Livewell pump question

[Paperlips]

I have a 1979 lowe line bass boat. The livewells are filled with a inline bilge pump. The inlet is through the transom and the drain is on the bottom of the hull. There are pipes inside the livewell that you plug with your standard plugs.


While I was on the lake today the livewells filled on their own without turning the pump on. Water was coming in from where the water pumps into the livewell once the pump is turned on.


Why did this happen?

 

[dwco5051]

The bottom drain is made to drain the live well when the boat is out of the water. It should be plugged when on the water. There should be another drain at the full line and drain out either through the side of the boat or transom when the pump has filled the livewell so it doesn't overfill. With the plug out your live well will fill to the boats water line as it is a direct conduit to the lake. Most bass boats today have a remote valve that shuts the drain off with a handle mounted by the console. Do you have something that looks like this? My 1976 required a rubber stopper, my 1990 had the remote.

 

[dwco5051]

While I was on the lake today the livewells filled on their own without turning the pump on. Water was coming in from where the water pumps into the livewell once the pump is turned on.


Why did this happen?

Misread where the water was coming in from. The pump should pump to a outlet higher that the full line of the livewell which also is higher than the outside water line. Need some pictures of the plumbing to figure it out.

 

[Paperlips]

The bottom drain is made to drain the live well when the boat is out of the water. It should be plugged when on the water. There should be another drain at the full line and drain out either through the side of the boat or transom when the pump has filled the livewell so it doesn't overfill. With the plug out your live well will fill to the boats water line as it is a direct conduit to the lake. Most bass boats today have a remote valve that shuts the drain off with a handle mounted by the console. Do you have something that looks like this? My 1976 required a rubber stopper, my 1990 had the remote.

View attachment 351457

No my boat does not have a switch like pictured. I do have a L shaped pipe in the livewell. The bottom is the drain and the top is the overfill. Both of those plugs were in and that is not where the water was coming in at. Water was coming in through the inlet where the water feeds into the tank from the pump. Its almost like I had a siphon effect going on. Very weird.