[Public-List] Bilge Pump Setup

[richard.hazlegrove at wachovia.com]

To follow up on Gord's comments,  I have a Jabsco Water Puppy impeller 
pump mounted on the starboard engine bulkhead (liner boat).  It pulls 
through a Y valve that has on one side a hose to the bilge with a bronze 
strainer.  The other side of the Y has a hose attached to the icebox drain 
hose.  For the reasons mentioned earlier,  there is no separate float 
switch mounted in the bilge.  The pump is operated manually from a switch 
on the panel and the Y is positioned to either drain the bilge or the 
icebox.  It has worked well for over ten years.  I would advise that if 
you plan to use this arrangement,  to find a way to mount the pump as low 
as possible in the boat without exposing it to bilge water.  Because of 
space limitations mine is half way up the bulkhead,  probably 3' above the 
bottom of the bilge.  The pump specifies that it can pull a prime up to 
4'.  In practice it's closer to 30 inches.  Even with two 115 amp 
batteries constantly on a smart charger, and a new impeller,  the pump, if 
not used for a while occasionally requires a manual prime.  The first few 
feet of my exit hose run has a little dip that holds a few oz. of water. I 
simply lift this section of  hose and this water flows down into the pump. 
 Once wet,  the impeller immediately pulls the prime and moves quite a bit 
of water.  I also maintain the manual pump in the cockpit as a backup. As 
far as any siphon risk is concerned,  the exit hose run makes a high loop 
next to the manual pump hose in the aft cockpit locker.  The impeller also 
impedes the potential flow of water back through the system.  As a final 
precaution,  switching the Y valve to the icebox side completely 
eliminates any chance of a siphon. 


Richard Hazlegrove
Quest 433
Mobjack Bay, VA.