bilge problem

[burchburch1]

My Bilge pump is not working. I have taken the following actions with no success. Tested to wiring at the pump location and am getting power. When I turn on and off the switch at the helm the light goes on and off. I believe this tells me three things. I have power at the pump location. The switch at the helm is working properly. And I have no fuse problem. I have hooked up a brand new pump motor and it won't come either. I have also turned upside down the automatic switch to makes sure it was not causing a problem. My understanding is that the automatic switch is hard wired to the battery and runs independent of the helm switch. Any suggestions for next steps will be appreciated!

Thank you

 

[alldodge]

My Bilge pump is not working. I have taken the following actions with no success. Tested to wiring at the pump location and am getting power. When I turn on and off the switch at the helm the light goes on and off. I believe this tells me three things. I have power at the pump location. The switch at the helm is working properly. And I have no fuse problem. I have hooked up a brand new pump motor and it won't come either. I have also turned upside down the automatic switch to makes sure it was not causing a problem. My understanding is that the automatic switch is hard wired to the battery and runs independent of the helm switch. Any suggestions for next steps will be appreciated!

Thank you

You have a break in the connection somewhere, either the switch or wiring. My first place to check is the switch. The switch should have 12V going to it. The power will either go direct to the switch or direct to the float switch and then to the switch at the helm. When the switch is in the automatic position you should find 12V going to the float switch all the time. Below is one wiring pic, but you could also have it as I said going to the float first thru the fuse and then to the helm switch

 

[foodfisher]

Will the pump/s run direct connect to battery?

 

[Rickmerrill]

Burch might have a 2 position switch like this:

But anyway either you have power to the pump or not - one source is thru the float switch, the other is thru the dash switch. It sounds like you think you have power at the pump. I'd isolate the pump and hook it straight to a battery just to be sure it works. Don't reverse the polarity. If the pump is ok we can work back from there.

 

[Grandad]

Hi Burch. The light in the switch functions independently from the pump. Yes, they are both fed from the same switch contacts, but the light being on only tells you what position the switch handle is in. Unfortunately there's a few different schematics that may all work, though each has it's own functional peculiarities. I have mine wired as in AllDodge's diagram because it gives me full control of the pump's operation. It's really hard to troubleshoot if you don't have a clue to which schematic you have. Having tried a new pump pretty much guarantees that there is no power at the pump. You'll need to do some circuit testing with a voltmeter or a 12V test light. You must see 12 volts between the positive and negative pump wires to expect the pump to work. Even if you have 12V positive at the pump, you still must also have an intact 12V negative. - Grandad