260DA Emergency Pump problem

[Sea Breeze]

Love my 260DA, but I had pump situation recently and Sea Ray would not fix it under my "premier" warranty. The Emergency pump near the shower box under the step would not drain water. As a result, water backed up into the cabin -- carpet all wet. Then when I manually turned on the pump float switch the water would suck out.....but not overboard......it would go up into the lines and when I let go of the switch.....the water comes rushing back in,

I noticed that the shower drain pump line has a valve that keeps water from coming back in after it is pumped through the line. However, the line for the Emergency Pump does not have this.

I am new to this forum, great resource. Any suggestions as to what might be the problem??? Much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Dave S]

First of all welcome to CSR. It would be real helpfull if you could put your boat information in your signature itself so folks know exactly what you own for any future postings. In looking at your profile I see it's a 2006 260DA.

But to get back to your problem, the real question is why do you have water there to begin with? A number of us have had this type of problem and you might consider reading this posting to see if anything sounds familiar. http://clubsearay.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5575&highlight=leaks

As far as your pump goes, there probably was not enough water to automatically trigger the float switch. The water that drains back after you manually trigger it is probably just the water left in the hose itself. You will see after reading the above mentioned posting that Newbie had a one way valve installed in this line but for other reasons (look on the last page of the post). As to your dealer not wanting to handle this under warranty, the bigger question is what are they doing to solve the overall problem of you having water in that area of the boat?

 

[fwebster]

The warranty usually only covers things that break and are in the list of covered items......this sounds like it may be a design issue. If you are not happy with the answers you have gotten, call Sea Ray customer service and ask for their help.

But, in the end, the back flow preventer or check valve is a $10 part made by Whale. After you find the source of the water, I wouldn't let the fact that the warranty wouldn't cover it keep me from adding one.

 

[Newbie]

After 2.5 inches of rain yesterday, my sump is bone dry. Did you ever notice when the water started to appear? After rain or after a cruise? Start with adjusting the dog legs on all the port windows and take it from there. The one way valve appears as of now to have solved my prob, but wont really know for sure until the spring. SB

 

[lorenbennett]

After posting the same problem I found that the 12v connections were corroded and not letting the pump run correctly or at all some times. I too had about 1" of water on the carpet one morning from the ac running all night. Cleaned up the connections and all is good now.:smt038

 

[estebanj]

Two different problems here. One is a bad or clogged sump pump. The common problem here is when the AC drain overflows the sump and you end up with a wet carpet.

I believe the reported problem on this thread is the bilge pump behind the sump pump. I agree with Dave... there should be no water that needs to be pumped via this bilge pump. There is always some amount of water that the pump can't get out of the boat (say half a gallon to a gallon), but I would start by finding the source of water into this area of the boat.

Esteban

 

[Sea Breeze]

Love my 260DA, but I had pump situation recently and Sea Ray would not fix it under my "premier" warranty. The Emergency pump near the shower box under the step would not drain water. As a result, water backed up into the cabin -- carpet all wet. Then when I manually turned on the pump float switch the water would suck out.....but not overboard......it would go up into the lines and when I let go of the switch.....the water comes rushing back in,

I noticed that the shower drain pump line has a valve that keeps water from coming back in after it is pumped through the line. However, the line for the Emergency Pump does not have this.

I am new to this forum, great resource. Any suggestions as to what might be the problem??? Much appreciated.

Thanks.

Well ...... still having problems with water build-up in the front bilge area. I have since installed a check valve and this helped a little, but the pump float switch was not pumping water out until it reached about 2 1/2 inches ..... by then the water spills out onto the cabin carpet.

So ...... my latest attempt to solve this prob is installing an Automatic Bilge Pump (Rule).

My boat is on a lift and this water is definitely rain water. I suspect its coming in from the rub-rail somewhere .... windows are tight.

Anyone have comments re automatic bilge pumps ... further suggestions ????

Thanks again.

Sea Breeze
2006 Sundancer 260DA

 

[Walz]

I had to replace the bilge pump in my shower sump this past weekend. I replaced the pump and float switch with a Rule 500 GPH automatic bilge pump. By automatic, it cycles on every 2 1/2 minutes and based on impeller resistance, runs till the water is down to about a 1/2 inch. I like this feature because I don't have to wait for 2 inches of AC condensate to build-up in the sump before it is pumped out, thus reducing odor, etc. HOWEVER, if you sleep in the aft bunk, you get to hear the little pump cycling every 2 1/2 minutes!!:smt009

 

[Nehalennia]

Well ...... still having problems with water build-up in the front bilge area. I have since installed a check valve and this helped a little, but the pump float switch was not pumping water out until it reached about 2 1/2 inches ..... by then the water spills out onto the cabin carpet.

So ...... my latest attempt to solve this prob is installing an Automatic Bilge Pump (Rule).

My boat is on a lift and this water is definitely rain water. I suspect its coming in from the rub-rail somewhere .... windows are tight.

Anyone have comments re automatic bilge pumps ... further suggestions ????

Thanks again.

Sea Breeze
2006 Sundancer 260DA

Have you called SeaRay Customer service as Frank suggested?

 

[Alex F]

Well ...... still having problems with water build-up in the front bilge area. I have since installed a check valve and this helped a little, but the pump float switch was not pumping water out until it reached about 2 1/2 inches ..... by then the water spills out onto the cabin carpet.

Go through this thread, it has some good info as well http://clubsearay.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5575&highlight=how+find+water+leaks

But, if you think that your floating switch is not triggering in timelly manner, replace it. Also, you pumps may require some cleaning. I had an issue when the pump would trigger, but not picking up water at all. At the begining of the season I installed nwe pump, but then in the mid season I had noticed similar issue with new pump. This was a result of not using it enough to always keep fresh water there. I put some bleach for over night and then ran fresh water for a while. That did the trick.

Alex.

 

[boatmailster]

Well ...... still having problems with water build-up in the front bilge area. I have since installed a check valve and this helped a little, but the pump float switch was not pumping water out until it reached about 2 1/2 inches ..... by then the water spills out onto the cabin carpet.

So ...... my latest attempt to solve this prob is installing an Automatic Bilge Pump (Rule).

My boat is on a lift and this water is definitely rain water. I suspect its coming in from the rub-rail somewhere .... windows are tight.

Anyone have comments re automatic bilge pumps ... further suggestions ????

Thanks again.

Sea Breeze
2006 Sundancer 260DA

There is a reason why this is emergency pump - it is for emergency and there should be no water around sump box even after heavy rain. First what you should do is to find where water is coming from! Any portholes are leaking, cracked shower sump box,leaky shower drain, broken hose, water system leak etc?
Sea Ray never installs check valves on emergency/high water pumps hoses. When check valve is clogged - emergency pump becomes useless.

 

[Newbie]

I've had tons of issues with float switches over the years and I keep my sumps squeaky clean so I don't know why. A few months ago when the shower sump float switch failed, I replaced it with this solid state one from West Marine. So far, I've been happy with it as there have been a few times when its been 3 weeks between trips to the boat. After that long, the sump gets nasty and always needed cleaning for the regular float to work properly. This one so far has had no issues.

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...L=true&storeNum=11&subdeptNum=75&classNum=213

Its been in for about 3 months now. A little more time will tell how good it really I guess. SB

 

[Nick E Carmichael]

Anyone know how to clean/access/service these bilge/sump pumps. I just have the wet carpet in the lowest part of the cabin after an overnight with the a/c running/ showering etc. trying to figure out why my carpet there below and in between the bathroom door and the fridge on the other side is soaked. Don't know where to start.