How to determine if you have an Auto Bilge Pump

[Joeprunc]

I'm just curious to see what would be the best way for me to determine if I have an auto bilge pump. I have only used my bilge once and it worked just fine.

I read somewhere that you can hear it whine when its on....I'm guessing if its always whining even without water in the bilge then it isn't an automatic bilge.

[lohe]

auto bilges have a float to turn them on and usually a 3 wire hook up. Also most have a little knob in the front to test the Auto float like this one.

[AdaminMN]

Forget the plug once and you'll find out.

My boat has one. I didn't know it until we had a 3" rain overnight and when I looked the bilge was empty.

[mls6722]

an automatic bilge pump will be both manually controlled by a switch at the helm and will turn on automatically when enough water is present. It should only run in auto mode if there is water - so you will see water discharging out the side of the boat.
If it is humming with the switch OFF and no water present in the bilge, you might have a stuck float switch.

[ajholt7]

Put the drain plug in and turn on the water hose. I like to test mine and make sure it works like that.

[Marjenks]

I recently had a leaky cooling system and water was steadily flowing into the engine bay. This wasn't noticed until the engine stopped! So on with the bilge switch and the water was drained after a while, I had to limp home though as the engine wouldn't give proper power until it dried out.

On inspection I found that apart from the leak, the bilge auto wire was clipped so I'd bought a boat without an auto bilge!!!

So I serviced the bilge pump (cleaned it) in my house and got a 12volt power supply (car battery) and hooked it up and ran it in a bucket to see that the auto bilge worked properly which it did.

I re-installed it in the boat and ran a 2.5 amp fused wire straight from the main battery to the auto bilge wire and now it runs on auto no matter whether the battery switch is isolated or not. That's the way I imagine an auto bilge should work, it should be the most important thing on the boat, nothing should stop it from working occassionally or from alerting you to a leak!

Since then I've checked it a few times simply by reaching down, lifting it from it's filter basket and using a finger to activate the float that is basically the switch.

That's my answer to the original question, removed the panels in the way of your arm and activate the auto float yourself to be sure it's working. IMO it should work with the battery isolated too. It's worth knowing it works and worth servicing if it's filthy like mine was!

[Timmy!]

I just put a new one in my boat last week. Some of them you can unclip it from the grate and turn it upside down and that will activate it (float switch). I tested my new one by putting it in a bucket of water.

[Joeprunc]

Mines definitely not an automatic bilge pump. You turn it on and hear it run dry or not.

[bigdaddy_houseboater]

Mines definitely not an automatic bilge pump. You turn it on and hear it run dry or not.

If its got two wires, it's manual... 3 wires is automatic.
(probably already heard that.. lol)