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Bilge pump question

peeruwp

peeruwp

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There is an auto, off, and on setting… if I turn it on and there is no water to pump will the pump still run?

Asking because I turned it on a couple days ago and I’m pretty sure it did not make a sound…

thanks in advance!
 
It should run in the on position, but may be hard to hear it unless you open the in floor storage.
 
I can't hear mine, though I have not yet to opened up the fuel hatch (where the pump is located) to listen a bit more carefully.
 
Mine runs when on, regardless of any water being pumped out. Not sure if there is a fail safe to self turn off before overheating. Luckily we have had no use for the pump so far
 
You're not going to hear it. The only way I know it's on is by looking at the ejection port and seeing water being pumped out.

What is annoying is that it only pumps down to about 2 inches of water, so if you want your bilge "bone dry" you'll need another solution. Another member here wired up an auxiliary diaphragm (Seaflo) to get the last remaining bit out.

If you don't get it dry the water will just keep a moist environment and grow mold over time. On my own to-do list to wire in another pump.

Here is mine running.


youtube.com

Bennington bilge pump running

Bennington bilge pump in center toon. Base screen is not attached so water is jetting out of tiny ports on the side
youtube.com youtube.com
 
Yesterday I found about 3 inches of water in my in-floor storage/bilge and found out that even with that much water the "auto" feature did not trigger the pump. So I switched the pump to manual and pumped out all but the annoying half gallon or so which Potomacbassin' referred to and which the pump would not reach because the leftover water was a couple of inches aft of the pump because the boat squats a little to the rear due to engine weight. My pump is about 18" forward from the rear baffle. So I hooked up a small pump which attaches to my drill and pumped out all but the last couple of ounces. I can't imagine why Bennington places the bilge pump is so far forward of the rear baffle that it leaves so much water in the hold. Now I'm very sorry I got that expensive in-floor storage because all it is a trap for mold. I've since taken everything out of there and will probably leave it out unless I think I'll really need it on a day-by-day basis. I intend to keep an eye on it to see just how much water gets in there due to condensation since it has a solid hatch. Seems like some type of a scupper valve would be a simpler and better solution.
 
I need to confess ignorance here. I always thought the bilge pump was only for the center toon floor storage in case you got water in the storage space. When our boat was delivered I was surprised to see it have a bilge switch on the dash. I flipped it on and sure enough I hear it running. I was surprised because we didn't order the center floor storage and don't have it.

So if my ESP hull center toon (I assume it's in the center toon) leaks, I have a bilge in it? I guess that's good, but it also doesn't make sense to me. The toon should be 100% sealed, but now I have wires and a bilge outlet that could potently leak some day? And if it's good to have a bilge in the center toon, just in case it leaks, then why not have one in the outer toons also? Heck, maybe I do??? I need to search for outlets.
 
While we're talking water in the center toon, how much is normal? We've had a bit of rain in the northeast recently (nothing out of the ordinary) but when I opened the hatch, there was about 3 gallons of water in there. I pumped it out, got it completely dry (bailing the remaining half gallon with a plastic cup and absorbent towel), went out for a full day on the lake and then checked it at the end of the day. Sure enough, there was about a gallon in the toon.

My dealer offered to pull it out to check for leaks as it's a relatively new boat (2021 LSRC). I'll likely take him up on it but I dried it our completely again last night and would like to monitor it this week before doing so. Any thoughts/suggestions?
 
Potomacbassin’ said:
If you have the center fuel option, there is an open section in your middle toon to hold the tank. That's the area that can collect water and needs a pump out. Poke around under those access hatches and you should see that area.
Click to expand...
Yes I have the 52 gal center fuel tank, I totally forgot about the pump being for that area. Thanks for the info.
 
JLM007 said:
While we're talking water in the center toon, how much is normal? We've had a bit of rain in the northeast recently (nothing out of the ordinary) but when I opened the hatch, there was about 3 gallons of water in there. I pumped it out, got it completely dry (bailing the remaining half gallon with a plastic cup and absorbent towel), went out for a full day on the lake and then checked it at the end of the day. Sure enough, there was about a gallon in the toon.

My dealer offered to pull it out to check for leaks as it's a relatively new boat (2021 LSRC). I'll likely take him up on it but I dried it our completely again last night and would like to monitor it this week before doing so. Any thoughts/suggestions?
Click to expand...
With the cover on, zero while stored. While running I can collect quite a bit with the kids jumping in and out of the water and dripping everywhere.

I would definitely keep an eye on things as water = mold. Dealer will probably not invest a lot of effort so just tracking conditions when you accumulate water can help identify patterns and eventually root causes.
 
Potomacbassin’ said:
With the cover on, zero while stored. While running I can collect quite a bit with the kids jumping in and out of the water and dripping everywhere.

I would definitely keep an eye on things as water = mold. Dealer will probably not invest a lot of effort so just tracking conditions when you accumulate water can help identify patterns and eventually root causes.
Click to expand...
Good to know! We were doing quite a bit of water skiing so not surprised to have some water in there after a full day out.

One other potential factor is the bilge pump discharge. Not sure if all newer Benningtons are designed this way but when I run my pump, the water discharges right where the toon meets the flange. In other words, there is no rubber hose attached that diverts the water to the aft or starboard side (like the rubber hose for the helm drain). Has anyone else noticed this on their boats? Wonder if water could possibly be entering through there after a long day out running the tube and skis with lots of cornering.
 
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