The lowly bilge pump switch -- better mousetrap edition

[Jammer]

There's probably no more prosaic piece of equipment aboard than the bilge pump switch. I have two, one for the bilge, one for the shower sump. Both failed over the winter :/


I have replaced one of them with a Water Witch conductance sensor, and have another of those on order for the other one.


A major online chandlery lists three dozen different bilge pump switches. Has anyone had particularly good luck with any of them? Do the more expensive and unusual configurations work any better?

[wholybee]

I have has good luck with the hydrostatic types. The switch and all wiring is kept outside the bilge high and dry, and a tube runs down into the bilge to detect the water level.

Rule makes one, and Groco makes one. The Groco is solely mechanical, and the Rule also requires power. I had a Groco first, and after 5 years it become inconsistent. It still worked, but the level at which it turned on varied quite a bit. I switched to the Rule, and have since learned they occasionally (every 6 months or so) need the tube cleaned out and purged of any standing water in it. Given that, the Groco was probably fine.

The main thing I like about it is that rough seas doesn't trigger it, while float switches will bound on and off even if the bilge is dry. Shortly after installing a bilge counter and a new float switch, a rough 2 day passage resulted in 6000 activations and a dead switch. That isn't a good design.