pump

jcizek

My bilge pump has two tubes, one goes out the side of the boat and the other goes out the back of the boat. The tube going out the back has a red handled lever that has always been horizontal to the bottom of the boat. does anyone know what the lever is for? Also, the bilge pump works, but always leaves about an inch of water in the boat.

Ernest_T

Most bilge pumps only have one water connection that exits the boat.  Are you sure that the second line is not electrical wires inside a corrugated insulator?  The handle you describe is a cut off valve.  It should be parallel to the water line when in the open position.  I don't know of very many situations that you would need to close a valve on the bilge pump line.   Be sure you are not confusing the livewell lines with the bilge.  There will be 2 lines coming off the livewell pump, and most of the livewell systems will have a cut off valve on the intake and outlet line to allow you to fill/drain the well.

No bilge pump will completely remove all the water from the bilge.  1" is about right.  There is a float (valve or switch) inside the pump that activates as the water level rises.  It is designed to turn on only when a certain level of water is reached, otherwise the pump will run all the time (as is the case with some manual pumps).