The Offshore Voyaging Reference Site

An Electric Bilge Pump For The Ages

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In the last chapter in this Online Book, in reaction to a member’s tale of frustration, I recommended a bilge pump switch. But what about the bilge pump itself?

When we bought Morgan’s Cloud she had a Jabsco 36600 bilge pump that was installed when she was built 27 years ago. And we still have that pump!

Despite that impressive life, I can’t claim that the pump has been as reliable as the switch. To keep it running, we rebuild it with all new rubber parts every five years using Jabsco’s obscenely priced rebuild kits. We also keep a complete spare pump aboard. After all, this is a mission critical system and, anyway we use the same pump model for grey water, so the spare does double duty.

Pros and Cons

One of the reasons we like the Jabsco pump is that it’s mounted out of the bilge. The advantages being:

  • Easier access for service.
  • Not subjected to the constant wet of the bilges.
  • No need to mount an electrical device, with the attendant risk of stray current, in the bilges, particularly important in an aluminium boat.
  • Can run dry without damage.

However, there are also disadvantages to this type of pump:

  • It has a much lower flow rate than pumps that can be bought for far less money. Having said that, I don’t think any yacht bilge pump will have much of a chance against a hull breach of any significance, so I’m not sure that the fixation on flow rate so beloved of testers is really that important.
  • The Jabsco has proved to be remarkably tolerant of debris; for example, the grey water pump has handled all the hair that goes down the shower drain for 20 years without a hiccup. However, the bilge pump, even though we have a strum box (strainer) on the intake and keep our bilges scrupulously clean, has failed twice when we were cleaning the bilges because a small piece of debris jammed one of the valves open. And when this happens there is nothing for it but to disassemble the whole thing to clear it. The bright side is this is not a frequent occurrence and only seems to happen when the pump sucks air, not something that’s going to happen in a real emergency.

Ain’t Cheap

At this point, I’m sure your eyebrows are climbing at the amount of money we are throwing around here. Let’s just add this up:

Yikes! Yes, you got it, we have spent just shy of US$1500 to perform a function that can be handled for less than $100 with a cheep pump. Thinking and spending like this is how we have (touch wood) managed to compile a pretty unusual reliability record for a yacht. But only you can decide if this kind of approach is right for you.

Another option would be to pair a less expensive high capacity impeller pump with the same switch and alarm we use. Add in a spare pump, as I think any yacht venturing far from yacht gear stores should, and the whole works will come in at a still substantial, but more manageable, $560. Of course if you are not venturing far, even that is probably overkill.

Other Recommendations, or Not

By the way, we do not recommend Jabsco’s smaller pumps.

And if you are thinking about crash pumps, this is a good and simple solution that beats the heck out of cluttering your engine up by mounting a pump on it.

Comments

I’m pretty comfortable that with our bilge pump switch we have found the best possible solution. On the pump discussed in this post…not so much. So if you have found a pump that works, and works reliably for years, please leave a comment. And if there is a pump that has given you grief, go ahead, name and shame. First hand experience over a period of years with pumps in service only, please. 

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Travis C

John,
With respect to pumps, we’ve had good results with changing the mounting configuration; small centrifugal pump deep in the bilge, and a larger dewatering pump mounted above to mitigate constant/frequent immersion. That said, your comment about flow rate is spot on. I’ve had two sailboats that flooded; one due to a hull breech at the rudder tube and another due to slow in-leakage from a failed shaft bearing. In both cases the most effective pump had two hands and a 5 gallon bucket: this guy. Our bilge pump helped slow the water rise in the first case, but stopping the leak is the only effective solution. I’d rather have extra repair material than a larger pump.

Dick Stevenson

Travis,
Many use the over/under method as you describe and feel like it is a good solution to the compromises most boats find necessary in this area. I agree completely that stopping the leak is the first and only priority till it comes to abandoning ship.
Safe sailing (and may you never have need of the article), Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy

Robert Bartlett

John .. I agree with your thoughts on this completely and for all the same reasons. Of course I also have two of these pumps ( both thirty years of age ) rebuilt from spares kits that are still available. The spare pump and kit are tucked away in the locker and I sleep very soundly! It is probably a case of getting what you pay for ! Best regards … Bob B.

Wilson Fitt

Hi John

Way back when, I held with the theory that my boat should not leak any significant amount in normal use, moved on to thinking that I wanted to know for sure if it did start to leak, and finally to the realization that a smallish electric pump was not going to do much in the event of a major breach.

So far I have been right on counts one and two, and thankfully have never encountered number three.

In spite of being made of wood, our boat does not leak much, if at all, so we have two manual pumps but no electric bilge pump. My concern with an electric pump would be that if the boat did start to leak, it would keep the bilge more or less dry when I was not around and perhaps obscure the fact that I had a problem until the battery went dead. Once a week or so I give the manual pump a few strokes and hear the satisfying sound of sucking air that indicates all is as per normal down there in the dark. The few times that there has been pumpable water were due to a stern gland that needed attention, a hawse pipe that was not properly secured or something similar.

I realize that I’m out on the fringe (lunatic some might say) with my old fashioned ideas about boats and their equipment, but I am regularly surprised by the fact that many newish fiberglass boats seem to leak quite a bit and their owners feel obliged to check the bilges daily or more often when underway. My time will come I suppose, but after 15 years of fairly hard use, leaks are not a concern and I feel no urge to fit an electric bilge pump, expensive or otherwise.

Matthew Pitchon

I had one of these pumps. The motor on mine (a 2011 unit) was not thermally protected. After about 45 minutes of continuous use the motor overhead, then burned out, then stopped. The pump was under warranty so I got another one, which proceeded to burn up again, after about 45 minutes. Jabsco confirmed that the motor is not thermally protected. For intermittent use it works well. For a serious flooding situation, this pump did not meet my needs. What happened? The boat was at the dock, and developed a fresh water leak. Fortunately the boat had second 4000 gph conventional pump with an independent float switch that kicks in at a higher bilge water level.