Homebuilt ROVs Forum

I was wondering if anyone know the depth of bilge blower thrusters. I just want to know how deep can they go. 30 ft? 50ft more???

Also how reliable are they are they better than bilge pumps? from what I have read they require maintenance such as taking them apart and spraying them with wd40. also from the other post on bilge pump blowers he said that he had to replace them.

any ideas??

pressure compensate them with marcol 82. I have seen some of the motors that are modified if you use the marcol to replace air in the motor you prevent motor housing implosion or cracking.

Actually, bilge blowers don't have a pressure housing, so they will be good for pretty deep.

Welcome to the forum, Seadragon. How deep were you acustomed to working when you were with the Navy? It sounds like an interesting job.

They typically ran to 5K deep on tests to the hydrothermic vents up north. In the dark and scary zone

I can attest to the Johnson bilge pumps running leak free at 120ft. I don't know how long they can stand it, but so far they've got about 30min run time at that depth. Fresh water, if that makes any difference in your consideration.

Thanks for the ideas Guys!

Alex Stuart
Alaska Rov Systems

I have rule inline pumps on my ROV. I recently did a test down to 75ft and had no problem.

After some testing of the bilge blower I found out it works wonderfully in fresh water.It produces lots of thrust, so much that I was impressed. I am only afraid of rust. I have seized up about 4 of my bilge pumps to rust, because they were stored outside and the weather and moisture got to them. I have not tried saltwater yet and probably wont because i am afraid that their isn't a water tight seal and it would just short out immediately because the salt water would conduct the electric current.

Alaska ROV Systems

What power source did you use? I tried powering 2 4inch rule blowers with 8 D batteries and the rov bearly moved

jpWA wrote:What power source did you use? I tried powering 2 4inch rule blowers with 8 D batteries and the rov bearly moved

I traced the problem to a splice in the tether.