Issue filling ballast

Enjoyed a great day on the lake yesterday but I could not get the ballast to fill on the right or left side. The center ballast kept cutting off as well- when I got back home I checked the pumps and got the center pump to run after removing thee impeller and reinstalling - seems the center was full I guess water leaked by and I also noticed the center ballast pump was leaking water out of the bottom of the motor - the boat is less than a year old - anyone else had this issue??? Is this covered under warranty??
I filled the ballast bags with a hose and the pumps discharged the water great. Checked all three impellers and could not see any wear - they are the green ones. I noticed they are not stiff but very flexible. Any suggestions or Is this just part of the normal things after your boat has been put up for winter. I did remove and hang the bags up when I winterized it....

Any words of wisdom???

Are the seacocks all the way open?

I checked everything - They are open!

Did you winterize your pumps?

Pumps where winterized - last summer I noticed that a little bit of water was flowing behind the back carpeted piece where the pumps are - I know now that the center ballast pump is leaking through the motor - dripping.. urrgggh I ordered new impellers yesterday from Wakemakers - I could not get any of the ballast pumps to prime - tried going slow - got up on plane - for about 30 minutes - left or right would not fill - I have got to take it back to the dealer - When I took the carpet piece off the pumps are on a flimsy piece of plastic - they are not secured to the boat either - has the plates attached to secure but no screws...

Kriley - Are these Jabsco 18220 pumps?

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Originally Posted by kriley

Enjoyed a great day on the lake yesterday but I could not get the ballast to fill on the right or left side. The center ballast kept cutting off as well- when I got back home I checked the pumps and got the center pump to run after removing thee impeller and reinstalling - seems the center was full I guess water leaked by and I also noticed the center ballast pump was leaking water out of the bottom of the motor - the boat is less than a year old - anyone else had this issue??? Is this covered under warranty??
I filled the ballast bags with a hose and the pumps discharged the water great. Checked all three impellers and could not see any wear - they are the green ones. I noticed they are not stiff but very flexible. Any suggestions or Is this just part of the normal things after your boat has been put up for winter. I did remove and hang the bags up when I winterized it....

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First YES the pumps are covered under warranty for 1 or 2 years, can't recall.

Second, They can get air locked, I always run by boat up to 10-15mph to prime them even though they are impeller not aerator style pumps.

Also, can you hear them coming on? Are you sure the valves at the hull inlets are open?
Check fuses or circuit breakers?

Let me know. I can help you if you have more questions

could it be a timer issue?

THe pumps when I turned them on just roared - I went 10 mph 20 mph - It never pulled water - I did check the timers but they where not timed out - It may be a newbie issue (me being a newbie) - I checked all valves to make sure they where turned on - they where.. I appreciate the help!! Next warm day I am going to put a little water in both back bags to flood the pump - shouldn't need to but.
I also have to take it to the dealer to fix the center pump and a few more warranty items - they are great to work with!

sounds like the impellers are faulty, with these pumps you should not have to be moveing to prime them.

I have an older boat, and when mine do this with the Gravity III, I unscrew the water filter on the pumps behind the VDrive, make sure it is clean, then re install. takes a few min. but after i do that, everything seems to work fine.
not sure if the newer boats are different or not...

Took the boat out today and the right and center bag/tank pumps worked great the left pump just doesn't seem to want to flow water.
I tried filling the bag with the over the side pump and then tried draining and re filling with the boat pump but it didn't wanna flow water back into the bag.
You can hear the pump running but it sounds like it is starving for water. All the valves are open.
Any help would be much appreciated.

Rusty -

AS my first post said - Mine was doing exactly like yours was - this is what I did - I filled the bag about half way with water and started emptying until 1/2 was gone - when I went to the lake today it took a minute to start filling but filled just fine - I had the same issue as you - I did take the impeller out and inspect but it did not show any wear - I ordered 3 new ones to have on hand - Have not put one on yet..

How do you get to the actual pumps? I assume they are behind the board at the rear of the boat on the port side in the very back of the ski locker.

You are correct - should be 4 screws and one hose clamp screw.

When you inspect the impellers, pull them out and make sure the flat on the ID of the impeller is not stripped out.

Make sure all your hose connections are tight, you may be sucking air..... change the impeller it is most likely shot as it has been running dry for too long with all the messing around.....

I too have a 2013 LSV and my bags had lots of problems draining and filling last season. I took it to the dealer twice and they kept telling me they had to bleed the system. Just this month I took my boat to a local Wakesurf shop and had some new sacs installed. I put an Enzo in the port and a 1100 on the starboard. When I got the boat back the tech told me that the vent line for the sacs on the port had a screw running thru the line from the factory and he actually had to rip the hose off the screw and then patch the hose. He also said another one was kinked. I asked him if this would have caused my filling/draining issue he said most definately. It might be something to look into as we have the same boat, it might be an issue from the factory.

Bleeding the system - ? New one to me. Hope the issue has been resolved.

I have not had to bleed the new pumps, use to have air lock issues all the time with the older style pumps.

At work i deal with lots of pumps, impeller, mostly steel, also AODD <air operated double diagram pumps that will pull vacuum till liquid is present but prefer liquid> these lose prime from time to time and you have to reprime them. Also I have seen issues with too much head pressure on the back side of the pump cause an air lock where the pump is running but just can't prime.

I think this is what the dealer means when they say it has to be bled. The real problem is there is no head pressure on the back of the pump, but if the pump is sucking in air through a hole or a large kink in the line this can cause the impellers to run dry or at least hot. Both of these instances can damage the impellers.