New bilge pump

[Mighty Sylvan]

I just installed a new bilge pump from the Harbor Chandler and it has a water sensing float switch that doesn't seem to work out of the box. I can turn it on manually that's it. It is a Eco friendly pump which somehow senses oil in the water and wont pump it but there is such a tiny bit of oil in my bilge. Could this be the problem? Have any of you had this problem?

 

[trendsetter]

Are you sure that you have it wired correctly? There should be two positive lines coming out of the pump. One goes to the switch for you to manually turn it on and the other goes directly to the positive terminal of your battery (or other constant positive terminal).

 

[Mighty Sylvan]

Yes, if the pump was wired wrong it wouldn't work with low water levels in the bilge because the switch would be in the open position. It would work with a high water level though.

 

[trendsetter]

So it does turn on automatically with low levels just not high levels of water?

I had a similar pump but it was "rule" brand and it was supposed to do the same thing about sensing oil in the water and not pump. It seemed to work fine even though there was sometimes a small amount of oil in the bilge. Eventually the sensor failed and it would stay on all the time and kill my battery. I replaced it with a manual only pump last season.

 

[Mighty Sylvan]

No, it only works when I turn it on manually. It's good to know that yours worked with a little oil in the bilge. I might just add a float switch. PITA!

 

[trendsetter]

Does the pump have 3 wires coming off it? one black, one red and one brown? My pump would work with just the black (negative) and the manual switch connected. It would also work with just the black and the automatic wire connected. So what I'm thinking was that maybe the automatic wire is not connected directly to a positive power source and that only the manual switch is connected?

Also the sensor could be faulty..in that case it would only turn on when on manual.