Diesel in my Bilge

Diesel in my Bilge PumpSo problem number 500. Lol actually loving all the learning I have been doing to understand and get to know my boat! Project number unstoppable is the bilge problem. There is a fair amount of water/diesel mixture in my bilge and I have just after reading through an old survey of the boat realized that I only have a manual pump which when I used it doesnt seem to remove any of the water. As well as I have an engine driven Jabsco Type 1 Capacity 1500 GPH. So now does that mean the bilge pump only works with the engine running because its a sailboat that would seem a little ridiculous. Plus when I switch the batteries on and off I can hear something start up which I was assuming was the bilge pump….

Questions include:

• Can I dry vac the bilge water out?
• Did the owner after the survey was taken upgrade to an electric one that runs off of my battery?
• Why doesnt the manual one do anything ( is it not at a high enough level)?
• The survey says there isnt a bilge overflow warning anywhere. Did that get replaced too? If so where is it?

After posting on my favorite forum of sailing information: http://www.sailnet.com/forums/gear-maintenance/268001-bilge-pump-overflow.html#post3701401

I received a couple suggestions:

• Use dry vac to get bilge mixture out
• manual pump maybe clogged from diesel and debris