Rulemate 500 bilge pump - problems anyone?

SAWDOC

SAWDOC

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I am trying out a brand spanking new Rule-Mate 500 bilge pump before on board installation. it has "solid state water sensing technology" that is supposed to turn the pump on without the need for a float switch - except it doesn't.
When switched to auto mode the switch doesn't kick in at all when paced in water - if i change the wiring around it will run constantly on manual but won't switch off.
Has the water sensing technology caused problems for other users and is there any remedy other than exchange? The sensor itself is surrounded by a plastic casing which prevents visual inspection.
 
We have a RuleMate 1100 with solid state 'field-effect' sensors which we bought six years ago, and it has worked perfectly since then. The earlier versions had magnetic switches which were very unreliable, by all accounts, but I think the 'field-effect' ones are better, although I gather there have been problems. Perhaps we were just lucky.

We do try and take care of it - at the beginning and end of each season I give it a good flush out with fresh water, running it through several automatic cycles. The pump rate always seems to be pretty close to the specs when I do measure it.

You need to be very careful changing the wires around - if you get the polarity mixed up it can blow the electronics inside and it won't work at all.

If it is brand new and doesn't work before installation, I would send it back to the vendor, or at least get their advice.

For details of our experiences with ours, have a look at the page under the Equipment tab at the link below.
 
Ours worked for a while but then packed up, so we bought a water witch auto switch and wired that into into it, no problems since.

We have had two of these both failed, when stripped found the switch to be kaputt, (a float rises to magnetically operate a micro switch) Since rewiring the water witch into the system works perfectly. I think the later ones are completely different.
 
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Thanks for the replies -

You need to be very careful changing the wires around - if you get the polarity mixed up it can blow the electronics inside and it won't work at all.

Correct - the instructions are clear on that point. I changed the brown with the brown/white ( manual and auto live) to see if the switch would kick in but no success. The pump works fine and pumps a good amount of water it just wont turn on/off without manual intervention.

We have had two of these both failed, when stripped found the switch to be kaputt, (a float rises to magnetically operate a micro switch) Since rewiring the water witch into the system works perfectly. I think the later ones are completely different.

From what I have read the modern type has all solid state sensing technology with no rising float so I don't think wiring in a separate float switch is an option for me.
 
Installed a Whale Supersub with solid state sensing in June. Same problem - the pump still works but the automatic switching stopped working after a couple of months. The spec claims that it is suitable for salt or fresh water and mine is shifting almost exclusively rain water.
 
SAWDOC said:
A bilge pump that doesn't function correctly on auto mode seems pretty limited. Might save you a bit of sponging out but not much more.
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It doesn't bother me too much to be honest. The previous boat only had a manual pump and we survived.
 
Have you given it TIME ? Most autosensing switches have a built-in hysteresis which prevents the pump cutting in or out as soon as it finds water or not. My own pump takes nearly 3 minutes from being dunked in water to actually responding. This is a good thing otherwise you would never sleep with a pump constantly cutting-in cutting-out.
 
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