersub Smart which means I have single handedly put the share price of Whale on an upward trend

The Whale sensors on my old shower unit failed twice in a year (daily use) as I mentioned earlier and yet the Gulley IC shower pump I replaced it with has so far had no issues at all. I wonder if the sensor technology differs somewhat ?
 
Trident said:
Sadly I had two of that sensor fail in a year - integrated in to their sump box with bilge pump shower tray thingy
Click to expand...
Me too. I’ve had two fail. Replaced under warranty, then failed again. A third got immersed and failed due to water intrusion. It was not potted. I won’t buy them again. Jabsco, Rule, Johnson and others of high spec failed too. I’ve made my own now using industrial pressure switches, timers and relays all sealed in waterproof boxes. Fingers crossed. Built by a racist with pride. Should last forever.

Whale gulper pumps have been ok. A few failures, but not terrible and cheaply fixed with on board spares. Diaphragm, linkage, valve and motor. The main pump a Jabsco 36600 has been the best. Only failed once. A cracked fitting.
 
pvb said:
The little yellow Whale Supersub pumps look quite attractive, but some posters here have reported problems with early failures.
Click to expand...
The chap who ran my local chandlers strongly advised me against these, because they failed so often. He had stopped selling them and recommended Rule instead. Mind you, that was ten years ago and Whale may have improved things since.
 
I think with any brand you will find failures - I am put off Rule now as my friend's wooden boat caught fire when his Rule pump started running for no reason in a dry bilge and overheated. Weirdly the fuse did not blow (correctly sized to manufacturers spec) and the power only cut when the flames burned through the cable. But I imagine everyone will know a major failure from every brand.
 
Zing said:
Me too. I’ve had two fail. Replaced under warranty, then failed again. A third got immersed and failed due to water intrusion. It was not potted. I won’t buy them again. Jabsco, Rule, Johnson and others of high spec failed too. I’ve made my own now using industrial pressure switches, timers and relays all sealed in waterproof boxes. Fingers crossed. Built by a racist with pride. Should last forever.

Whale gulper pumps have been ok. A few failures, but not terrible and cheaply fixed with on board spares. Diaphragm, linkage, valve and motor. The main pump a Jabsco 36600 has been the best. Only failed once. A cracked fitting.
Click to expand...
Sounds very industrious, is there are market for "bullet proof" bilge pumps you could tap?
(And lets leave lounge comments to the lounge - its respectful to the forum and each other regardless of political opinion to keep the boat bits purely boatey. )

I so far have never had a gulper fail either as a bilge, shower or toilet pump but I carry spares none the less!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top