Mounting Ultra Bilge Pump Float Switch

[Thomas1985]

Ordered an Ultra float switch I want to get mounted down in my keel bilge. Very very hard to reach…

How should I mount the pipe clamp device that holds the switch? Do you guys think 5200 or similar would hold?

I don’t think I can reach down there. I’ll probably have to make some sort of reaching device to stick it to the wall of the keel sump. So, access to work on a mounting solution is horrendous.

[Matt Johnson]

We had a similar issue with the depth of our narrow bilge. I ended up attaching the switch to a 1" pvc pipe with hose clamps and then using conduit straps to hold the pipe in its place against a bulkhead. That switch is worth the effort.

[Thomas1985]

So you permanently hung it off the PVC pipe?

That’s not a bad idea. also would create a wire chase.

Which addresses the other issue… the access to the keel sump passes near the stuffing box. The pvc could double as a shield to prevent the wires from getting in to my shaft!

Stuffing box access is really bad too. It needs adjusted this weekend. It’s dripping every couple seconds at rest. After motoring 16 hours I bet I had 100 gallons in that keel sump. I must have stood there 10 minutes holding the manual bilge switch when we got home.

[Matt Johnson]

Yup. The switch doesn't take any real structural load, so was more that fine to support it and the wires.

I also used another PVC pipe as my bilge pump pick-up. This was attached to a hose and fed into a whale Gulper 320 that was mounted above the bilge area.

You could integrate them together, but I wasn't able to since i needed to be able to pull everything up easy to inspect/clean and there wasn't enough overhead space to do it with an all in one solution.

EDIT: I just remembered that I didn't use an ULTRA Switch here, I used a hydro air switch attached to the PVC pipe. The Ultra was mounted on a King Starboard shelf in a different part of the bilge as the secondary emergency pump. But the principle is the same.

[Kelkara]

I have a deep sump for the bilge behind the keel ballast, with only a tiny access hatch on the cabin sole. There is no way I can reach the bottom of it with my arms. My manual bilge pump has a hose running to the top of the sump which is then attached to a PVC pipe which runs from just below the access hatch to the deepest part of the sump. I zip-tied a tipperware box to the end of this pipe, and mounted a rule500 pump and two float swicthes to the box. One float switch is for the pump, and the second a little higher is for an alarm. This box then gets fed into the sump on the end of the pipe and rests on the bottom at the deepest part next to the pickup for the manual pump, held in place by virtue of the PVC pipe being rigid across a daigonal of the sump. I can access the rule500 and the switches by disconnecting the pvc pipe from its hose, and pulling the pipe out to retrieve the box.


Sorry, I don't have a photo to share. But I found a diagram ... all the wires and hoses squeeze through a small hole under the engine by the access hatch, and the deepest part of the sump is the opposite corner.

[Tsuru]

My Ultra Safety Pump switch came with a hose clamp allowing it to be clamped to the bilge pump body. It was simple and worked well.
On our deep keel boat the pump and high level alarm are mounted on a piece of 1” x1/4” x 3’ piece of aluminum flat stock with a 90 deg bend (or it may be welded) at the bottom to mount the pump. A 90 deg section welded above to mount the high level float switch.
You need to allow enough hose and wire to allow pump removal.

https://www.tefgel.com/contain.php?p...mpswitch_price

[coopec43]

I mounted my Rule bilge pumps/float switches on a plastic plank 6 in. X .75 in. x 5 ft (got them out of a recycle bin). The "plank" is secured in place with a hand knob just under the floor. Of course I can easily raise the bilge pumps for cleaning, inspection etc.

[Madehn]

+1 to this
My Ultra Safety Pump switch came with a hose clamp allowing it to be clamped to the bilge pump body. It was simple and worked well.
On our deep keel boat the pump and high level alarm are mounted on a piece of 1” x1/4” x 3’ piece of aluminum flat stock with a 90 deg bend (or it may be welded) at the bottom to mount the pump. A 90 deg section welded above to mount the high level float switch.
You need to allow enough hose and wire to allow pump removal.