Bilge pump spinning in "neutral"

S

Sea Gull

Well-Known Member
Oct 19, 2006
1,398
CT
Boat Info
2019 Maritimo M64
Engines
Volvo D13-1000
Yesterday, while cleaning my bilge I noticed that my Rule pump was running but not sucking any water. There was nothing visibly cloggging it and it went off and on correctly with the float switch but it just would not move water. I whacked it a couple of times and it kicked in and worked as it should. A few minutes later, same thing again. I have never had a problem with this pump before, but am confused by its behavior.

Anyone else have this problem? Any idea how to fix it so that it is reliable?
 
Try taking the outlet hose off and clearing the debris that is caught in the reeeds of the check valve just down stream of the pump. You may also want to unsnap the pump from its base and clear anything that is in the impeller housing. It sounds like the impellor is getting just enough air to cavitate. When they get an air pocket around then, they spin like crazy and just churn the water which makes more bubbles and the whole problem even worse.

If you don't find anything in either spot, try activating the pump with the float switch several times, but only let it run a few seconds.....sometimes that wil expell the air pocket.
 
Sea Gull said:
Yesterday, while cleaning my bilge I noticed that my Rule pump was running but not sucking any water. There was nothing visibly cloggging it and it went off and on correctly with the float switch but it just would not move water. I whacked it a couple of times and it kicked in and worked as it should. A few minutes later, same thing again. I have never had a problem with this pump before, but am confused by its behavior.

Anyone else have this problem? Any idea how to fix it so that it is reliable?
Click to expand...

few possible reasons:
clogged outlet hose
clogged pump base
impeller is loose on motor shaft (pump needs to be replaced)
 
Been there ...

I chased the same gremlin for a month ... I had a pump that ran and wouldn't pump water but on special occasions. I flushed the discharge line, took off the check valve and found it clean ... the Rule 2000 would switch and run just not move water. It would pump like crazy with the discharge line off, but not with it on. The pump had to lift water about three feet to the discharge outlet in the hull. I tried moving the emergency pump and things worked fine.

The trouble was that while the Rule would run, it would not develop enough pressure to lift the water. Solution was a new pump and switch. Johnson has a great 2200 gal pump that drops into the same Rule base. A 30 minute swap out including electrical.

Good luck
 
Anyone found a real solution to the problem. I went out and bought a brand new pump, plopped in down in the existing holder and the same thing happened. Changed the holder, same thing. Water will start flowing 50% of the time. Still don't know what the probelm is. Anyone got anything on this?
 
I don't have an answer, but just wanted to chime in and say that I have experienced the same problem recently. While cleaning the oil out of my bilge, every now and then the pump would come on, but not pump water. I would hit the high water switch, and it would usually pump the water out. But both pumps would occasionally not pump.

It has me quite concerned, because it seems that the only way to get it to pump is to turn it off and on a few times. Which obviously won't happen if I am not in the engine room.

The bilge pump switch on the dash works the regular pump, so I can't even use that to pump down the water if the regular pump gets 'stuck'.

I have not checked the check valves, so I guess I will start there. But when it does pump, it seems to pump pretty fast.
 
check for clogged/faulty check valve on discharge hose
 
I have had the same problem with my forward ER bilge pump. While underway twice, the fwd bilge pump alarm went off. I stopped the boat, went down in the ER, and found the bilge pump body hot as hell from the pump spinning without pumping (I never have much water in the bilge - most of the time none at all). In these two cases, there was barely enough water to activate the float switch. Removing and reinstalling to the base did nothing. Glad I put a properly sized (forget which) nut driver down there, as I was able to quickly undo the check valve connection. Doing so made the pump instantly start pumping water.

Both times back at the dock I removed the check valve, thoroughly cleaned it, ensured it "seemed" to be working fine, and put it back in. Over the winter I'll replace both the pump and the valve, just to be sure.
 
Had the same thing happen 2 weeks ago. Pump will pump like crazy up to about 6 inches then will not develop any more pressure. I found a paper towel (teenagers ate lunch on the boat after tubing) around the intake side. It burnt the impeller and must be replaced.
 
I noticed (again) that my low water pump just spins and does not pump. I also just noticed that my high water pump will pump but when turned off all the water comes back into the bilge (probably all in the discharge line and never went out of the boat). The issue is the low water pump access which looks impossible to reach. Anyone know how to reach for normal arm length people? I do not have much faith in these original Sea Ray pump/discharge line designs.
 
I have this happen to the AC pump, usually when starting for the first time after winterizing. I release the screws on the discharge, open the pump while its running and allow the pump to "burp". This primes the pump and allows it to push air out of the line.
 
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