320 Da bilge switch

MikeBravo

Active Member
Jan 20, 2016
227
Treasure Island, FL
Boat Info
2007 Sundancer 320
2019 Edgewater 158cs
1988 Grady White 24 Offshore(sold)
Engines
DA-Twin 350 MAG MPI Mercruisers, V-drive
Edge-Yamaha 70HP 4-Stroke
I have a 2007 320 DA. My question is about the bilge switch on the port side of the helm. Which bilge pump does it control? I'm having issues with my aft bilge pump. When I press the switch the green light comes on but nothing happens. Thanks in advance for your responses.
 
The switch activates your main bilge pump. The emergency/hi-water bilge is not controlled by a switch.

I'm not sure what "nothing happens" means. Do you mean no water comes out? Maybe there isn't enough water in the bilge to be pumped out. Do you mean the pump doesn't activate? Have you verified by listening with hatch open or feeling the pump - and then manually lifting the float switch?

Also, there is lot's and lot's of info about bilge pumps on this forum if you wanted to do a search.

FYI... There should be a section in your manual about bilge switch and pump operation.
 
The switch activates your main bilge pump. The emergency/hi-water bilge is not controlled by a switch.

I'm not sure what "nothing happens" means. Do you mean no water comes out? Maybe there isn't enough water in the bilge to be pumped out. Do you mean the pump doesn't activate? Have you verified by listening with hatch open or feeling the pump - and then manually lifting the float switch?

Also, there is lot's and lot's of info about bilge pumps on this forum if you wanted to do a search.

FYI... There should be a section in your manual about bilge switch and pump operation.
The pump does not come on at all and the switch has a green light indicating it's on. The manual is not that detailed in my opinion. The pump also has a float switch that is not working. I'm guessing the switch turns the pump on and off and does not have momentary switch function. I need about a six inch extention to my arms to reach the pump, HAHA. Thanks Lazy Daze for your reply.
 
maybe a fuse or breaker is blown.....

cliff
 
Oh, wait... are you wondering if the green light is an indicator if the pump is ACTUALLY running? Unless I'm mistaken, I don't believe that is the light's function. The light only serves to let you know that the switch is "on", so to say. I could be wrong - I've never really thought about it that deeply or physically tried it out. But I think it makes sense that the light simply tells you that power is being sent into the circuit - not whether the pump is actually running.

How do you know the float switch isn't working/operational? Did you put an ohm meter on the leads? Or are you basing that simply off the notion that the float switch is not activating the pump?

Yeah - I am very familiar with working on boats and understand the access issues. Welcome to Boat Mechanics 101! :) If you have 12V at the pump with either the switch on or the float switch lifted, the pump is jammed or bad. If you don't have power, the problem is somewhere in the circuit (fuse, corroded connection, etc).
 
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I'm going to have to do some further investigating, but the float is definitely bad and maybe the pump. I guess the green light just means the circuit is on. Back into the aft bilge. Thanks
 
The switch on the helm should activate the pump regardless of whether there is water in the bilge.
 
Float switch does not activate pump.
Manual switch does not activate pump.

Sounds like pump is stuffed.They don't live forever.


On my 2006 300da there are two pumps, same size, located at the same hieght, individual float switches, one about three inches higher than the other. The manual switch turns on the pump connected to the higher float, if the float activates, it lights up the indicator on the switch panel
 
Thanks for the replies. I'm beginning to think I might have an electrical problem too.
 

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