I don't know if this too basic of question for this thread. But this past weekend our bilge was taking on a enough water to kick on the bilge pumps. We have two pumps, one of each side of the stringer. When they first kicked one they seemed to work normal. At 7 am my friend was down checking on the boats and he said my pumps were just running and nothing was coming out. Once he stepped on to the boat they shut off, so it seemed like a stuck float. Later that day day the pumps kicked on and off a few times but they still were running with nothing coming out. This time it seemed to be at a lower speed and you could see the water in the lines just going back and forth. It wasn't producing enough pressure. When we got back to the slip the pumps were still doing the same thing. So I dumped 5 extra gallons of water into the bilge to see if the water level was a factor and the same thing continued to happen. I check the test knobs on them, and they worked fine and I did hear them kick off.

Now, this is when it gets interesting. I pulled the two CBs on the battery panel and they did not turn off. My wife turned the switch on and they started pumping at normal pressure. Even with the two fuses and CBs pulled the pumps still worked.

These are the pumps....

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs...4#.T9dFPPEs12A

Is this something these pumps are know for? Is this normal and should I not worry about it?

And yes, I know where the water is coming in from and it will be fixed before our next outing.

the pumps are wired to the switch and directly to the batt in most cases. It sounds like you have a loose connection or corrosion on the leg that is wired to the batt. Your switch side is ok and that is why it pumped fine when your wife hit the bilge switch i'm guessing.

Thanks for the reply and input.