You're all incompetent!

[rotrax]

Personally - I think it is very selfish to do jobs yourself. Apart from it being a potential source of domestic strife, a lot of people have paid good money to get qualifications and its only fair to let them hone their skills. Take yourself for example, Saltimus Maximus - and the good Brothers at le Garage du San Michel. QED. Case rested.

There is no element of selfishness in it when First Mate and I work on our boat. Having been extremly dissapointed with the quality of yard work on boats-not all ours but also clubmembers- we do what we can ourselves and leave specialist jobs to the experts. A rigger is coming tomorrow to do a few jobs and a full rig check. We used an electrician to hook up the plotter and radar after I installed it. I service and repair everything else-after all most of the stuff is not rocket science. If it goes wrong the finger points at me. The savings allow us to have a better boat than if we got a yard to do it. By the way, we have just had first class service and work carried out by the Haslar Sealift. Thoroughly recomended.

 

[David2452]

The electronic switches have issues if the contacts aren't clean.

The best I have heard of (not used though) is a tube with a free float in it that contacts a micro switch at the top, well out of the water.

I work on boats for a living and have yet to see the perfect solution.

I do support owner installation -but if one thinks the installation is beyond their capabilities they often can (should) hire it done but many jobs on a boat are easy if the instructions are read and understood.

Have you tried hall effect or optical solid state switches, I have found them to be ultra reliable, no probes to worry about no moving parts to jam, no tubes to become blocked and they are really quite old tried & tested technology.

 

[RAI]

So, the search for the ultimate bilge pump switch goes on. Come on you inventors - it can't be beyond your wit to come up with a simple switch that will signal when it 'sees' water, can be installed easily in the confined space of most bilges, survive the hostile environment therein and, importantly, be installed by the boat owner without invalidating its guarantee.

No need, they have already been invented. It consists of a cup with a tube coming out of it in the bilge and a pressure switch at the other end of the tube well out of the water. Washing machines use the same mechanism. Google bilge pump pressure switch.

 

[Salty John]

No need, they have already been invented. It consists of a cup with a tube coming out of it in the bilge and a pressure switch at the other end of the tube well out of the water. Washing machines use the same mechanism. Google bilge pump pressure switch.

I'm not entirely convinced by those things, they don't get particularly good reviews compared to other types. They have the advantage of having no electrics submerged but the pipe can be clogged by grease in the bilge water.

One of the biggest problems with bilge pump switches is the nature of the fluid they have to operate in - especially if your shower or sink water drains into the bilge.

Other problems arise because yachts heel and pitch. And sea water is corrosive. And there is often debris floating around.

It's a very unstable environment for any switch to operate in.

 

[Wansworth]

To those of us who are challenged by what to many is a simple job to many the services of a competet pro takes the doubt out of fixin tech problems.I must admit to being challenged ,Even so whats more of a problem is finding a pro that wont cock it up.Example:
Weilding up a small hole. not checking first meant rewireing stern light and creating possibe fire.

 

[MTC1]

Salty John..... Try a water witch.

http://www.waterwitchinc.com/new/SiteElements/Pages/SecondaryPages/Products/BilgeSwitches.html

Easy to install, and does not get clogged. Used by most high end boat builders.

 

[RAI]

I'm not entirely convinced by those things, they don't get particularly good reviews compared to other types. They have the advantage of having no electrics submerged but the pipe can be clogged by grease in the bilge water.

One of the biggest problems with bilge pump switches is the nature of the fluid they have to operate in - especially if your shower or sink water drains into the bilge.

Other problems arise because yachts heel and pitch. And sea water is corrosive. And there is often debris floating around.

It's a very unstable environment for any switch to operate in.

Granted. Which is why I use two switches.
Can you give me a reference to one of those reviews. On mine the cup on the end of the tube never completely fills due to the back pressure, so I don't see the tube getting blocked easily.
IMHO taking electricity into bilge water to reach a switch is asking for trouble.