1997 Sedan Bridge shower sump tank question

[stevec]

This past weekend I experienced an issue with my shower/sink sump tank pump. It was making some noise, but was not pumping any gray water out. I'm not sure if it was clogged (pretty disgusting down there!) or if it needs to be replaced. I cleaned the tank out as best as I could, but had to leave before I could fully test it out.

Long story short, does anyone know what the part number is for a replacement pump and float switch? I wanted to buy one this week and take it down there next weekend, but I could not find a number off of the one on the boat. Also, it looks like it's fairly straight forward to replace...anything I sould watch for?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Gofirstclass]

If you don't want to replace it, try pouring a bit of bleach down the shower drain and watching the pump. If it's making noise it's probably working, but trying to pump the grey water up through a blocked hose. It's pretty easy to remove the cover to get access to the pump. If you do that, pull out the float switch and make sure it's clean.

You might try sticking the end of hose up against the outlet end of the sump drain to make sure the hose is clear and not blocked by anything. It's OK if the sump overflows because it's in a compartment that is water tight. You'll just have to use an old towel or something to get the water up from the floor of that compartment.

I replaced the entire sump in my 330 Sundancer when the pump when out and put in a bigger one. It's only a few bucks more to replace the whole thing, but just make sure the hoses on the new one will line up.

 

[Graham Lorimer]

Does your boat have just one shower sump box or are there three units down there, my 1997 DA had three sump boxes, one for the shower and galley, one for the hand basins and one for the AC Condensation.

Let us know then I can give you a good guess of the models of the pump and switch.

Suspect the best way forward if the pump is making a noise then it all needs to be stripped and cleaned. The pump can normally be unclipped from the base that is screwed inside the box, may be very dirty in there if you don't give it all a clean out every week or two when using the boat.

As others have said, a bit of bleach regularly and a swish around with a soft paint brush goes a long way to keeping it all working.

Graham

 

[stevec]

Thanks for the reply. I've had some issues and this is the first I've been able to get back to the forum. I replaced the pump and switch with and it works fine now. I have one tank where the two showers, three sinks and two AC condensations come in to.

 

[endless seas]

Our 450 has one large drain box that gets nasty as everything drains into it. Tried the bleach thing but bleach will rot the plastic pump. Tried simple green and it smells good but doesn't cut the gook. So I cleaned this thing again and now after brushing our teeth we spit it in the head and flush it. Also I use dawn dish liquid to cut the stuff/ make sure you wipe off dishes that are greasy with paper towels.
Finally I do a preventative thing with a weak dose of pool shock treatment in the fresh water tank about a/ half teaspoon and now you could eat off the inside of that box.
Crystal clear.......
Also that's a/ half teaspoon per 100 gallons.

 

[Graham Lorimer]

I have now upgraded to a 2002 460 DA and have one shower sump box that everything drains into.

The best modification ever is to replace the Rule type float switch with a Water Witch switch. The great thing about these is that they do not shut down until about14 seconds after the water level falls, taking all the foul water out. This means that there is alot less foul water remaining in the sump at any time..

 

[Arl798]

Don't let it overflow. Replacing the pump and switch is worth every dollar. Sooooooooo gross.

 

[Ray 40]

Same boat...same single sump for galley sink, head vanity sinks ,showers, AC condensers. My solution was to first tear out the lazy susan under the galley sink and re-plumb the galley sink overboard thru a new thru-hull. Whether legal or not I installed a small garbage disposal onto the enlarged drain I installed in the sink. My thinking was that nothing is disposed that can hurt the environment and I'm in salt water = fish food!. This totally cleaned out the sump and made me sleep better as I didn't dream of plate scrappings (tuna fish..salad dressings...yuk!) laying in the sump waiting for pump out.... The biggest job was getting that useless, to me, lazy susan broken up to be able to remove it. Makes a nice big work space when removed. There is a nice 110 outlet conveniently located under the sink area that I used for the disposal.