2012 242LS Bilge Pump

[SoonersJet81]

I had my 2012 242LS in a wet slip last week at Lake of the Ozarks and the bilge pump seemed to be running constantly. There's no water in the bilge, although I have seen the bilge work when it needs to. It didn't matter if the bilge switch was on or off, I could still hear noise coming from the engine compartment. Heck I'm not even sure it WAS the bilge pump making noise, but I assume that's what it was. Can someone give me some insight as to normal operation?

 

[Hot2Go]

On my AR230 it would “sense” every 3-5 minutes, and if it didn’t find any water it would go silent. Not sure if your boat has the same style. Would you still hear a sound when you turned the batteries off? I wired my bilge pump to the switch because I didn’t want it sensing until end of time, so I always left battery 1 on when wet slipping. If the pump is stuck sensing the entire time I can only assume the pump wiring is an issue or the pump itself may be coming to an end if that’s truly your problem!

Below is a pic of the owners manual on your bilge pump, FWIW.

 

[SoonersJet81]

Nope - when the batteries are switched off the noise stopped. It was a very quiet clicking sound and again the bilge was dry - I assume the auto sensing switch is some sort of float that doesn't constantly need to run? Either way we were in a quiet cove and the boat never takes on water so I switched the batteries off each night so I didn't wake up to a dead battery.

 

[Hot2Go]

Wonder if the auto sensing mechanism is going bad or something (if that's the issue). It isn't a float style bilge though, it has a sensor instead.. A lot of people install secondary bilges that are float style for fail safe and to not deal with the auto-sensing all the time.. I'd try to make sure you source the actual noise next time you're on the boat! And get back to us on if it truly is the bilge, should be able to unclip it pretty easily. We head down to LOZ 8-14th at the 40, and then staying up the Gravois Arm during the shootout, won't venture anywhere near the shootout that weekend though!

 

[SoonersJet81]

We stayed at MM 28 Friday - Tuesday. Friday night drove over to Larry's on the Lake (0 stars would not recommend lol) and it was fairly choppy but manageable. Did 20-25 mph both Friday and Saturday. Saturday we headed up to Captain Ron's for Lakeapalooza and it was similar conditions. Sunday the lake really started to empty out and by Monday I could pretty much send it. Tuesday driving back to the ramp in Linn Creek Cove I did 47 mph basically the entire way. I will have it back on a slip over Labor Day weekend and will definitely try and locate the source of the noise - thanks for your help!

 

[Hot2Go]

We stayed at MM 28 Friday - Tuesday. Friday night drove over to Larry's on the Lake (0 stars would not recommend lol) and it was fairly choppy but manageable. Did 20-25 mph both Friday and Saturday. Saturday we headed up to Captain Ron's for Lakeapalooza and it was similar conditions. Sunday the lake really started to empty out and by Monday I could pretty much send it. Tuesday driving back to the ramp in Linn Creek Cove I did 47 mph basically the entire way. I will have it back on a slip over Labor Day weekend and will definitely try and locate the source of the noise - thanks for your help!

We were down there the same time as you, we stayed at the 31 Thurs-Mon. Thurs Big Dicks for dinner. Friday they had that poker run but we still went to Paradise at the 24 and back to our dock. Didn't go to Capt rons on saturday like you for that event as we just went to The Cave, and then anchored down by the Fish&Co. Went to Boondockz for breakfast Sunday then Capt rons afterwards and it was dead! The new hull design on our 252SE took on the lake well above my expectations as we traveled 30-38mph the entire time, not to try to get you to upgrade or anything

 

[tdonoughue]

Sorry; late to the party. But as to the bilge pump on the 2012 24'...

When you turn the helm switch off it turns off the pump and nothing happens if there is water at all. When you put the helm switch to on, the pump will activate every 3-5 min for a few seconds. If the pump senses load (e.g. that there is water there that it is pumping), then it continues to pump until the load stops. If there is no load (e.g. no water there, so the impeller is just spinning freely), the pump turns off and the timer for the 3-5 min starts again.

A constantly running pump to me would indicate a) dirty screen (basically letting water seep in, never getting enough there to let the pump clear it out, so it stays on), b) broken impeller (broken blades mean the pump can't get the water all the way up and out, so it falls back down and keeps the pump running), or c) bad electronics on the pump so it can't properly sense the load.