I've been experiencing intermittent
bilge pump operation for a couple years now. The components and the circuit seem pretty basic. I have a small
Rule pump, a level switch, some
wiring, and a simple Auto-off-on
control panel. There are no microprocessors or
computers involved. Most of the time, everything works fine. But I've had two occasions where it didn't. The first was a year ago when the
pump would not run by flipping the switch to manual or manually raising the level switch. Then, later in the day, it seemed to have fixed itself. Recently, I was in some very rough seas and I noticed that the panel light was on (and the pump was running). However, the
bilge was dry. Exercising the float switch made no difference. I ended up turning the pump off. Later that day, at
anchor, everything was working fine.
I don't believe in just replacing components without understanding what is causing the problem. But I'm not sure just what the problem is and this is a problem I'm no longer going to overlook. Has anyone reading this ever experienced this type of erratic operation? Do you have any light to shed or suggestions? Thanks much in advance.