Bilge pump not working 232

[Bradford]

I have a 2006 232 that the bilge pump has stopped working on. The boat sits in the water on a buoy during the summer in Lake Tahoe. The boat can sit for weeks at a time without being used. Got in it after a few weeks and the red light on the dash next to the bilge bump switch was lit up once I turned the battery power on to the boat. It had rained quite a bit and the bilge had a few gallons of standing water in it. The red light on the dash was probably triggered by the float switch, however when I flipped the bilge pump switch on, nothing happens. I hand pumped the water out of the bilge and the dash light went off. So I’m trying to figure if this problem is the pump or one of the fuses.
According to the manual, there are 3 fuses for the bilge pump.

The fuse on the fuse panel has not popped. According to the manual, there are 2 fuses under the dash and a third one located at the battery switch.


Can anyone tell me if there is a fuse near the battery switch?
I checked the bilge pump wire terminal block in the photo below where there are 2 wires in and 2 out for the bilge pump. I checked for 12 volts at the terminal block with both the power on and off and it shows no voltage.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

[AsLan7]

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Hey Bradford. So glad you found us.

This is a dumb question but did you check your battery voltage?
The 5 amp circuit breaker would trip before the higher amperage fuse would blow.
Sounds like it’s time for a new pump.

Let’s get you fixed.

And welcome aboard mate.

.

[Titaniumboy]

I agree that you should first check your battery voltage.

That device where you measured for voltage at the bilge pump terminals is a fuse.

Interesting that the manual shows a 15 amp fuse but the “fuse panel” has a 5 amp “fuse”. I don’t think those are fuses, but are instead resettable circuit breakers. My 2007 240 panel looks virtually the same as yours and uses Carling CLB-Series circuit breakers.

https://www.carlingtech.com/thermal-cb-clb-series

[Big Block Power]

Also that thing mark bilge pump next to your battery switch should have power to it. That's a circuit breaker. It probably gets power from that battery switch also.

[Bradford]

Thanks all. The batteries are new this year. What baffles me is that the so called circuit breaker marked
“bilge pump” has no power to it with the battery on or off and has no power with the power with the bilge pump switch on. How can the the bilge pump get power if there is no power at that circuit breaker? If it is a circuit breaker, how can I reset it? It is just 2 wires coming in and 2 wires going out? Please educate me. Thanks

[Titaniumboy]

What baffles me is that the so called circuit breaker marked “bilge pump” has no power to it with the battery on or off and... How can the the bilge pump get power if there is no power at that circuit breaker?

It can’t. There isn’t a whole lot to go wrong between the batteries and the battery switch, or between the battery switch and the nearby bilge pump breaker. That’s why two of us have suggested that you check the voltage of your batteries as the first step in your troubleshooting.

If it isn’t the batteries, then the next two possibilities are:
1). the battery switch has failed, or
2). the cable terminations and/or the cable has corroded

What baffles me is that the so called circuit breaker marked “bilge pump” ...has no power with the bilge pump switch on.

The bilge pump switch is downstream of the bilge pump breaker. Toggling the bilge pump switch would have no effect on the voltage at the upstream bilge pump breaker.

[DEcosse]

I just noticed this quirk on my own 232 last week; at least for the manually switched bilge control, it seemed to be only wired off the #2 battery (although I might have that backwards) circuit, which seemed strange (and most likely not correct!) (i.e. it would only light the dash light, when switch was on on 2 (or both) and ignition on.
But I know I was troubleshooting similarly to you and found that I only had voltage on the terminals for Bilge Pump (next to mains witch) when in only ONE of the Battery positions (or 1+2 i.e. Both) Memory says it was 2, as per your own pic but I might be reversed on that.

My understanding of how it should work is that the pump should receive power via the float switch, even with the main switch in the Off position (am I correct in that?) And of course should work with manual switch regardless of whether battery 1 or 2 is selected
And certainly, it does not seem correct that it would only work (manually) off one battery and not the other ....
So I think my main switch/bilge connection is not correct.
I'm not sure how that helps your situation @Bradford, but it certainly seemed odd/incorrect to me

Per the Owners manual, the Terminals next to the battery switch house a 30A Fuse (it's NOT a circuit breaker, it's a Fuse)
And additionally there is a 15A fuse located behind the dash panel (I'm not clear in he absence of an actual schematic as to whether this Fuse only applies to the manual switch or also to the Float-actuated operation)
Again in the absence of a schematic, I'm not sure how to interpret the two 15A references to Bilge Pump #2510 and Bilge Pump #1000 - my initial presumption was that these potentially related to different types of pump that may have been used (even if the fuse sizes are the same)

232_Fuses.png

[SAB220]

Your previous understanding is correct. IMO suggest step one is to replace your almost 20 year old pump, especially if it sits on a mooring (buoy). The old style float fails open. Once you replace the pump then you can spend your time chasing fuses if it still doesn't work. Your automatic bilge pump should be wired to your starting, vice house, battery.

[Bradford]

Titaniumboy- I will check the batteries when I’m up there next time. My guess is if the batteries are charged enough to start the boat (over 12v), they should have enough power to run the bilge pump.

DEcosse - I will check the the bilge pump circuit breaker to see if it has power on both battery positions. I would like to know where that 30 amp fuse is between the battery and the bp circuit? I have to lay on top of the engine to get back in there. Next time I’ll use a mirror to look into the hard to get to places. I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one going through this

SAB220 - I would like to make sure that all of the fuses are working and that I have power going to the bilge pump before I replace it.

