Bilge pump not working

[Juan]

Hi everyone:

my bilge pump is not working. It gets electricity...I can hear the buzz when I turn it on, but it is not taking any water out of the bilge. Any suggestions on how to start tackling this issue? Could it be the hose that is clogged? or the pump itself? any way to differentiate between the two?

Thanks

Juan

[Stu Jackson]

For starters:  Disconnect the hose from the pump and see if the pump works.

Do you have a float switch?  Do you have an I/O/momentary switch?

Does your manual bilge pump in the cockpit work?  Our electric pump outlet hose runs to that pump and then overboard.

[chuck53]

Remove the pump from its base to make sure there is no trash blocking up everything.  Also, as I have found out from my posting just last week, I think I have a bad check valve in my hose.  Sometimes my pump works just fine and sometimes it doesn't work at all.  First chance I get, I'm removing the check valve.

[BillG]

A lot of people will say that you should never put a check valve on the bilge pump, I did because I couldn't figure out how to stop the pump from constant cycling.  It would pump water out, then stop, the water in the hose would flow back and then it would cycle on again.  It kept repeating this until the batteries were dead.  When you remove the check valve, keep an eye on the pump to see what it is doing before you leave the boat for a couple of weeks.

[Andrew Harvey]

Stu,

Did you say you run your electric bilge pump O/P hose to your manual pump I/P hose ?

[chuck53]

Stu,

Did you say you run your electric bilge pump O/P hose to your manual pump I/P hose ?

I thought the manual and electric pumps both had their own hoses and thru hulls.

[Stu Jackson]

Chuck, if you only have one thru hull at your transom...

[chuck53]

Chuck, if you only have one thru hull at your transom...

Well if you only have one thru hull, there can only be one hose hooked up to it.  Sorry, I thought 2 were standard equipment.

[Stu Jackson]

Not a reason for a "sorry," Chuck.  It's just that I traced the hoses, which at least on my own boat, go:  bilge pump>hose>manual pump>hose>thru hull.  Since the electric bilge pump works and the manual pump works, they (have to) go through the same hose(s).  Some skippers have installed another thru hull and have hoses dedicated to each pump.  Not a factory installation as far as I know.

[patrice]

Hi,

In my boat I do have 2 hoses in the bilges.  And 2 thru hull in the transom.

Like mentioned on another thread about pump issue.
To get ride of the check valve, just make a loop with the hose under the kitchen cabinet.  So you get he back flow in the bilge.

[Mike and Joanne Stimmler]

I had 2 hoses and 2 thru hulls as well. Could have been upgrades by a PO as Stu said or possibly changes made by Catalina between '86 and '89   

[Phil Spicer]

Our 88 has 2 hoses from the bilge and 2 thru hulls also. Looks factory

[Noah]

My mid-1990 too.