What's your favorite shower sump pump?

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Portage_Bay

Portage_Bay

Guru
Joined
Oct 19, 2015
Messages
2,470
Location
United States
Vessel Name
Pacific Myst
Vessel Make
West Bay 4500
The pump is in a rectangular 15 liter / 3.9 gallon tank. With a good sized hatch to get to the pump. The pump is a Johnson SPXFLOW 1250 GPH and doesn't seem to have the grunt to do the work anymore. It's oversized for the discharge lines and through hull which are 1/2"
Shower sump.jpg
 
mvweebles said:
Whale gulper for me. No sump required. I've had mine for 20 years, 3 of them as liveaboard. One of the few things I didn't replace during refit.

Whale Gulper 220 Graywater Pump - Manages Gray Waste in Boats & RV - 3.5 GPM Flow Rate - 12V/24V Amazon.com

Peter
Click to expand...
 
Ditch the sump and pump directly overboard. Eliminates sump box cleaning and issues with the float switch.
Opinions (and prices) vary re best pump. We used Shurflows and never had a problem. Never had a Whale Gulper but have read many positive comments from satisfied users.
 
Thank you for the prompt replies. Very helpful. Of course I'll read the Whale Gulper manual but a couple of quick questions.

1 - Is it automatic? Or manually switched on/off when showering?
2 - Is it harmed by running dry if left on for a while after showering?

Thank you!
 
Not automatic. We had a wall switch.
So what if you forget to turn the pump on ? The water will begin to accumulate around your feet in your shower pan. Impossible not to notice.
And what if you forget to turn the pump off ? Our pump, while not overly noisy, made enough noise that you notice it needs turning off. Plus I think our pumps were ok to run dry.
Again, very much recommend direct overboard pump. I did not miss fiddling with balky, slimey float switches one bit :)
 
Whale does make an automatic version of the gulper with a sensor in the line to turn it on when there's water coming from the shower. Ours are the manual version with a switch on the wall though. They can run dry, so no harm to just turn it on before starting a shower and turn it off when finished.

It's definitely better than a sump in my opinion. The gulper can handle hair and such, so no need for a strainer. Which means nothing to clean, no float switches to stick, or any of the other pain points of a sump.
 
I replaced the sump and pump with the Whale Gulper automatic. It does not have a sump at all. No switch, turns on and off as needed during shower or sink use, a diaphram pump so it can pump all kinds of debris and run dry indefinitely. But it doesn't, the auto control has worked perfectly for several years now. Not having to clean the pump and screen in the old system was well worth the price.
 
I'll switch to a Whale Gulper when I get tired of the cheapo Rule in our shower sump. The sump probably has to stay for our model though as it is the destination for two showers and two air conditioner condensate lines.
 
I like the idea of the automatic one when you have multiple items draining into the shower sump, like stuffing box drip trays, shower, sink, etc.
 
The whale gulper makes quite a bit of noise. It's aptly named "gulper ". Would be difficult to mistakenly leave on.
 
We did have a sump for our A/C condensate lines. The condensate water is very, very pure. As a result of that we never had any issues with that sump system.
 
I put in a Whale pump in the sump in our boat. Don’t remember the model but it has the remote pickup and is automatic. It will pump fairly large debris through, about 1/4”. It has workrd well for us. Our sump has multiple inlets to it. Two sinks, two A/C condensates, shower and Dry Bilge system all go into the sump.
 
HeadedToTexas said:
I'll switch to a Whale Gulper when I get tired of the cheapo Rule in our shower sump. The sump probably has to stay for our model though as it is the destination for two showers and two air conditioner condensate lines.
Click to expand...
When I removed the Rule pump from my sump. I mounted a Gulper atop it with a suction hose run to the bottom of the sump. I left the flipper switch in the sump to turn on the Gulper whenever the shower or AC pan drain enough water into the sump to float the switch.
 
I'm liking the idea of shower drains to sump, then Gulper clears out the sump. I have two showers draining by 1 1/2" lines to the sump. Choke those down to the size of the Gulper inlet and I'll have a small hard to clean out hose end at the reducer. The sump has a nice big clean out hatch. Quick work with a shop vac. The switch is not a float switch, some sort of electronic switch that seems to work quite well. Maybe one of the bilge pump switches with auto, on and off so it can be manually turned on if the level switch fails.

rgano said:
When I removed the Rule pump from my sump. I mounted a Gulper atop it with a suction hose run to the bottom of the sump. I left the flipper switch in the sump to turn on the Gulper whenever the shower or AC pan drain enough water into the sump to float the switch.
Click to expand...
 
I didn’t evhook up a manual switch but just use the electronic automatic switch. It has worked fine. It has a test button on top of the pickup that you put your finger on and in a couple of seconds it comes on.
 
I use a whale gulper connected to the sump with a float switch in the sump. Have two sinks, a shower, one air conditioner condensate drain, and the anchor locker drain connected to it. I prefer not to hear the pump run every time you brush your teeth.

Ted
 
Comodave said:
I didn’t evhook up a manual switch but just use the electronic automatic switch. It has worked fine. It has a test button on top of the pickup that you put your finger on and in a couple of seconds it comes on.
Click to expand...
I'm rethinking using the existing shower sump, deciding not to use it, going with the automatic version. The one I'm finding is the WM8484. Is this what you installed? Not at all sure about electronics in a wet area.
 
We chartered a cat in the Society Islands last month and it had this version of the Whale Gulper on it:

Shower and Sink Waste System | Fisheries Supply

Shop Shower and Sink Waste System at Fisheries Supply. Free Shipping on orders over $99.
www.fisheriessupply.com www.fisheriessupply.com

I really liked the design and it worked much better than the lame Rule system I have on my boat, although it made a lot of gulping noises when it worked. Until it didn't. One afternoon, it began to run and would not stop. I took the top off of the waste tank and sure enough, soap scum had covered the sensor making it think it was full all the time. It would have done some work on the batteries had I not been there to hear it. Pretty sure my wife's extensive efforts to launder clothes in the sink did it in (3 week trip). Cleaned the grossness off and it worked fine for the rest of the trip. Still, I thought this a very robust design.
 
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