bilge pump

[Hunthard]

Just picked up a 1994 20ft cc osprey. The bilge pump won't come on unless the battery switch is turned on. I always thought it should be hard wired, so while the boat is at the dock with the batteries off and water is entering the bilge the pump will kick on. Anyone else experience the bilge pump not being hard wired to the battery?

[Capt. Bob]

Mine aren't wired directly to the battery but that's the way I did it. My boat rests on a trailer so no need to put a possible parasite drain on the batteries. Still, you can re-wire directly to the battery if you prefer.

Good luck.

[RickK]

X2 What Bob said - wire them if you're leaving it in the water for any time.

[wingtime]

Usually the float switch is hard wired to the battery before the battery switch.  The switch at the helm to turn on the pump manually is powered only when the battery/house power switch is on.

When you say it won't come on unless the battery switch is on... are you talking about lifting the float switch by hand? or flipping on the helm switch?