Hi there,
This is my first post.
I recently had a near-disaster on my 2006 Hunter 33. I was cleaning the bilge and sprayed some water in to rinse, expecting the bilge pump to wake up and pump it out.
Turns out the pump had siezed, and there was smoke starting to come off the pump! Further examination showed a nice hole burned through the plastic pump housing.
In a near-panic, I quickly realized there is no shut-off switch for the pump. The only way to stop the burining was to cut the wire... this while my head is down near the pump and plasticy burn fumes swirling about!
After shutting it down I found that Hunter had installed a separate fuse for the bilge pump on the wall beneath the chart table. It is the pop-out kind with no actual circuit breaker switch. I assume that is so it can not be accidently tripped to the off position.
The real problem is that the fuse is a 10 Amp fuse, but the pump, a Rule 750, is only a 5 Amp device. The overheating pump didn't draw more than 10 Amp, so never tripped the fuse but did cause enough heat to potentially burn the boat.
I replaced the pump and showed the burned one to my local dealer. I was told they would talk to Hunter about the situation, but never heard back anything.
If this is the standard configuration from the factory, there's a lot of potential fire hazards out there.
Check your pumps!
Dave.
This is my first post.
I recently had a near-disaster on my 2006 Hunter 33. I was cleaning the bilge and sprayed some water in to rinse, expecting the bilge pump to wake up and pump it out.
Turns out the pump had siezed, and there was smoke starting to come off the pump! Further examination showed a nice hole burned through the plastic pump housing.
In a near-panic, I quickly realized there is no shut-off switch for the pump. The only way to stop the burining was to cut the wire... this while my head is down near the pump and plasticy burn fumes swirling about!
After shutting it down I found that Hunter had installed a separate fuse for the bilge pump on the wall beneath the chart table. It is the pop-out kind with no actual circuit breaker switch. I assume that is so it can not be accidently tripped to the off position.
The real problem is that the fuse is a 10 Amp fuse, but the pump, a Rule 750, is only a 5 Amp device. The overheating pump didn't draw more than 10 Amp, so never tripped the fuse but did cause enough heat to potentially burn the boat.
I replaced the pump and showed the burned one to my local dealer. I was told they would talk to Hunter about the situation, but never heard back anything.
If this is the standard configuration from the factory, there's a lot of potential fire hazards out there.
Check your pumps!
Dave.
and not let some fuse break and let my boat sink. Besides, if it's running so much that it catches fire, it will only take a few seconds for it to be submerged in water anyway after it stops working due to the fire.