Hit 1,000 hours on my bilge pump and it finally clicked
Last week I crossed 1,000 hours on the little Rule pump under my cabin sole. I keep a log book (yes, I'm that guy) and the number surprised me because most folks say these things die after 500 or so. The kicker is it wasn't one big leak, it was 14 years of small drips from a stuffing box I kept meaning to repack. Finally did the job last Saturday and now the pump barely cycles, so I'm wondering if anyone else tracks run time or just replaces parts when they hear weird noises?
Keeping a log changes how you think about the whole system. Once you see 14 years of small drips stacked up in numbers, the pump stops being the problem and the stuffing box becomes the real story. Most people swap parts on noise alone, but tracking run time tells you if it is actually getting worse or if you just had a bad week.