John Murray
2013-12-22 21:26:45
Anyone out there come up with a alternative floatswitch to the Rule Super switch?I've had to replace mine a few times in the last year and one half.It seems Rule must have changed something because I never replaced the switch very often before.When I did it was because the wiring job was a bit shaky or corroded out,ie normal wear.The switch normally held up very well..Rule has guarantee with the exception of oil damage to switch.I don't have any more or any less oil in the bilgh so I'm a bit perplexed.
akfish
2013-12-23 03:41:28
John, I have not got one but heard that the Waterwitch is great. I will swith to those soon at least give it a shot anyway.
akfish
2013-12-23 04:36:25
Great JKD that confirms what I have heard and will be sure to get them!
Salty
2013-12-23 04:37:56
What is the situation with current I to the bilge with these?
Kelper
2013-12-23 05:04:51
I was wondering the same thing Salty. I like the looks of the highwater alarms. I wish they had a panel for 3 compartments.
Trnaround
2013-12-23 15:38:42
When you change to the Water Witch from the Rule float switch do you need to alter the mounting bracket?
My Water Witch switches were each mounted directly on a fiberglass bulkhead so no bracket was used. I am still using Rule pumps but not the float switch brackets that came with them.
As for electrical current(s) in the bilge, there wasn't any current that registered on my Fluke digital tester when the laz, the fish hold, and the engine room were each flooded to the level of the switches to be certain that each of the pump switches [and also the bilge alarm system] worked properly. I have checked each of them a couple of times since mid-July, and with one exception - I still got no current reading at multiple test points in each bilge area. Last summer I did replace an older fish hold Rule pump that made the Fluke readout register a stray current, but nothing since then.
Salty
2013-12-23 22:48:36
Great thread, thanks John and all the respondents, I may switch.
Pun intended.
doryman
2013-12-24 07:31:13
May want to reconsider on the water witch. I installed one on the recommendation of a marine surveyor. Big mistake! Nothing but problems with it. Had one in the shaft alley in the fish hold. These things don't like fish slime. Woke up 3 different times 80 miles offshore on the tuna grounds to the high water alarm going off because that stupid water witch would not turn on. Then other times it would not turn off and the pump would get stuck running dry for and hour. I ripped it out halfway through the season after having to dig out my center bin of ice to wipe and clean that piece of junk off 3 times every trip. Friend who works at a popular marine supply store said forget those things unless you have a brand new fiberglass sports fishing boat with non leaky engines and spotless bilges. My 1944 wood troller does not fit that description.
doryman - Thanks for the input. I will keep an even closer eye on my Water Witch installations. I would be pretty P.O.ed with those results regardless if I was drifting 80 miles offshore or sitting on the hook in a quiet anchorage trying to get some sleep. BTW, did your friend who works at the marine supply store offer any name-brand recommendations for replacing your Water Witch units?
doryman
2013-12-24 16:00:44
Have been through 1 blue and white Rule with the protective box around it, and 1 Rule Super switch in the last year, that is when I tried the waterwitch. Guys at the marine supply said that something seems to have changed with the Rules, I know they are mercury free now, maybe that is the problem. They are seeing a lot more failures and agree that most guys are switching them out yearly. I finally went with one from Johnson Controls, made in the US, it is a small black plastic box with a float inside and was cheaper that the Rules and much cheaper than the waterwitch. I think it even had a 5 year warranty. I have had zero problems with it so far. One thing I did do was run my float switch and bilge pump leads from the fish hold back into the engine room and terminated everything at a buss bar with heat shrink ring terminals and sealed it with corrosion block. With how float switches are wired (needing 3 wires connected) it is impossible to get a truly waterproof connection near the pump with three wires going into a heat shrink. The side of the shrinkable butt connector with two wires going in will always get corrosion in it especially in the bilge, and I have never found 3-way shrinkable junctions. Solder filled shrinks help but will still corrode on the side with two wires entering, there is a little path for water to run into the connection no matter what. Fought a bad connection problem this summer, and kept overlooking what looked like a great soldered heat shrink 3 wire connection in the shaft alley only to find the green corrosion inside the shrink, wire was totally eaten away.
Hans2
2013-12-24 16:45:54
Great thread full of informative posts. Nothing to add but a "Thanks fellas"!
JYDPDX
2013-12-24 16:50:34
Went through 2 or 3 rule super switches this year after being convinced by a colleague that they were superior to the standard rule float switch. Took a bit of convincing my supplier (murray pac) that it was the switch and not my dirty bilge, but It sounds like there is momentum gathering that they are faulty. One of them didn't make it a month. I am so sick of crawling into the bilge to do the wire job, I am going to implement the remotely located bus panel as explained above, great idea.
So people are having good luck with the johnson switches? I now have rule computerized float switches and don't really understand how they function. They seem to go off every other minute at times and yet pump next to nothing, maybe they are just checking for water.
Also looking forward to more recommendations.
lone eagle
2013-12-24 22:52:33
I have pressure switches. all electric components are in a dry compartment. The rule switches keep failing and the water witch don't like oily bilge...(4-71)
carojae
2014-01-01 02:15:15
The remote wire connections idea is great. Somethings are so simple and yet never thought of by most - at least not by me. Thanks for that.