scottgjerdingen

Hi - I'm going to be leaving my boat in the water all summer and I want to install a backup bilge pump. How do you go about sizing these (i.e. get the biggest pump I can find? - here are a few I have been considering.

Also, how do I go about plumbing this? I don't recall if there is a water exit on both sides of the boat of just one, assuming there is just one, should I combine the flow to the boat exit with a Y fitting and put check valves on each side so that one pump does not pump water into the other pump vs. pumping out of the boat (slight concern is the check valve gets stuck closed)? If there are 2 water exits, should I plumb it such that water from one pump exits one side of the boat while the other pump exits out the other side?

Thanks in advance!

- scott -

scottgjerdingen

After a bit of shopping around I think I am going to go with this package;

Backup Bilge Pump - shurflo 2000 bilge pumps. Theory here being "go big or go home"...yea, it draws more amps than the smaller ones, but until the battery drains it should keep the boat from sinking :-)

Float/Automatic Pump Switch - For automated pump switch I am looking at 2 options;
a) The Shurflo option

b) The Water Witch option

I am leaning towards the water witch primarily because it is rated well and the shurflo has no ratings, there is however something to be said about mating the automatic switch brand to the bilge pump brand.

Alarm - I think I want to go with the water witch alarm but I don't really understand how this works, specifically does it connect to the pump switch or does it work autonamously (ideally I would like the alarm to go off if water exceeds the water level set for the 2nd (higher) pump vs. having it sound off if the 2nd pump kicks in...this way I can place the 2nd pump just a bit above the trigger level for the first pump so it will be used more without setting off an alarm.

Long Term - I do want to cycle back and put a counter on each of the pumps..maybe I'll do that right off the bat, maybe not.

Any comments either good or bad about this?

Thanks!

- scott -

murfman

I am running two bilge pumps and drilled another hole in the hullside for a second Thru-hull. I am running 2 johnson controls automatic switches, just mounted the backup one an inch higher than the primary one.

Redundancy in a boat is a good thing, multiple engines, bilge pumps, fire extinguishers, beers, and women...

scottgjerdingen

redundancy is so underrated