Troubleshooting ballast pump

[nautiques4life]

Anyone have any ideas? There a litany on here of steps to follow?
As the title says, having issues with one of my ballast pumps. It runs, and even fills... It just takes WAY more cycles than it should (or even used to).
First step I did was change the impeller (which actually looked new), now what?
Of course it's the belly (making it hard to trace it's path), but do these things get blockages in the line? Do the motors themselves go bad? Ideas for what to check next would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[DW SD]

I'd measure voltage while it is filling. I'm guessing a corroded contact or perhaps other connection within the feed wires that is corroded.

You shouldn't have much more than a drop of about 1V.

Doug

[nautiques4life]

Interesting, never thought of checking that.... Thank you, I'll look into it this weekend

[toomuchuv]

Did you change the o-ring as well? Maybe sucking air ?


Sent from my iPad using PLT Nautique

[nautiques4life]

Oooh, good question. Wakemakers sells their impellers without an O ring... Wonder if mine is gone. Thanks for the suggestion, will check both ideas this weekend

[Nautiquehunter]

What color was the impeller?

[nautiques4life]

Green

[distinguishedmotorsports]

i believe green is the newer style impellor, while black was the old. the routing of the ballast plumbing is in the owners manual of my 07 236. perhaps yours could be too. have you attempted to unconnect the inlet to the tank and seen the actual flow?

[nautiques4life]

Always have used the green ones, but like I said wakemakers doesn't send Orings when you purchase from them now (although they used to).
I installed the 1100s a few seasons back... And even payed for clear tubing, I can see water going through the hoses, just taking way more cycles than it used to, and starboard fills/drains in about half the time compared to port

[wakemaker]

some good info here on rebuilding them think its the same pump

http://www.mastercraft.com/teamtalk/...034#post777034

[nautiques4life]

Great link, thanks for that info. Strangely enough when I pulled the cover off, the impeller still looks good as new, and when I hit the switch it spun super fast. (I of course didn't count rotations or anything, but it didn't seem to be noticeably slower that the starboard side's pump), so I'm really hoping it is a bad seal. Hopefully know by Friday

[DW SD]

did you check voltage and especially difference from one to the other? that could easily account for the issue.

When I make connections, I use solid non-insulated butt connectors (without split) and appropriately sized with the correct crimping tool. And then seal with thick, adhesive lined shrink tubing, again appropriately sized. This should keep water out of connectors.

The old - school, blue / yellow / red insulated (and open to air) butt connectors are pretty much garbage in a marine environment.

[Paxdad]

What about checking for obstruction in the thru hull pick up/ drain?


Sent from my iPhone using PLT Nautique