shower pumps

[TJAGAIN]

having fitted a shower to my yacht i find the shower tray is below the water line and i will have to fit some type of pump.bearing in mind it would have to deal with hair etc. could i get away with using a bilge pump or would it have to be something more substantial.any help or ideas would be welcome

 

[Alastairdent]

To deal with hair, it will need to be a diaghram type pump. Whale gulper comes highly recommended.

 

[tcm]

you need to exhuast the shower outlet into a container, and in that container is float switch that rises and turns on the pump which swooshes out the water. There is a specially made item for this and as far as i remeber t is a bit rubbish on account of the lecky connections sitting in the water.

 

[boatmike]

I use a whale "gulper". It will eat anything (within reason) /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[michael_w]

Get a grill thing to go over the plughole which stop SWMBO's locks from bunging up the pump.

Clearing the bath trap at home used to be a quarterly job. Not anymore. You can get them at Woolies.

 

[Richard10002]

Rogue has a pump which you have to turn on with a switch.... it has to become a habit.

The pump itself has an arm which seems to rock up and down very fast, presumably creating a vacuum which sucks the water through, and there is a filter just before the pump. IIRC both are Jabsco.

Poor design, with the shower tray as an integral part of the floor, means that it seems impossible to get under the shower tray without cutting out the floor.

The float switch seems like an excellent idea, and there should be a way of getting under the floor.

 

[mel80]

If you already have an automatic bilge pump, then you could avoid the trouble of buying and fitting a second one by simply draining the shower into the bilges. If you don't then this still might be a good solution as the pump would then be dual purpose (i.e. you could also use it to pump the bilges).

 

[Talbot]

Johnson do a nice shower sump that has a standard bilge pump in it.

 

[Swagman]

No it does not need to be as substantial as a bilge or a diaphram type pump. Several firms, incl Jabsco, do such pumps which include a wire filter to collect hair - and they work fine.
JOHN

 

[Cliveshep]

I used an automatic cheapo bilge pump in my last boat, draining the shower into into a small sump in the corner, the whole thing covered with gratings ex. Homebase. The shower tray I laminated up. However, the point is the auto pump from what's their name in Norfolk (mail order company, others here will know) coped admirably with my wife, daughter and neice's long black hair. My wife is from the Far East, her hair is thick and black and long, the bath at home gets bunged up with it but the bilge pump handled it fine on the boat.

Don't let shower water get into your bilge, it'll stink the boat out by next year, at worst, copy the factory made design in one of the other posts, you can either fabricate your own using a polythene Tupperware box as a mould or use a washing up bowl or similar to drain the shower into, or mould a sump to the side of the tray with resin/glass. Just make sure the pump outlet hose rises up well above the hull water line before dipping down to the hull outlet or you'll need that bilge pump!

 

[charles_reed]

whilst a diapraghm

pump is ideal, I've fitted a small, cheap bilge pump in the corner of the shower tray and carry a replacement.

Cleaning it is a few seconds' work and the lower cost cf a diaphragm pump makes it well worth it.

Don't drain the shower into the bilges - smell and cleaning problems make that a hole-in-the-head solution.

hair is the big problem and gender makes little difference, filters need cleaning as well so might as well just clean the pump.

Make sure the outlet has a high swan neck, well above possible beating waterline, and fit a seacock, either in-line or at the outlet.