[Titaniumboy]

Titaniumboy- I will check the batteries when I’m up there next time. My guess is if the batteries are charged enough to start the boat (over 12v), they should have enough power to run the bilge pump.

OK, so it’s not the batteries.

I must have missed where you mentioned that you were able to start the boat.

Battery switch is looking like the next culprit.

[Titaniumboy]

Thanks all. The batteries are new this year. What baffles me is that the so called circuit breaker marked
“bilge pump” has no power to it with the battery on or off and has no power with the power with the bilge pump switch on. How can the the bilge pump get power if there is no power at that circuit breaker? If it is a circuit breaker, how can I reset it? It is just 2 wires coming in and 2 wires going out? Please educate me. Thanks

Did you test for power at the circuit breaker by measuring the voltage across the two circuit breaker studs?

The circuit breaker is the type that resets itself once it cools down.

[Titaniumboy]

I just noticed this quirk on my own 232 last week; at least for the manually switched bilge control, it seemed to be only wired off the #2 battery (although I might have that backwards) circuit, which seemed strange (and most likely not correct!) (i.e. it would only light the dash light, when switch was on on 2 (or both) and ignition on.
But I know I was troubleshooting similarly to you and found that I only had voltage on the terminals for Bilge Pump (next to mains witch) when in only ONE of the Battery positions (or 1+2 i.e. Both) Memory says it was 2, as per your own pic but I might be reversed on that.

I had always planned on verifying the wiring going to and from the battery switch on my boat, and this thread prompted me to finally do so after 15 years. I found that the 30 Amp bilge pump circuit breaker was connected to the same battery switch stud as my #1 battery. This means that the bilge pump would ALWAYS have voltage no matter the battery switch setting (even in the OFF position) UNLESS the #1 battery was missing or dead.

I don’t see how, assuming your boat is wired the same as mine, how you would have gotten the test results you did unless your #1 battery - or it’s cable - is missing and/or defective.

I’m glad I unscrewed the battery switch from where it was mounted to verify the wiring because I found a very loose connection at the COMBO terminal.

70131910-AC7A-4B52-9A3C-8D49D6E356F3.jpeg

Notice the bilge pump #10 wire and the small red fused wire attached under the cable from the #1 battery.

9DE004A4-4CAA-4851-8A8F-C8C205ABDF5F.jpeg

My understanding of how it should work is that the pump should receive power via the float switch, even with the main switch in the Off position (am I correct in that?) And of course should work with manual switch regardless of whether battery 1 or 2 is selected
And certainly, it does not seem correct that it would only work (manually) off one battery and not the other ....
So I think my main switch/bilge connection is not correct.
I'm not sure how that helps your situation @Bradford, but it certainly seemed odd/incorrect to me

That is exactly how it should work. I think you are correct that something is not right, but whether it is your battery, battery cable, or battery switch is hard to say until you pull your battery switch and verify the wiring.

And get this: I found yet another wire connected to the #1 battery switch stud. This time it was a small red wire that had a 20 Amp in-line glass fuse tucked in and almost hidden among the three huge red #1/0 cables. I believe this fused wire goes to the engine, but I haven’t chased it down yet. I had no clue there was a 20 Amp fuse hiding back behind the battery battery switch.

Per the Owners manual, the Terminals next to the battery switch house a 30A Fuse (it's NOT a circuit breaker, it's a Fuse)
And additionally there is a 15A fuse located behind the dash panel (I'm not clear in he absence of an actual schematic as to whether this Fuse only applies to the manual switch or also to the Float-actuated operation)
Again in the absence of a schematic, I'm not sure how to interpret the two 15A references to Bilge Pump #2510 and Bilge Pump #1000 - my initial presumption was that these potentially related to different types of pump that may have been used (even if the fuse sizes are the same)

No, BBP is correct when he refers to these devices as circuit breakers. Unfortunately the Owners Manual is playing fast and loose with their fuse vs circuit breaker designations.

My boat has a 30 Amp and 40 Amp Shortstop thermal circuit breaker for the Bilge Pump and Helm circuits, respectively. I believe these are made by Bussman who was owned by Cooper until Cooper was bought by Eaton.

Shortstop Thermal Circuit Breakers.pdf

30B4EEC8-A8EA-456B-A434-27DAB0FDD269.jpeg

58AB974B-06E5-4372-8F4A-7314BC34166E.jpeg

[AsLan7]

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Nice post Tb.

[Bradford]

Thanks all. The batteries are new this year. What baffles me is that the so called circuit breaker marked
“bilge pump” has no power to it with the battery on or off and has no power with the power with the bilge pump switch on. How can the the bilge pump get power if there is no power at that circuit breaker? If it is a circuit breaker, how can I reset it? It is just 2 wires coming in and 2 wires going out? Please educate me. Thanks

Did you test for power at the circuit breaker by measuring the voltage across the two circuit breaker studs?

The circuit breaker is the type that resets itself once it cools down.

Yes I checked and there is no power at the circuit breaker.

[Bradford]

Thanks for showing the photos. So I should have the same fuse behind my battery switch. I’m assuming that from the photo below, the arrow is pointing to the fuse holder?

find duplicates online