Washdown Pump Reccomendation

[SV Demeter]

Winter project number 456, install washdown system for anchor. I want a pump that will kick ass and am looking at the Jabsco PAR-Max

JABSCO PAR-Max Ultra 7.0 Washdown Pump

Claims 7 GPM and looks to be a pretty decent pump. Anyone have reccomnedations on this or other washdown pumps? Most of the others Im seeing are 3.5-5 gpm.

Thanks,

[lorenzo b]

I just use a good $100 pond pump and hang it overboard, they come either 110V or 12V. I think they move 1000 gal/hr at 5 ft head.

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by SV Escape Plan

Winter project number 456, install washdown system for anchor. I want a pump that will kick ass and am looking at the Jabsco PAR-Max

JABSCO PAR-Max Ultra 7.0 Washdown Pump

Claims 7 GPM and looks to be a pretty decent pump. Anyone have reccomnedations on this or other washdown pumps? Most of the others Im seeing are 3.5-5 gpm.

Thanks,

I have one and it knocks the mud off pretty good. good for washing down the deck if no marina available. Buy the kit, it's a good deal if you search online.

[Kashmir cat]

The groco C series washdown pumps are pretty good. Only downside is they can go through a lot of freshwater in a hurry.

[Bash]

I spent an entire weekend installing a washdown pump on the previous boat. In eight years we used it three times.

The new boat has a nice bucket.

[Greg S]

Coming down the bay and most of the way to Florida you will use it EVERY time you haul anchor. High pressure is GOOD. You will not believe how much mud you can haul up with the chain. Also, think about it, you will be standing on the bow and facing into the wind every time you haul anchor. Low pressure means, that when the wind is blowing, you will get as much on you as on the chain/anchor. If you are going to be doing any amount of anchoring at all a salt water wash-down works just fine. After all, it's just going back in the water at the end of the day.

[David M]

That's interesting you mention the Ultra Max 7.0 because I installed two of them in parallel....I get lots of mud on deck from sampling sometimes plus I needed something reliable for rinsing nets. I kept burning up the supposedly heavy duty cheaper wash down pumps. They are not grad student proof at all.
The 7.0 is the most powerful 12 VDC pump I could find. It's also much larger than your typical wash down pumps....perhaps three times the size and weight. You will need place to put the beast.

I can guarantee you from personal experience, it kicks butt. It has greater volume and pressure than my garden hose at home.

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by Bash

I spent an entire weekend installing a washdown pump on the previous boat. In eight years we used it three times.

The new boat has a nice bucket.

By comparison, here in Florida we use our wash-down pump to clean the ground tackle every time we anchor and, while at anchor, to wet down the decks from time to time to clean them off and help cool the boat a bit.

FWIW...

PS: And they give a parent a certain advantage in a water-fight with the kids...

[Pete the Cat]

I use my washdown pump often but made a big mistake in buying a cheapo wimpo 3.5 gal pump. I am not sure what I was thinking, but it is really really false economy to put a wimpy pump in this application. I have used it for about 10 years, so this thread is inpiriing me to change it out. For those of you who have not yet done it, this is one of those other things where size does matter.

[cal40john]

I have a friend that installed a wash down pump. He had been a live aboard in the past so was used to forgetting and leaving a lot of stuff powered up, and the wash down pump doesn't use any power when it's up to pressure so no big deal right. I came down to our dock early one morning and saw a nice arc of water in the air. He had left the hose connected, and the on deck temperatures had gotten low enough to freeze the water in the plastic fitting that goes into the deck fitting, and cracked it. When I got there in the morning it had thawed and it was pumping away.

Made me think, what if a hose failed on the pressure side under the deck? Unlimited water source. 7 gpm is about 50 lbs/min. My boat loading is 1000 lbs per inch, so every 20 minutes I'm an inch lower in the water. I think it will sink before the battery dies.

For me everything gets powered off when I leave my boat. I have a bilge alarm so I'd know pretty early about water in the boat while I'm on it.

John

[Bash]

Originally Posted by David M

The 7.0 is the most powerful 12 VDC pump I could find. It's also much larger than your typical wash down pumps....perhaps three times the size and weight. You will need place to put the beast.

Powerful-yes. But at a price. The Par-max 7gpm draws 28 amps.

So consider this scenario: you've been anchored out for a 3-day weekend without charging and your batteries are getting near 50% of charge. You think, no problem, I'm going to motor for a few hours this morning while waiting for the wind to come up. So you crank up the diesel, and your Balmar 90amp alternator kicks into high gear. You love that Balmar, even though you know that within a few minutes it's going to heat up and will only be putting out 45 amps. Now you go forward, and kick your Maxwell 500 windlass into gear. It draws 50 amps, and doesn't seem as perky this morning. No problem, you think, I'll wash down the chain while it comes up. Now you've got 50 amps going into the windlass and 28 amps going into the pump, and the house bank is about as unhappy with you as is your alternator.

As soon as you get underway, you notice a rubbery smell coming up the companionway. You make a mental note to check the engine once your boat is back in its slip, and when you finally do so you notice a whole bunch of black dust covering the engine compartment. "No problem," you think, "I'll zip over to CF and start a thread called 'Whats up with black dust?"

I appreciate the fact that the washdown system on David M's research vessel kicks butt, but I'm going to maintain that the electrical systems on most recreational sailboats are not up to the demands of a 7 gpm pump on a long electrical run being used at the same time as an electric windlass.

It's a solvable problem for certain, but you'll need to do some significant beefing up of the electrical system to get it right. What you don't want to do is have the washdown pump draw amperage away from the windlass, because if you do that the motor brushes will be toast within a short time.

Not really a problem with my bucket, however.

[svHyLyte]

Our wash-down pump is a Jabsco Water Puppy Pump . It draws about 8 amps pumping 6 GPM. Water is drawn from the same through-hull as our forward head and discharged through a fitting in our anchor locker. A Y-Valve connected to a length of hose coiled in the cabinet under the sink will allow us to use this pump to help de-water the boat, if necessary.

FWIW...

[donradcliffe]

I have had a Par Max 4 on the boat for 10 years, and it works well for knocking the mud off and washing down the boat at anchor. It replaced a Groco which was an expensive piece of crap with a mean time between failure of about 1 year and cost more to repair than the Par Max to purchase. Half the time the Groco would not prime so i had to suck on the end of the hose and then get a face full--It was mounted within 6 inches of the waterline, and the Par Max has never had that problem.

[PamlicoTraveler]

You'd need a 30amp fuse and beefy wiring but I would wire the windlass and the pump to a different battery bank. A forward battery for either the windlass or the pump is the common solution.

[Mark Johnson]

Salt water washdowns are VERY usefull to keep the mud and sand out of the windlass and chain locker, as well as off of the fordeck.

The ParMax is a good pump.

It is a good idea to have the salt water washdown system powered up ONLY when you need it, and purge the garden hose pressure when it's off.

Don't forget to winterize the system.

And... by far the best nozzel for maxamizeing pressure is to get a small brass cone shaped nozzel that looks like a toy fire truck nozzel, (with straight through passage). These have NO adjustments, a handle, or cut offs. Screw onto this a small brass hose fitting turncock. This way it is either off or maxamimum stream spray with "0" restristion. (all from the garden section @ Lowes)

Mark