Swallow Yachts Forum > Technical

BC26 (and possibly other boats) ballast pump problem

(1/2) > >>

Nick Orchard:
I normally leave my boat without ballast in so that it sits higher in the water and keeps the white line cleaner, so I possibly use the pump more that others. When I came to empty the tanks after my first sail of the season a couple of weeks ago, I switched the pump on and was surprised by the complete absence of any noise. Tried switching everything off and on again as you do, but still nothing. Assumed that it must be the pump electrical connectors corroding over winter, but no, they were fine. Took the whole pump off and removed the impeller and found that I couldn’t turn the motor shaft, even using pliers to grip it.
Took the whole thing home and stripped it down to be met with quite a mess inside. Top bearing rusty brown and completely seized, bottom bearing just about moving but not good, thermal cutout switch open-circuit and the interference suppression capacitor wandering around loose because both terminal legs had corroded through completely!
On consulting the manual I noticed that it advises that the unit should be mounted with the pump head below the motor, whereas in my 26 it has been installed the other way up. This means that when the shaft seals loose their effectiveness then salt water will start leaking from the bottom of the pump, down the shaft and into the motor, hence the damage. In hindsight this appears rather obvious, so when I put it back I’ll be mounting it the other way up, which will probably require a mod to the plumbing, and possibly a reversal of the pump direction (it pumps both ways).
This post is therefore an advisory to everyone with a ballast pump to check which way up it’s been installed, and to turn it round if the pump head is currently above the motor.

Willie The Rut Lander:
Nick
Thanks for the advice. I have a Whale Pump on my BRe - what make is yours?
Additionally, I'm looking for advice as I'm thinking of hard-wiring my pump into the ballast tank and routing the cable through the starboard locker and to the control panel in the cabin. I will switch the pump on from the control panel, perhaps with an extra switch to ensure it's not turned on in error, and will then just extend the outflow pipe out through the main ballast hatch as required.
I am thinking of using Scanstrut seals between locker and tank, though these seals are designed for vertical cable seals. For 99% of its life, the tanks are empty as the BRe lives on a trailer.
Does anyone think this is a good or bad idea and have any suggestions.
If it doesn't work I can always simply refill the small holes.
Thanks
Willie

Nick Orchard:
Willie - the BC26 pump is a Johnson FB4-19 model 10-24689-01 to be precise (well it is on my boat). It's probably rather OTT for a BRe as it pumps 45l/min and draws 10-12A, but we have 750l of ballast to dump. Attached is a photo of most of it mounted the wrong way up in my locker. The 26 also has a relatively complicated plumbing arrangement where the pump can be switched between ballast or bilge, and you can use either electric or manual pump.

Regarding wiring, on the 26 it is cabled via the bulkheads to the main switch/fuse panel which is where it is operated from, much as I think you're suggesting on your BRe. Can't give you any advice on what would be ok or not on a BRe I'm afraid.

RogerLennard:
I go for a relatively simple solution that doesn't involve switch panels, extra wiring and drilling holes in my BR20. The pump is kept dry until I put it in the bilge. Check out the video at around 7 minutes.

https://youtu.be/YqqhbnS7yBU?si=cbyE3995_CebsPBr

AndyB:
Hi Nick,

I have exactly the same setup so I guess this is a standard installation. Thought it would be easy to turn it around but not so sure now.

Seeing my boat is still non-sailable it would be great if you could let us all know how you changed it and I will copy.

Thanks
Andy

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page