piece of crap bilge pump. a rule i think

[over there]

it is a rule-mate500 with a float switch, 500gph and is hooked up so it is supposed to come on automatically but i am not sure if it is with the key on or off. it should be both right? like for when u r driving or for when u leave the boat sitting. does anyone know how i can wire a new pump so that i can use it when i am driving the boat but set it to come on automatically over night when the key is off? and what is the story on the electrical switches instead of using the float switch? cuz my pump does not seem to work half of the frigging time. when i put one of these switches in do i need to buy a new bilge pump too? thanks for your help

[jyasaki]

The pump should be wired without the keyswitch in the circuit. Preferably directly to the battery.

You want the auto part to work whenever there's enough water in the bilge to trigger it, whether you're on-board or not, running or not.

The manual switch can be wired either way, but normally it bypasses keyswitch as well.

You do want to make sure you have an inline fuse on the power feed, though.

jky

[Downhilldai]

You need to use an on/off/auto changeover switch with two switched feeds to the pump, one via the float switch.

[BruceB]

I just fitted one of the auto Rule pumps. You can have a manual override but I just wired in into a switch that I leave on all the time. There is no float switch but they start every 2.5 mins and if water is sensed they keep running until the boat is empty then switch off. If no water is present they only run a second or two.
The sensing is based on water resistance so no moving parts.
I just switch it on and leave it on and it seems to work quite well on a RIB bouncing around.

[Rodan]

rule = crap....

[martini]

I've just fitted one of these too. It has 2 feed wires, brown and red. Cant remember which way round but the automatic feed goes to a permanent live (fused) and the other should go to a switch. Then it will pump automatically when it senses water or you can pump manually using the switch.

This type is much more reliable imo, float switches always seem to be the bit that gives up the ghost.

[codprawn]

I know people keep saying the Rule auto/electronic is crap - my 1st one packed up after a few weeks but the 2nd one has been running for about 2 years and it works overtime. Without the pump my boat will take on about 1000L or a ton of water in just 1 day!!!

This August alone it rained every single day.

I bet the thing will pack up after this.............

[jyasaki]

Originally Posted by codprawn

the 2nd one has been running for about 2 years and it works overtime. [snip]
I bet the thing will pack up after this.............

Of course it will.

When diving, never use those words when talking to another diver ("I've never lost a mask", "I've never had a regulator problem", "I've never had a problem finding the boat", "I've never had a drysuit leak", etc.)

It pretty much guarantees that exactly that will happen on the next dive. And usually, the one after that, as well.

jky

[BruceB]

Originally Posted by codprawn

I know people keep saying the Rule auto/electronic is crap - my 1st one packed up after a few weeks but the 2nd one has been running for about 2 years and it works overtime. Without the pump my boat will take on about 1000L or a ton of water in just 1 day!!!

This August alone it rained every single day.

I bet the thing will pack up after this.............

Is that not around 4 inches of rain a day? Would the country not be underwater if we regularly got 4 inches of water every 24 hours?
I think the record rainfall for the UK is in the region of 6-10 inches in a month!
Methinks you jest sir!

[Bigmuz7]

Originally Posted by BruceB

I just fitted one of the auto Rule pumps. You can have a manual override but I just wired in into a switch that I leave on all the time. There is no float switch but they start every 2.5 mins and if water is sensed they keep running until the boat is empty then switch off. If no water is present they only run a second or two.
The sensing is based on water resistance so no moving parts.
I just switch it on and leave it on and it seems to work quite well on a RIB bouncing around.

I think I had one of these a couple of boats ago and THB it killed my batteries, so I had to piggy up a second battery if I was away from the boat for a couple of weeks or so as it was berthed at the time.

I came to the conclusion that a pump emptying out 4 gallons or so when it came on, and the water collected was better than one that came on every few minutes when there wasnt even any water there.

It was one of those infuriating boats that I couldnt keep the water out of the underdeck no matter how hard I tried , and I didnt want the cabling getting wet so I installed another auto bilge inside the underdeck. After a trip out, bouncing about, the casing of which came apart unbeknowns to me, water got in, operated the float switch, but as the lower case forms part of the pump journal, it spun away doing nothing flattened both batteries and the boat got flooded, good and proper Grr.

