T&T: Fw: Discharge Lines

[Larry N. Brown]

>I think the idea of a larger pump is DANGEROUS.
>
> A: there shouldn't be any water in the bilge.
> B: if there is water, it is coming out a drop at a time from some sort of
> water lubricated bearing, stuffing box
> C: The smallest pump available is enough to empty the bilge of 'normal' 
> water
> entry
> D: If water is coming in from any other source (besides rain, deck washing
> etc) it should be attended to. Not masked by a large pump
> E: The automatic bilge pumps will mask the potentially dangerous situation 
> of
> a leak unless it activates a continuous audio alarm.
> F: an Xtra large mobile pump, with a long supply cord and a long discharge
> hose should be part of the emergency equipment.
> G: Most (all?) 12v sockets do not have a high enough rating to be used as 
> the
> supply for a large pump. The boat should have a unique type of socket (3 
> prong
> twist?) placed in apropriate areas. The emergency pump obviously has this
> 'unique' type plug on its supply cord.


Peter,

I couldn't disagree with you more. Your argument holds no water, so to speak 
or, potentially, too much.

Guess I should have expanded a little on my bilge pump monitoring, control 
and alarm system. My bilge slopes gently aft to a low point about 8' from 
the stern. My 3 x 3700 rules are mounted about 2" above the bottom of the 
bilge, spaced out along the engine room and have float switches. The 1100 
gph pump is located in the very deepest part of the bilge and it has a water 
witch switch to prevent the pumping overboard of oil.

All pumps are all wired in with AWG 10 cable through terminal blocks, not 
switches. In sequence, 1,2,3 are powered by the port engine, genset and stbd 
engine gp 31 cranking batteries. #4 is powered by the house bank. Separate 
sources. I designed and built the monitor/control/alarm panel for the 
system. Each of the Rules has an off/float/on switch and if a float switch 
activates, it triggers a 120 DB electronic alarm tipside and a red led 
illuminates to show which pump fired. #1 means a hole forward, #2 a 
machinerw raw water intake hose leak, #3 is a leaking packing gland. All 
three and there's something really bad and I should be looking at beaching 
the boat.

I've wired it so you can flip a switch to silence the alarm and it 
illuminates a red led to remind you to reset it later after the emergency's 
over. The #4, or maintenance pump activates a green led and triggers a 
digital hour meter and a cycle counter so I always have precise data on pump 
cycling on a daily and minute to minute basis.

Like the old saw in aviation, you can't have too much fuel unless you're on 
fire, I stand by my position that you cannot have too much bilge pumping 
ability.

Regards,

Larry and Teri
M/V Cigano, 47' Prairie Sundeck Cruiser
Lying: Covington, LA
N 30 26.7
W 90 07.1