Another Bilge Pump question.

[jmas]

Main pump conected direct to Battery (fused) so it runs automatically when water level turns it on.
On-Off Switch on electric panel not conected to pump (switch is on/off only, not 3 way)
Can I connect 3rd wire from switch to pump so that I could manually run pump,or would I put extra voltage to pump?
Pump has built in float.
Every thing I read on Google says its OK, but I dont want to ruin pump.
Other 2 pumps wired directly to Batt.

 

[littlebookworm]

Yes, you can connect a separate wire to the pump to run it manually. That comes in handy when you want to pump out water which hasn't reached a high enough level to trigger the float switch. Remember to fuse that circuit; an inline fuse holder works well. Hy

 

[Sandy]

What Hy said.

And make sure the dash manual switch is powered through the battery switch and same battery. Ideally each pump should be on a separate battery from the other pumps.

P.23 here shows Rule's typical float and manual switch hookup. Just ignore the Auto part of the switch if desired , and instead of getting positive supply from the battery get it from the battery switch common or a positive bus right near that switch:

http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/kingpumps/RUL-PMP-Standard-Bilge-pump-Manual.pdf

Personally, I like the setup on my boat where the manual dash pump switches are powered through the battery switches and a dash fuse next to each switch. But the float switches go from each battery positive (baypassing the battery switch) through an inline fuse within 6 " of the battery, the through independent DC breaker switch on the AC/DC panel then to the float switch and pump and negative on the battery. These are the only DC breakers except the unused fridge that bypass the battery switches, and are the only ones that generally always stay on when the boat is floating .

This allows me to turn off any pump if the float switch is stuck up until I can squeeze down there to clean, lube and exercise the float, and also lets me turn off the float breakers if desired when the boat is hauled and garboard plug is out but batteries are still connected.