General Info: Water pump / Bilge

[Ulstue]

Thanks for your details!

Another question to all: I let install a Fischer-Panda generator, same place Lagoon mount the Onan generator. The exhaust is on the inside under the salon. The Fischer Panda is not very loud. But the noise is reflected between the hulls, the "bridge" and the water surface, and so the Generator is good to hear (and to smell) in the cockpit. Do you know the problem? Where is the exhaust at your cats?

[tuskie]

Hi Ulstue,
We've got a little Paguro genset in the cockpit locker with an exhaust on the inner starboard hull.

It's not any noisier than most boat gensets and probably quieter than a petrol Honda on the back steps. Still, any engine running at a quiet anchorage is not a good thing. There is always a sigh of relief on board when I shut the generator down. Diesel fumes in the cockpit are not a problem. We try not to use it much, but it gets turned on when we need to make water or the sun fails to shine on our solar panels. We try to make water when traveling, this provides cleaner water to our water maker filters and means that generator noise I'd not such a problem.

The noise level is higher behind or in front of the boat than in the cockpit. The sound is directed out either end of the between hulls tunnel. This can be a very useful feature to repel those who like to anchor too close to me!

We have a normal wet exhaust which exits 150 mm above waterline. I think ours would be quieter if the rubber flap on the exhaust end cap was removed, or better still, an exhaust water separator was fitted.

By the way, are you committed to a Fischer-Panda? We heard lots of bad reports from owners when we were researching gensets. I can't give a glowing endorsement of Paguro generators either, as ours is only 18 months old but has not performed as well as expected.

[Ulstue]

We had heard good things about Fischer-Panda, they should be the best. Unfortunately, we quickly have had problems with our 5000i. Apparently, the small models have more problems because the engine is mounted lying on the side.

[exMaggieDrum]

I have a noisy refrigeration water pump. It is mounted on a glassed in platform and it has the rubber feet isolation "feature". However it is still very noisy. What I have seen before, and I intend to try on mine, is to take some fairly stiff 1" (or thereabouts) hose and cut it so it is longer than the base of the pump. You cut the ends at a diagonal so that the tops of the diagonals on each side are longer than the mounting holes on the pump. You punch a hole for each mounting hole and another set of holes at the longer(bottom) side of the hoses. You take some SS bolts and nuts/washers and mount the hoses to the pump feet. You take screws or bolts and mount the tube plus pump to your base platform. You can get a wrench on the inside pump bolts since the hose is cut close to them and you can drive the screws from the top of the hoses on the outer edges. It gives a much more isolated mount that will keep from vibrating the base platform and thus your hull. Pick a good hose that can handle the vibration though and use washers so it spreads the load as much as possible. Works pretty well.

[tuskie]

Good idea exMD. However you'd need very stiff hose to go under a 5kw diesel genset.
We have "double mounted" our little Paguro "Italian Wonder". (We wonder when it will next break down! A joke from past Alfa Romeo bad experiences, more so than the generator.)
It sits on its factory mounts on top of heavy plywood, this is then mounted on special rubber blocks attached to the locker floor. Additional soundproofing has been used to line the locker.

[exMaggieDrum]

Originally Posted by tuskie

Good idea exMD. However you'd need very stiff hose to go under a 5kw diesel genset.
We have "double mounted" our little Paguro "Italian Wonder". (We wonder when it will next break down! A joke from past Alfa Romeo bad experiences, more so than the generator.)
It sits on its factory mounts on top of heavy plywood, this is then mounted on special rubber blocks attached to the locker floor. Additional soundproofing has been used to line the locker.

Quite right Tuskie. Probably not good for a 5kW genset. We get these really quiet sailboats and then put all this kit in them that would wake the dead!

[Gradient]

Be very careful plugging directly into dock water. We did and the plastic elbow after the plug in point failed. The stbd engine bay was flooded to the motor mounts before we discovered it! There are drains via hoses leading into the bilges but the capacity is too low for such an event.

[exMaggieDrum]

Gradient, I agree with what you said. Which post here were you referring to?

[Ulstue]

(The thread started with the question of where the (fresh) water comes into the bilge in the L450.)

Thanks for the info.
I concerned that. Or on the other hand the hose bursts of from the inlet.
So anyone use this fresh water supply? Or is it a bad design, and everybody use the water from the tanks and refill them?

[exMaggieDrum]

I didn't even think about perhaps a fresh water connection to a dock as most boats just fill their tanks manually once in a while and it usually doesn't have much to do with the fresh water pump on board. I had not thought of that possibility (if that is what you meant). Of course, any plumbing (hoses, tubing, connections, pumps, etc.) can be a source of leaks. Our Whitby had a leak from its port water tank at the top seal. This was a common problem on that model and it presented itself, often, after filling the tank, or, when at sea with the boat moving around. I don't have any experience with the OP's boat so don't know if there would be a common problem like that.

[Ulstue]

Originally Posted by tuskie

... One of my mates has replaced 7 Johnson toilet macerator pumps on his Seawind.

Originally Posted by tuskie

Oh noooo! Johnson heads are very quiet. Silent in fact. That's because water gets into the macerator pump motor and it stops working. Can't be dismantled and repaired either.

I can confirm that now: After 2 1/2 years (means in fact: only used for a few weeks) I had to replace 2 of 3 macerators. Johnson is not responding to e-mails concerning this.

For the price of 1 Johnson Macerator you can also buy 2 new complete manual toilets e.g. from Jabsco, or a complete electrical one from another manufacturer.

Lesson lerned.

[udyy]

Within 1 year i have changed 6 Johnson bilge pumps. Looking for the reason i can see that the motor seal does not function.

[udyy]

Johnson _ do not use

[belizesailor]

Ive had lots of failures with both Johnson and Rule submersible pumps. The right answer I think is non-submersible diaphram pumps, but they are quite a bit more expensive and, depending on boat, can be a more complicated install.

[Bean Counter]

When connecting to dock water we always run it through a carbon block filter and pressure regulator, this will not only put cleaner water through your boat system but also reduce pressure to around 45psi. https://search.defender.com/?express...alator&x=0&y=0