Carver Owners Forum

How do I get the bilge pumps to run all the time and not automatically ? there are switches in aft closet,on both the fly and lower helms and on the main pannel. I want to run the mid pump to remove some water but it seems to be set to come on only for short moments.Thanks for your help.

There are 2 styles of pumps.

1) Works continuously by selecting the on position at the helm or automatically when the float switch is activated.

2) Pump runs automatically every 10 mins or so for a short period, if there is water the pump senses this because of the higher amp draw from pumping water as opposed to spinning freely and remains on until no water is left. These pumps cannot be turned on to run continuously which sounds like what you have.

On my 3607 if you turn the pump switch at the helm (lower or bridge stations) then the pumps run. This circuit is fed off a different breaker in the panel (manual bilge pump fwd, manual bilge pump main).

If someone replaced the pumps though you could have the situation where midnightsun describes where the pump will only run for so many seconds then shutoff if it doesn't detect a load.

I suspect that the "switches" you're describing on the main panel and in the aft closet are really the circuit protection breakers. The ones in the aft closet would be wired directly to the battery (maybe at the battery switch) and provide power for the automatic operation and the ones in the panel would be providing power for the manual activation via the actual switches at the helms.

Thank you