Bilge Pump Question

[bmatt]

I have a Rule 750 automatic bilge pump in my boat and found that someone (thing) cut the wire to it last night. I stripped the wire down and reconnected it. It comes on but I didnt see any water leaving through the port in the side, though I dont know how much water has to be in the bilge before it is effective. The water level in the bilge wasn't above the bottom blue part of the pump, so it was maybe an inch deep (I put the plug in and tilted the boat up on the trailer to pool the rain water in the bilge to test). I think I read somewhere that the Rule style pumps will leave an inch or so of water in the bilge due to the design, but were more reliable? I just want to test it to make sure that it is functional, though I'm fairly certain it is.

[neversummer]

As I remember it requires a decent amount of water in the bilge before the pump kicks in on its own. I tested my float switch last year by filling the bilge using a garden hose....its definitely worth trying while you have it in the driveway

[Gazjen]

Yes I did the same there has to be a fair bit in the bilge for the float to switch it on

I did the same with the hose and found out the bilge pump can pump it out quicker than the hose can fill it

Which is good if you every find your boat being sunk by a garden hose :)

[bmatt]

Awesome, thanks guys. I'll try to do that tonight, hoping to take it out this weekend and want to make sure that it is all working, though I haven't had any problems (yet) with taking on water.

What do you guys do about cleaning out the bilge? Mine is pretty clean but I have some garbage in there, dirt and leaves (not a lot but a little here and there). Figured thats probably bad stuff for the bilge pump, though it looks like it has some sort of filter on it to keep big debris from getting sucked into it.

Have any of you guys hooked up a secondary bilge pump? I was thinking about buying a manual seconday, maybe a 1000+gph to help out just in case, was hoping to hook it up to the current manual override switch, need to check the wire gauge and protection to make sure it can handle both, though. Where have you installed it and how do they normally mount into the bilge?