Live well Question (help). Other posts don't answer my cursed boat :-)

[smorrow]

I have an 88 Champion. No trouble with the live-well until now. I had a crack in the pump so BassPro replaced the pump. Now whenever I try to fill the pump, I hear the motor but no water comes in. If I go in reverse to force it in, it eventually works. I fish for a while and try it again and back to square one. Need to reverse all day to get it to work. They have taken it apart three times, straighten hoses, etc. No luck. They are stumped. Everytime they say its fixed, I take it to the lake and hear the pump, but no fill unless reverse throughout the day. I have NEVER had this problem. I can put a hose in my driveway at the intake and it will fill. Nothing is clogging it as its been apart three times and blown out, etc. Any ideas on this one?

 

[fishrdan]

Sounds like there's an air-lock in the hose/pump, not allowing the pump to fill and push water. Check that the hose doesn't have an upward bow in it from where it exits the pump

How old is the pump? I put in a brand spankin new pump when I rebuilt my boat, then a couple years later it was doing the same thing as yours, wouldn't fill, unless I reversed or dumped some water into the livewell to prime the pump. Then eventually it wouldn't pump at all. Turns out the Attwood Tsunami pump rusted inside due to water intrusion through the carpy shaft seal. Pulled the pump apart, motor all rusted up. My boat was all rigged for the Tsumani pump, so it was much easier to just replace the cartridge, but I pulled the replacement cartridge apart and greased the seal well in hopes that the replacement would last longer than the original. Same carpy seal in the replacement pump....

 

[smorrow]

The pump is new as they just installed a new one. What I can't figure out (neither can BPS) is if it is air in the system, and I go in reverse and eventually get the pump going, a few minutes later....it won't work again and have to do the reverse thing again.
I'm picking it up and will let you know if 4th times a charm.

 

[ajgraz]

Can you post pics of your intake / thru hull (on the transom, I'm guessing) and (if possible) the pump and hoses mounted in the boat?

 

[Silvertip]

The intake needs to be below the water line as does the pump itself. These are volume pymps and cannot draw water. They must have water available at the intake to the pump. If you are alone and up front the intake may be out of the water..

 

[gm280]

Silvertip beat me to it. I was thinking the exact same thing.

Unless you know for certain that just sitting that water is at the pump, it will not pull anything in to prime. So make certain when the boat is in the water, water is at the pump.

When you reverse the pump, you are actually priming it and then it works in forward direction because of that. But after sitting for a while, that prime is loss again. And rinse and repeat. JMHO