david_stone•21d agoProlific Poster

Just realized my bilge pump died 3 years ago and I never noticed

I was down in the engine bay of my 1978 Pearson 323 last Saturday, tracing a slow leak from the stuffing box, and found my old Rule 1500 pump completely frozen with rust. Turns out it must have seized during that bad winter I spent in Norfolk back in 2021. I had been relying on a spare manual pump that whole time and never thought to check the electric one. Has anyone else discovered something broken that was dead way longer than you'd expect?

2 comments

2 Comments

christopherwilliams21d agoMost Upvoted

You said it must have "seized during that bad winter" but that is probably not what happened. A frozen pump usually cracks the housing or the impeller gets chewed up, not rust solid. Rust like that takes years of moisture sitting inside the pump, not just one cold season. Your stuffing box leak might have been spraying salt water on that pump for a long time without you seeing it. That constant wet environment is what kills pumps, not freezing temps alone. I would check the wiring and the float switch too, because if the pump was getting power all that time with the blades locked up, you might have a burned wire or a blown fuse somewhere.

ninab9521d agoTop Commenter

You know what, @christopherwilliams, i used to swear by the whole "winter freeze killed it" idea myself. But after reading your breakdown, it really clicked for me that a frozen pump usually cracks or chews up the impeller, not just seizes up with rust. That constant saltwater spray from a stuffing box leak would do way more damage over time than one cold snap could ever manage, especially if it kept getting wet every season without you catching it. And now that you mention checking the wiring and float switch, i bet that locked up motor could have let juice cook through the wires or blow a fuse without anyone noticing until the whole thing failed. You might have just saved me from making the same mistake next season, that's a better explanation than anything i was looking at before.