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What's the best Bilge pump for a narrowboat


Dr Bob

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2 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

The four screw holes in the foot always amuse me though :) 

Thinks the instructions that came with mine said to screw it to a bit of wood to help prevent it toppling. 

Shame i didn't read those instructions til after. 

Anyway, back to cats and bogs......... 

 

 

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1 minute ago, rusty69 said:

Thinks the instructions that came with mine said to screw it to a bit of wood to help prevent it toppling. 

Shame i didn't read those instructions til after. 

Anyway, back to cats and bogs......... 

 

 

 

Which completely defeats the point of the design format of the pump, dunnit! 

Ultra low profile pump capable of pumping water down to a depth of less than 1/8”, according to the marketing blurb on mine. 

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11 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Which completely defeats the point of the design format of the pump, dunnit! 

Ultra low profile pump capable of pumping water down to a depth of less than 1/8”, according to the marketing blurb on mine. 

Perhaps for vertical mounting, or non horizontal bilge. 

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My pump is wired through a switch which I turn off at night as I've known the pump to start and then not cut out.  In the middle of the night, it sounded very loud.  The ones with mechanical floats can be affected by grease from the sterntube.  At least fit it so that it can be pulled up to access for cleaning, without disconnecting wires or outlet pipe.  The pipe should not be that stiff kind.

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1 minute ago, mross said:

My pump is wired through a switch which I turn off at night as I've known the pump to start and then not cut out.  In the middle of the night, it sounded very loud.  The ones with mechanical floats can be affected by grease from the sterntube.  At least fit it so that it can be pulled up to access for cleaning, without disconnecting wires or outlet pipe.  The pipe should not be that stiff kind.

 

Fixing a bilge pump is always a bit of a conundrum. It needs to sit square and straight on the baseplate yet drilling holes to fix it down is not a great idea for obvious reasons. In addition, a decent quality drain hose will be stiff and needs to be securely clipped so it alone holds the bilge pump in the correct position, thus preventing the pump being easily lifted for maintenance. 

Bilge pumps ought to come with a demountable (for maintenance) bracket fixing the pump sideways to a  nearby vertical bulkhead in my opinion. But I've never seen one arranged like this. 

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10 hours ago, Dr Bob said:

Nah, the stove is at the wrong end of the boat, the EcoFraud will never reach that far.

simples - trim your boat bow down and the pump can be located near the front cabin bulkhead.

side benefit is that when travelling (assuming you are a bona fide boater as opposed to a moorer) your fuel consumption will be much less 'cos the propeller will be half out of the water.

 

39 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Thinks the instructions that came with mine said to screw it to a bit of wood to help prevent it toppling. 

Shame i didn't read those instructions til after. 

Anyway, back to cats and bogs......... 

 

 

you should screw it to a bit of steel plate which will hold it down and stop it from toppling; in my old Scouse boat there was a square sump set below the baseplate near the back of the swim, with the pump screwed to a piece of steel that neatly fitted inside the sump (about 12cm square).   

 

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9 minutes ago, Murflynn said:

 

 

you should screw it to a bit of steel plate which will hold it down and stop it from toppling; in my old Scouse boat there was a square sump set below the baseplate near the back of the swim, with the pump screwed to a piece of steel that neatly fitted inside the sump (about 12cm square).   

 

Makes sense. 

One of mine (Gulper) pumps directly from a tub located beneath the stern gland. The other (auto) is behind the tub, so shouldn't topple over 

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3 minutes ago, WotEver said:

You’ve not drilled the holes to bolt it down then?

I drilled and tapped mine. Was delighted when the pump started up after fitting, and has been running non stop since. :giggles:

 

ETA. I had to drill and tap, cos I couldn't get nuts on. 

 

 

Edited by rusty69
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6 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

I drilled and tapped mine. Was delighted when the pump started up after fitting, and has been running non stop since. :giggles:

 

ETA. I had to drill and tap, cos I couldn't get nuts on. 

 

Try turning the tap OFF.

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Wow, what a lot of good information. Taken altogether it paints a real picture of what I need. I think I will get one of those Rule lopro 900 pumps. I did wonder about how to mount it and that has now been answered. Take the point about an auto one not working re battery drain etc and stuck floats. All stuff to bear in mind. 

Right, you are all now allowed to go back to the jokes......oh I see you already have. It's like herding cats you lot.

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9 minutes ago, Dr Bob said:

Wow, what a lot of good information. Taken altogether it paints a real picture of what I need. I think I will get one of those Rule lopro 900 pumps. I did wonder about how to mount it and that has now been answered. Take the point about an auto one not working re battery drain etc and stuck floats. All stuff to bear in mind. 

Right, you are all now allowed to go back to the jokes......oh I see you already have. It's like herding cats you lot.

 

One further point. Given you are thinking ahead in order to avoid a sinking, why not save your batteries by keeping the bilge pump turned OFF until then?  

 

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12 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

One further point. Given you are thinking ahead in order to avoid a sinking, why not save your batteries by keeping the bilge pump turned OFF until then?  

Until then? You mean leave it off until he’s sinking? Yeah, good idea, got to look after those batteries. 

26 minutes ago, Dr Bob said:

I did wonder about how to mount it...

If you can find a piece of steel plate, screw it to that. It won’t sit flat if it ain’t secured down. 

Rusty found a nice big plate at the bottom of his boat...

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