Anyone using auto bilge pump for shower sump?

[vpbarkley]

Hello fellow cruisers,

Our boat has a Whale diaphragm pump that drains the shower sump and a separate float switch. The pump makes a huge racket replete with slurping sounds befitting its namesake, if it were sipping a stadium sized bowl of soup! Now, there's something you don't see everyday!

Unlike an actual whale, this arrangement has no intelligence whatsoever; the diaphragm pump starts and stops a dozen or more times over the course of a shower.

We have an auto bilge pump that's super quiet with an integral level sensor. It has some smarts so it doesn't switch on and off all the bloody time.

It has a strainer that's easy to clean and it tolerates bilge detritus well. It seems like it would be a natural to handle the shower sump.

Is anyone using an auto bilge pump for a shower sump? Does it work well?

Thank you

[rslifkin]

My setup uses the diaphragm pump as well, but plumbed directly to the shower drain with a manual switch, no sump. Yes, it's noisy, but it's constant while showering and there's no sump to clean out, clog, etc. The Whale pumps handle hair and such fine, so no need for a strainer that needs cleaning.

[SVHarmonie]

Originally Posted by vpbarkley

Hello fellow cruisers,

Our boat has a Whale diaphragm pump that drains the shower sump and a separate float switch. The pump makes a huge racket replete with slurping sounds befitting its namesake, if it were sipping a stadium sized bowl of soup! Now, there's something you don't see everyday!

Unlike an actual whale, this arrangement has no intelligence whatsoever; the diaphragm pump starts and stops a dozen or more times over the course of a shower.

We have an auto bilge pump that's super quiet with an integral level sensor. It has some smarts so it doesn't switch on and off all the bloody time.

It has a strainer that's easy to clean and it tolerates bilge detritus well. It seems like it would be a natural to handle the shower sump.

Is anyone using an auto bilge pump for a shower sump? Does it work well?

Thank you

A standard bilge pump is TERRIBLE for a shower sump pump. Hair wraps around the shaft and quickly jams the impeller. If it has such a fine screen that you keep hair out, it will need cleaning after every shower or two (if you are as hairy as we are!)

Shower pump service is tough for a pump, especially for submersible pumps. Dirt, soap scum, and hair are a challenge for most little pumps to deal with.

I have used a water puppy flexible impeller pump that worked great, but there are lots of good options.

[Jim Cate]

We use a Rule 800 with a separate Rule float switch in our shower sump. It works, but does require cleaning on a regular basis. We have an optional internal screen filter that pretty well keeps hair out of the impeller so that hasn't been a problem for us. It is quiet and has adequate capacity when not clogged up.

I personally would prefer a pump that could tolerate the shower environment better, even if noisy, but we've lived with this one for 17 years now and know its habits pretty well!

Jim

[CaptTom]

I did exactly what you are considering; pulled out a (working!) diaphragm pump direct-connected to the shower drain and replaced it with a commercially available plastic sump with a bilge pump.

I actually regret it. The diaphragm pump (still have one in the other head) actually works better and I haven't had to clean it yet after 6 years. Yes, it does make a bit of an odd noise when working, but who cares? You're in the shower anyway. It's not bad enough to wake someone sleeping in the berth on the other side of the head door; at least, no more so than the potable water pump and all the other normal shower noises.

[GILow]

Yep, using a small Rule pump and float switch in a big Tupperware-style box. Easy to lift out of the bilge area and clean.

But I’ve got bugger-all hair left so that much at least is not a problem for my setup.

[ranger58sb]

Several of the pre-fab shower sump boxes include a bilge pump and a float switch. Atwood (or maybe it's Attwood), Rule, etc. Look at those and you can see what pumps/switches they commonly use.

-Chris

[Chotu]

Never. Those float switches are not up to the task and will be on your annual replacement schedule.

Plus the diaphragm pump will handle anything you throw at it.

I get the chance to do this from scratch on my Catamaran and I’m going with this:

Diaphragm pump directly connected to shower drain plumbing with a large mesh size screen between them.

Activated by a manual switch in the shower.

I don’t plan to do this one again for a very long time.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Never. Those float switches are not up to the task and will be on your annual replacement schedule.

We replaced our original sump box (mercury float switch) when it was about 14 years old I think. The replacement and it's included (not mercury) float switch is still working fine, 3+ years later...

Two of the other three original mercury float switches in the boat's bilges are still working, 18 years old now...

OTOH, when I was replacing the third original mercury float switch in the bilge, I did a sort of market survey first... and NONE of the new normal (not mercury) pivoting float switches got decent reviews.

-Chris

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by ranger42c

We replaced our original sump box (mercury float switch) when it was about 14 years old I think. The replacement and it's included (not mercury) float switch is still working fine, 3+ years later...

Two of the other three original mercury float switches in the boat's bilges are still working, 18 years old now...

OTOH, when I was replacing the third original mercury float switch in the bilge, I did a sort of market survey first... and NONE of the new normal (not mercury) pivoting float switches got decent reviews.

-Chris

Right. I can only speak to products for sale right now. They are garbage. As mentioned at the end of your post.

I don’t have good data on products sold years ago, but definitely recall them working better back then.

[s/v Jedi]

You don’t want a pump with rotating parts that contact the shower discharge as it wraps the hairs around it. We use a Whale Gulper and never had better.

The float switch is another matter. We too notice that new ones are not as good as they were and we are switching over to the pressure type switches that just run some tubing with a strainer down in the bilge while the actual switch sits high and dry. These seem to work well.

[a64pilot]

Five or six years ago when I got the boat I put in Ultra switches in my bulge and the shower sump.
I have had to clean the one in the sump once. The Ultra switches use a reed switch, and that’s the secret to their longevity, and there is no wire that gets bent as the float moves.
However they aren’t cheap, but should last decades.

[ranger58sb]

I meant to mention that we usually stay on board somewhere between 150-200 nights/year, and the new non-mercury float switch included in the new sump box seems to have survived that easily enough.

Ultra was what I used for the mercury switch I replaced in a bilge area. Seemed to work well. It was the one that bubbled to the top of all my "market survey" questions beforehand.

Not sure their smaller one would fit in the typical commercial shower sump boxes?

-Chris

[Woodland Hills]

Yes, and we never have had any trouble in 2 years of constant use. Btw, I have shoulder length hair and so does my wife. Never any clogging issues. The screen in the shower catches all the hair and at 66 there is a lot of it!

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by ranger42c

Not sure their smaller one would fit in the typical commercial shower sump boxes?

-Chris

No idea, my sump is the size of a kitchen trash can, about two and a half feet tall and I think will hold eight or ten gallons.

Although we don’t shower inside of the boat, when at anchor we shower in the cockpit as we have a full enclosure, sump primarily is used as an airconitiomer sump.