Anyone ever have

[sailaway78]

one of the stupid damn rule bilge pump switches come on by itself and hang in the on position. I went out to the boat today. Bilge pump running, no water in the bilge, no sign of water in the bilge. Hasn't rained for a couple of days. No leaks that I can find. Nothing stuck under the float. Flipped it up, and if fell back down and shut off.I don't like the Rule float switches, and the only reason I have one is because when we were leaving NJ headed back to New Orleans with the boat, it's all I could find in a hurry. But I have never heard of one of them doing this. Maybe I have ghosts or something. One thing for sure, it will soon find a new home in a trash can.

 

[Manny]

I've never had mine turn on without being raised

But it does get stuck on sometimes. I have to lift it a few times and it will eventually shut off.Is it possible you had high winds, waves, or a bad stink potter wake that could of rocked the boat hard enough to trigger the switch?Manny

 

[Stu Jackson]

Unless it's brand new, they do wear out

so if you continue to have trouble with it, just replace it. Answer to your question: yes.

 

[sailaway78]

Had some wind

But in the canal where I am, the boat moves very little. Guess it's possible, but don't see how. Of course I don't see how it could turn itself on either. It will be gone soon, either way. I really do prefer the electronic sensor types of switch. Have one in the S2, ever since I've owned it, and it never, ever screws up.

 

[Salish Sea Cruiser]

What electronic switch would you put in?

I've been thinking about replacing my Rule switch also. I also have one of those three position Rule control switches. That is going next week. I find a bilge switch that can be turned off very annoying so Ill replace it with a double pole switch with no off position. If I need to turn it off, I can pull the fuse.

 

[Benny17441]

Float switches by their nature should be installed

in a sailboat as close to the center of the boat as possible and oriented aft in a line from bow to stern. This will prevent the foot from lifting as a result of heeling. The float switch foot will not normally lift by itself but once lifted it can get stuck. The swing arm gets full of crud at the joint and its weight alone does not allow for it to properly close. Now the question is how did that float foot on your boat become raised? A large wave or water in the bilge? I would not blame Rule as that can happen to any other float switch. That is the nature of the beast. The only way to keep them working properly is to periodically check them. You may lift them and let them drop and they can work fine but lower the foot slowly and see if it will still shut off. I find that by manually working the switch at least once a month it keeps it loose. The alternative would be to go to electronic switches or to a ball type switch. If you are on shorepower that is not a big deal but the fellow out in mooring may kill his batteries and leave his boat exposed. I had a similar experience whereby the pump was on continuously but in this case the bilge was full of water. We run two pumps each with it's own switch but they both share the same discharge hose. A check valve prevents water from one of the pumps to be recirculated through the other. The float switches are positioned at different heigths which makes the pump connected to the higher one a backup or a booster if the main one becomes disabled or overwhelmed. Well in my case the check valve had failed and the main pump was working but the water was staying in the bilge by recirculating through the backup pump. There was no easy way to check this while the bilge was dry so now I take a hose and fill the bilge and watch the functioning of the switches and the pumps. I do this every six months.

 

[Steve Dion]

Yes, I threw the damn thing away.

I had the same problem with a Rule Pump & switch. This happened on two different boats.Both times I ended up with an all in one unit (pump & switch in the same case)and the problems never happened again.

 

[sailaway78]

My switch is located

My float switch is mounted centerline, oriented for and aft. I am still thinking that some how it turned on by it's lonesome. Just no waves in the canal, and I live at the end, so no boat wakes. The float arm didn't seem the least bit sticky, and it was down when I looked. Maybe something weird happened but don't know what it would be. Am favoring a ghost as the culprit. I like the electronic switches with the two metal fingers sticking out, but hard to find. I will replace it with an electronic though.

 

[Bad Obsession]

It was a ghost

A ghost turned on the bilge pump. Maybe it was Gremlins......These things happen. I guess that is why most people say that you should keep spares of most parts and you should have redundancy built into the system. I think that I am going to make sure that, when I install a shower sump system, I make it so that the sump pump is hard wired to the battery and runs out a separate hose to the transom of the boat. That way if the first bilge pump fails I have a backup if the water gets higher in my bilge.....just a thought.

 

[Mike B]

Which electronic switch?

Which brand of electronic switch do you use and where do you find them? I had ordered a Smart Switch from West Marine (couldn't find one in their store) and it worked fine for a couple of years. Realized it had crapped out when I saw condensation water from the air conditioner under the floor. Couldn't find another one so bought the type WM sells. At this point I'm not real confident as it seems to have to have clean contacts for it to work properly.

 

[SamLust]

Not Gremlins, "Jersey Devils".

These special switches were made available only to retail outlets in New Jersey. They allowed the switch to be operated remotely through the ministrations of a special shaman in Ho Ho Kus. The only way to counteract the spell is a special lubricant available only from the shaman. When removing the switch an incantation must be said over it as it is heaved into sea water at least 2000 feet deep. That is of course after the mercury is removed.If the switch is not mercury then it is simply the pressure of the micro switch against it's cam. In which case I have no idea how you got the float lifted so high.

 

[sailaway78]

The best electronic

bilge pump switch I have seen is the kind with the two fingers sticking out. But now I can't find one anywhere. The ones with the two little dots on them seem to be OK, but haven't had one. I have two bilge pumps installed, plus the shower sump is plumbed overboard. So plenty of redundancy. Just the idea of the stupid switch failing. It is approx. 18 months old.

 

[Fred Ficarra7897]

Old story

I've had several Rule switches. All failed. And all exhibited failure in even unconceivable ways. (Kindda like the war on terror) Mine last filled a trash can 5 years ago. Never again.