The Developing Leak

When a through-hull fitting, a sterndrive bellow, a stuffing box packing, a raw water engine hose, a cockpit and livewell plumbing component,  or a drain plug start to give way, there will typically be a gradual increase of pump cycling activity that can be observed as the leak worsens.  Nautic Alert continuously monitors the pump cycle activities and will measure the change in water level over a period of time to detect the development of a leak.  A change in the normal pump cycling activities that has been deemed as a developing problem will be reported to Nautic Alert Insight.   Insight will communicate the bilge event on-board and to remote recipients.

The Faulty Float Switch

Float switches are mechanical switches, and thus have a finite number of activations they can handle before the electrical contacts degrade. Before this becomes a factor, more times than not, the sludge in the bilge causes the float switch to get stuck in an open or closed position affecting the operation of the bilge pump. This can cause pump burn-out, DC voltage depletion (especially in a moored situation), or no pump activations with water present and increasing. Nautic Alert eliminates the need for a mechanical bilge pump float switch and controls the pump activations using water level measurements and learned bilge pump characteristics.  If Nautic Alert Nevata develops a problem in measuring the water, it can still control the pumps and will communicate the situation to Nautic Alert Insight. Insight will communicate the Fault event on-board and to remote recipients.

The Faulty Electrical Connections

From time to time, wires and connections between the float switch and pump can get submerged in the bilge water. Over time, the connection can corrode to the point where too much impedance is present, and current cannot flow to the pump, despite the float and pump being otherwise functional. This condition can also be masked by the manual override switch. Many setups use a manual override switch that lights an LED showing voltage is present at the connector, but doesn’t say anything relevant about the state of the pump. One can assume the pump is working while it really may not be. The Nautic Alert Nevata bilge pump switch and controller mounts on the ceiling of the bilge compartment keeping electrical connections out of the bilge water.  If the Nevata controller is not able to activate a pump due to some electrical problem, Nevata will detect this situation and communicate it to Nautic Alert Insight.  Insight will communicate the Fault event on-board and to remote recipients.

Blockages

When a pump seems to work correctly, there still may be a problem. Many people use check-valves in their pump outlets to prevent backflow, and these can get stuck. Hair and gunk in the bilge can jam a pump impeller, hoses can get kinked or knocked loose.

Being able to detect a pump is running continuously may be a hint of an issue in this situation, but a proactive solution is to switch to another pump that can effectively remove water in the interim, which Nautic Alert Nevata will do. In doing so, Nautic Alert Insight will notifying a yacht owner of the details to prevent pump burn-out and draining the boat’s DC supply, but also to provide adequate time to deal with the situation.

Incoming Water Capacity Overtakes Primary Pump

If the rate of incoming water is too much for a small primary pump to handle, the yacht owner may not know it and the bilge high level alarm will not give any indication until it is too late and the yacht is already sinking. Switching to a larger capacity backup pump may be necessary, which Nautic Alert Nevata will automatically do. In doing so this may result in lowering the water level effectively, but if this is not the case, Nautic Alert Insight will communicate the bilge event on-board and to remote recipients.