Saturday, October 27, 2012

Centrifugal Bilge Pump

By Heather Pillans


In order to understand the importance and main purpose of the bilge pumps, it is very imperative to understand first what the term 'bilge' means. Bilge is a very ancient term that was used in the 1520s to refer to the ship's lowest compartment at the bottom where its two sides meet.

In literal meaning and sense, the term bilge is used to refer to water which collects at the bottom-most compartment after draining off from the sides of the ship deck. Water may also collect at the bottom of ship during the rainy seasons of during sea storms. The collection and accumulation of water at the bottom of ship or other sea vessel can cause it to sink. The only way of removing out the accumulated water is by pumping it out.

The bilge pumps are used in the pumping out of bilge water. The bilge water is not like any other water because it is dingy and dirty water plus many other fluids and substances that collect at the bottom of the ship or boat. Modern ships and other sea vessels such as boats are fitted with bilge pumps that turn on automatically when the bilge gets filled up.

Bilge pumps are quite different with the other normal pumps in that they do not produce fire, sparks or other negative electrical reactions. Despite this good feature which seems to give the bilge pumps excellent superiority over other types of pumps, objective review of these pump shows that most of them fail and they thus require another back up pump.

These pumps are powered by batteries so you should make the proper selection of the batteries that can guarantee your safety in the high seas such as size 8D battery which costs about or more than US$250. To avoid the mishaps that may result from the failure of the bilge pumps, you should thus ensure that you have a back up pump.

The main bulge pump should most preferably be positioned at the bilge's lowest point. The backup pump should be positioned somewhere above it but at a higher position. The reason behind this is because of the fact that the secondary pump should start immediately the main bulge pump fails because of the clogging up of dirty water and other debris.

The bilge pumps are one of the most important devices in the sea vessels. It is sad to note that most sea farers have casual view and perception about these pumps. Most of the people see them as unnecessary. According to the maritime safety experts, every sea vessel must have at least two bilge pumps - the primary and the secondary bulge pump. Both of these pumps must be in proper working condition and the secondary bilge must be in a position to start pumping immediately the main bilge pump stops pumping.

If you boat is between 16 and 20 feet long you need to have on board properly installed and well functioning two bilge pumps all the time you are at the high seas. If the boat is between 27 and 42 feet long you must put on board a minimum of three bilge pumps. If your boat is between 43 and 59 feet long you must install and have on board four or five properly functioning bilge pumps if you mind about your safety at the high seas.




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