Alarm for water in the bilge...

[rauch0812]

This weekend the alarm was going off in our boat and we finally narrowed it down to the alarm for water in the bilge. There was a very small amount of water and we figured out when everybody stepped to one side of the boat and made it tilt even the slightest, the water would run to that side and set off the alarm, although it should not have been enough to make it go off. We disabled the alarm so we could finish our boating tripped (and checked the bilge for water often) with no problems. What should we do?

 

[JoLin]

Re: Alarm for water in the bilge...

Something about that doesn't sound right to me. I would assume that the alarm is tied into your float switch for the bilge pump, and that when the switch is activated due to high water level, the alarm goes off at the same time?

What's bothering me is that the float switch is located in the lowest part of the bilge, and passengers moving to one side of the boat should decrease the water level at the bottom of the bilge... the standing water will move off toward the beam. Or is my logic flawed somehow?

In any event, assuming you know you have no leaks, you have options. If there's enough water in the bilge to activate the alarm, you should be able to pump it out to the point where it doesn't sound (though I still don't understand why the float switch didn't do that).

OR, you could move the float UP a half inch, OR put the alarm on a switch you can control from the dash. I don't recommend that solution tho- you could easily forget to reactivate it (just throwing out options to help you think it through).


My .02

 

[rauch0812]

Re: Alarm for water in the bilge...

OK... here are some pictures. I took them with a camera phone so they aren't great. When everybody stepped to the driver's side, the alarm went off. When they stepped back to the center, the alarm stopped. There was only a tiny amount of water in the bilge, not enough to set off the alarm. We dried it up with towels (because there wasn't even enough for the pump to kick in) and the alarm did the same thing.

This is the part that is on the drivers side in the bilge... we're not sure what it is?

This is the actual bilge

What could the problem be? We can't keep the alarm disconnected... But the boat is not taking on water and it's not overheating... what could it be?

 

[jeepnsam]

Re: Alarm for water in the bilge...

Sounds like a loose wiring / connection or a mercury switch that only works in one direction.

What happens when "everyone" steps to the driver's side but closer to the bow instead of the weight being at the stern????

 

[rauch0812]

Re: Alarm for water in the bilge...

When one of the guys were in the bow, it did not got go off... when he moved behind the drivers seat, the alarm went off again.

 

[Beefer]

Re: Alarm for water in the bilge...

yep, bad connection or switch as said above. Good excuse to run to the marine supply store. I think you also may need a new rod & reel... since you'll be there...

 

[RickJ6956]

Re: Alarm for water in the bilge...

Got a depth or fish finder? That device in the first pic looks like your through-hull tansducer.

 

[scutly]

Re: Alarm for water in the bilge...

i was under the assumption that there where only three things to trip the alarm but i could very well be wrong. 1-overheating. there should be a wire for the alarm connected to the thermostat housing next to the wire for the temp gauge. while alarm is sounding you can disconnect the wire to see if it stops then you know its temp related. 2-low oil pressure. if your oil level is low and sloshing around in the pan when you move around maybe the oil pump is not sucking enough and the pressure drops and trips the alarm. there should be a sending unit mounted somewhere on the block 3-low drive oil. if you have a drive oil monitoring bottle attached to your engine, it has wires on the bottom of the bottle so if the bottle empties it trips the alarm.

OK with all that being said, your first pic is your transducer which measures your depth. there should be one black wire coming from it that's attached to your depth finder. second pic is your pump. that's a rule-mate automatic pump which has a internal float switch. i just replaced the same pump. the float switch inside was gummed up with sludge and was sticking. it should be a three wire setup. one for the float switch, a ground and one for a manual switch on the helm. if the alarm is definitely bilge pump related then im guessing maybe your alarm system is wired into the float switch circuit unless there is a separate float switch for the alarm. when the float switch rises to a certain level the pump kicks on and it also trips the alarm. check to see if the pump is running when the alarm goes off. you can unsnap the pump from its blue plastic base and see if its mucked up and clean it out. then of course do what everyone else said and clean all connections.

 

[QC]

Re: Alarm for water in the bilge...

I'm with scutly. I'd be surprised if a 20 footer had a bilge alarm. Could be wrong, just have never seen one setup that way. If anybody has one (bilge alarm) in a smaller boat please chime in . . .

 

[J. Howard]

Re: Alarm for water in the bilge...

I recently had a very similar issue that I thought was a bilge alarm (because the temp and oil gauges looked fine) and it turned out to be low gear lube that was causing the alarm. The alarm behaved similarly to what you're describing because there was just enough gear lube in the reservoir to stop the alarm when the boat was on certain angles.

 

[rauch0812]

Re: Alarm for water in the bilge...

Think you guys nailed it!!! It's got to be the drive oil, we happened to notice the reservoir was low, just didn't realize there was an alarm for that! Also, the alarm has never gone off before when the bilge pumps kicked in. The hubby did pull the pump and clean out the gunk and the switch appears to be working fine.

Now... we bought the boat in April so we don't know what brand of drive oil is already in the boat, so my understanding is you can't mix brands, right? We'd have to drain all of the oil out of the outdrive and refill the outdrive and the reservior?

 

[J. Howard]

Re: Alarm for water in the bilge...

Can't you just look up the appropriate drive oil for you engine?

 

[scutly]

Re: Alarm for water in the bilge...

its not a bad idea to change the drive oil anyway on a new to you boat. being that it was low, check the quality of the fluid for milkiness which is a sign of a leak with water intrusion. give it a smell test too to see if its burnt. i dont know how involved you guys want to get, but a yank of the drive to poke around, lube and inspect things might be a good idea. a pressure test of the drive will tell ya if you have a leak.

 

[rauch0812]

Re: Alarm for water in the bilge...

The manual says to use Quicksilver High Performance Gear Lube... I just want to clarify... Gear Lube is Drive Oil?

 

[scutly]

Re: Alarm for water in the bilge...

The manual says to use Quicksilver High Performance Gear Lube... I just want to clarify... Gear Lube is Drive Oil?

yup. Sierra also makes drive lube. i think the no mixing rule your referring to is like with a car (or boat) engine. you dont want to mix regular oil/lube with synthetic oil/lube. check the color of the oil/lube left in the monitoring bottle. if its greenish in color thats the proper color of the oil/lube

 

[rauch0812]

Re: Alarm for water in the bilge...

Thank you all! We pulled the bottom plug from the outdrive and the fluid was green so we determined it was the right kind of fluid in it and just filled up the reservior with more quicksilver high performance gear lube. You could actually see the exposed alarm wire in the bottom of the reservior with no fluid covering it! Thank you, thank you, thank you.. back on the water tomorrow, yeah!