- Mar 25, 2008
- 5,536
- Boat Info
- 2006 Sea Ray 58 DB
- Engines
- MAN CRM V8-900s, Twin Disc Drives; Onan 21.5 Generator
Great writeup! That will help many people. Thanks for the time you took to write it up.SHOWER SUMP / GREY WATER REPAIR
View attachment 70935
After taking the boat to Catalina Island over Memorial Day weekend with my son & four of his friends I used the shower in the boat. I noticed the drain was a little slow draining, and later lifted the floor hatch and noticed the shower sump box was full (overflowing to the bilge) with nasty shower water and the pump was not going on.
Here are my steps to diagnosing / repairing:
1) Removed the wing nuts / cover from the sump box.
2) Manually emptied the nasty shower water.
3) Tried to manually activate the float switch to no effect.
4) Checked the wiring bundle (pictured at bottom of the screen) and one of the wires came loose from the butt connectors (where two wires joined in with one wire).
5) I temporarily stuck the wire back in and tried again to manually activate the float switch and it still didn't work.
6) I bypassed the float switch and the pump came on right away and started pumping out water.
7) I turned off the "Sump Pump #1" breaker at the DC Breaker Panel
8) I cut all the positive wires away from the pump and float switch and removed the float switch from the box (it had come loose anyway and had kind of been floating around in the shower water).
9) I checked the float switch with a multimeter and still when manually activating the switch there still was no connection.
10) Went to West Marine and bought a replacement float switch (same model and size as the old one). I also bought new heat shrink butt connectors, including a step down butt connector for where two wires joined with a single wire.
11) Tested the new float switch with the multimeter and confirmed when activated that the float switch closed the connection.
12) Installed the float switch into the sump box. NOTE: The screw holes in the sump box were slightly too close together to attach screws at both ends of the float switch. This was probably why the old switch eventually came loose. I tightened the screw on the side of the switch where the wiring comes out of the float switch as much as possible, and left the other side unbolted.
12) There were three wires coming from the boat wiring to the sump box: 1) Black 2) Brown 3) Brown w/ Orange Stripe.
13) I consulted Section 6 of the Sea Ray Owners manual - DC Wiring Schematic 6.29.1 and confirmed:
Black: Ground (323-14) -> To Ground
Brown: (324-16) -> To SeaRay Systems Monitor
Brown/Orange: (322-14) -> To Sump Pump #1 Breaker on Engine Room DC Panel (Note Sump Pump #2 Breaker on panel is not in use according to wiring diagram.)
14) Rewired into three butt connectors:
Negative from pump -> Black Ground (323-14)
Positive from pump -> Float switch wire #1 + Brown/SeaRay Systems Monitor Wire (Using step down butt connector)
Float switch wire #2 -> Brown/Orange (322-14) wire going to breaker panel.
15) Turned back on breaker and confirmed the pump now activated when I filled up the grey water box.
16) Used a heat source to shrink down the covering on all the butt connectors.
17) Used zip ties to secure the wiring bundle.
QUESTIONS FOR CSR:
- Any recommendations for cleaning out the grey water sump box?
- Any body else run into a problem where the float switch doesn't match the holes in the sump box? If so what did you do?
I'm with JVM on body wash being better than hard soap. I clean my sump monthly - activate the manual switch on the float to drain it as much as possible, then shop vac it out, use my bilge FW hose to flush it out, then repeat steps 1 and 2. Lastly, I add a "black water/grey water pellet" that I get at WM when I buy the marine TP...I'll look at the name - Its cheaper than the "gold plated" No Flex Digestor that I use in the toilets...Also, your wing nuts make for easy access; my '58 came with an inspection cover that just requires a twist of the handle and it opens up. Really makes the monthly maint easy.