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by BruceB

Is that not around 4 inches of rain a day? Would the country not be underwater if we regularly got 4 inches of water every 24 hours?
I think the record rainfall for the UK is in the region of 6-10 inches in a month!
Methinks you jest sir!

Nope you are quite a bit out there.

The highest rain in a 24hr period was 11" - yes in a day. At the Gnoll in Neath 4" was recorded in 90 minutes!!!

South Wales IS almost always underwater now - in august we didn't have a single 24hr period without rain.

There is one point you are missing though - it's all down to catchment area and my RIB has a bloody big deck!!!

[Downhilldai]

Originally Posted by codprawn

The highest rain in a 24hr period was 11" - yes in a day. At the Gnoll in Neath 4" was recorded in 90 minutes!!!

Yes, I was at that match - it wasn't rain that caused the flood, but Neath fans' tears after they were hammered by the Scarlets.

Originally Posted by codprawn

There is one point you are missing though - it's all down to catchment area and my RIB has a bloody big deck!!!

1000 litres at 4" depth covers an area of around 10 sq.m.
What's the catchment area of your deck?

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by Downhilldai

Yes, I was at that match - it wasn't rain that caused the flood, but Neath fans' tears after they were hammered by the Scarlets.



1000 litres at 4" depth covers an area of around 10 sq.m.
What's the catchment area of your deck?

Haven't measured it!!! The water drains straight into the bilge. When the pump packed up - and later when the battery was removed for a day - the boat filled up almost to deck level. When it was pumped out it took 45 mins to empty - not very scientific but using data from some actual tests of the Rule 500 it pumps about 24lpm.

[BruceB]

I took the maximum rainfall figures from the met office site and used 14sq m as a "catchment area"
I think there is a slight exagerration in how much water is filling the boat as to fill to the top would take around 12 of water to fall in 24hrs and the catchment area is the size of the bit being filled so it is still a full 12 inches rather than being concentrated into a small area than the "catchment area"
Taking the rough area of the boat it would take around 3000 litres to fill a boat that size give or take a few litres for the exact sizes.
If this much water fell in the two days you happened to have the boat not pumped I would say either you are the worlds unluckiest person, Wales is permanently under water or its ever so slightly exagerrated........
1 inch of rain falling in an area of 1 sq m is still 1 inch deep if it falls over 10 sq m.

[codprawn]

Well Swansea is the wettest city in Britain - last year it had 2300mm of rain which is pretty bad but Burry Port is even worse.

I told you how I measured the amount of water on board - I said it wasn't very scientific but I reckon not far off the mark.

And as to luck my mates call me Jonah - if it can go wrong it usually does for me..........

[BruceB]

2300mm is less than 1/4 inch of rain per day on average

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by BruceB

2300mm is less than 1/4 inch of rain per day on average

Doesn't sound so bad when you say it like that does it?

This is a photo of Lyn Brianne taken last week - it should be at it's lowest level at the end of summer........

Some people have actually taken canoes down the spillway!!!

[Poly]

Originally Posted by codprawn

the boat filled up almost to deck level. When it was pumped out it took 45 mins to empty -

but at least your pump is getting more efficient than when we had the same argument last year

Originally Posted by codprawn

I know it will collect that much because ... the following day after typical heavy rain and it's taken almost 1hr to pump out.

[BruceB]

Is that it? here is a couple of pics of a real overflow on a reservoir going on Loch Laggan near Fort william, and it isn't even all six pipes PLUS this is the overflow of the overflow (the dam actually overflows to another dam a few miles away and this is the water that is too much even for that!
Wales sounds positively dry compared to Lochaber.......... 2300mm? Pah!
And canoeists don't just try it occasionally, see pic for them actually doing it regularly.

[codprawn]

There is a slight difference - about 45 degrees by the look of it!!!

These blokes are bonkers!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVFA1wmLmpI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fovzwp9HS2I

Read the comments as well.........