As for the Water Witch, I had a similar experience (only in the opposite way), The switch would get contaminated and would stay ON, generally a much more problematic issue.I went back to the Rule flapper float switches. Not a perfect solution, I will agree.As for having a manual switch, I have two made by Rule with an on/off/automatic switch position and an LED light that turns on when the pump is running. I really like the light, and have a story related to it:We had just gotten Astralis and were leaving the harbor to motorsail 120 miles up to Madeira Beach. About a mile out of the marina, I put a buddy at the helm to go down below and check everything. At the helm station, I saw the bilge pump light lit up, and went checking only to find water running in under the engine, and after pulling out the large storage box behind the stern berth I found there was a crack in the exhaust hose as it exited the boat. We turned the boat around, went back to the dock and had it fixed 3 hours later.Had it not been for the LED on the light switch, I might not have noticed the pump running, and the problem could have gotten worse quickly.Food for thought,Bruce Sent from Samsung tablet. -------- Original message --------From: Charlie Nelson via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Date: 3/14/20 12:36 PM (GMT-05:00) To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Cc: cenel...@aol.com Subject: Re: Stus-List Float switch fail tale (formerly stuffing box leak rates) My charger outputs go only to the batteries, which power the relay panel switches/breakers, one of which is the bilge pump. Should I use a fuse on the battery positive terminal in addition to the circuit breakers on the breaker panel? (I don't recall whether the bilge pump circuit breaker was 'thrown' or not in the tale below).
I now also have an electronic switch--unfortunately it gets dirty often from the bilge and doesn't work until its cleaned off by hand. I think it is a Water Witch 200 (?). Charlie -----Original Message----- From: ALAN BERGEN via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> To: C&C <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Cc: ALAN BERGEN <trya...@alumni.usc.edu> Sent: Sat, Mar 14, 2020 12:03 pm Subject: Re: Stus-List Float switch fail tale (formerly stuffing box leak rates) After two float switch failures, I switched to an electronic switch. No more failures. Besides having a circuit breaker on the AC side of your charger, you should have fuses in the DC side, Alan Bergen 35 Mk III Thirsty Rose City YC Portland, OR On Sat, Mar 14, 2020 at 8:24 AM Charlie Nelson via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: Thanks all for your replies--I might need to tighten the packing gland or replace the packing material. My fear about leaving the auto bilge pump on is a result of a failed float switch many moons ago: I was away from the boat between weekends (at least) and it may have been several weeks and left both the bilge pump and battery charger on as I always did. When I did get back to the boat, the bilge pump switch was on but it was not running--so I initially thought it probably failed. I try to start the engine and no joy--the battery was dead. I check the charger, see that the AC power was on but the power converter breaker on the instrument panel was off. Thus I start to check out the Xantrex battery charger. As I open the lazarette to have a look, I get a distinct 'smoky' order. I then notice that there is soot and a black 'spot' on the charger cover, near one of the ventilation 'slots' of the charger. Apparently (?) the charger was running continuously trying to keep the battery charged while something was continuously discharging it. (Ultimately, I noticed that the float switch was stuck in the high water position which led to these conclusions.) With the soot/spot on the cover, things got pretty hot within and near the charger before the breaker went off. I figure I was pretty close to having a fire start in the charger and the boat burning to the water line with no one around. My thoughts may change but this episode put the fear of fire much higher on my discomfort zone than a sinking. Further, I don't believe any of the small bilge pumps that would 'fit' in my shallow bilge could keep up with any leaks of a serious nature--shaft seal leaks and water down the mast excluded. Also, if it goes to the bottom I still have a boat, not a boat 'carcass' burned to the water line! There are probably better methods of bilge pump/float switch installs that might prevent a recurrence of the scenario above. Any lister suggestions would be welcome. Ultimately the boat WAS protected by the AC circuit breaker in the charger circuit, but not before something in the charger got hot enough to 'smoke'. For now, I have almost been 'burned' once and prefer to never get almost 'burned' again! Charlie Nelson 1995 C&C 36 XL/kcb Water Phantom _______________________________________________ Thanks everyone for supporting this list with your contributions. Each and every one is greatly appreciated. If you want to support the list - use PayPal to send contribution -- https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.paypal.me/stumurray__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!_Rlw9n7rYam_VHk2rb9ap5Kaxyxo-HM6qTbwk9kGolAYiCwpiADr587n7FZQKWbUlS8$ _______________________________________________Thanks everyone for supporting this list with your contributions. Each and every one is greatly appreciated. If you want to support the list - use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray
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