Livewell pump question....

[FiveAlive]

My livewell pump the last two tournaments hasn't been pumpin' water. I know it's not the pump, because it's a brand new pump...had it in the boat little over a month. And I know it's not a fuse because I can turn it on and hear it turnin and the light on my console comes on. Here's my theory....where the pipe from the pump comes out of the back of the transom there's a filter/cap that goes on the end to keep garbage out. The front of that filter/cap is solid....no holes to let water in. Around the edges of the filter/cap are the slots that let water in. My question is....is this cap not letting enough water in? I mean it worked for me once before...and the pump is working I'm just not getting water into my livewell. Any suggestions?

[Warpath]

A couple of suggestions.......

You might have a vacuum lock in the hose.
You might have a kink in the hose.
The hose might have difficulty pushing the water if it were a steep incline to the livewell.
Have you checked for holes in the hose?

Eric

[FiveAlive]

I think there might be a vapor lock in the pump or the hose, because it worked for me before. I will pull it out tomorrow or Wed. and see if that's it. I was instructed to disconnect the hose that goes from the pump to the livewell and pour water down it. I will give that a try and see if it works.

[Jared LeBlue]

Before you get into removing the pump, next time you have the boat in the water turn your pump on and put your boat in reverse. If it doesn't catch a prime and start pumping you may have your wires backwards. Take your wires and change them around. Now if that doesn't work it could be your hose is kinked or your pump is bad.

[Warpath]

Yeah, it's not unlikely that you got a bad pump.  If you do as Rattle suggests, the cavitation from being in reverse could be enough to get the pump going.  When I put a new bilge pump in, I flooded the bilge area so I knew I didn't have any vacuum in the pump.  Turns out the line had too much incline and wouldn't push out the water.

Eric

[GotstaFish]

New doesn't mean it works.The impeller is probally stuck or stripped.

[Ron Fogelson]

Before you get into removing the pump, next time you have the boat in the water turn your pump on and put your boat in reverse. If it doesn't catch a prime and start pumping you may have your wires backwards. Take your wires and change them around. Now if that doesn't work it could be your hose is kinked or your pump is bad.

I put a new pump in my old boat a few years back & had the same trouble as what you describing here.  If you can hear the pump running but no water flow, do as Rattle says, and even gun the gas a bit to force the water in the hose.  Next step get rid of the filter cap you got and go with a standard mesh screen.

Good Luck

[cmegee]

I had the same problem once, and it was nothing more than something stuck in the slotted plastic cover took it off and put on the screen and had no other problems.

[AB]

Taylor, you already got the best advice you could get.  I had that same exact problem after replacing the livewell fill pump in my boat.  The little plastic cage that fits over the nipple on the outside of the transom wouldn't let enough water into the pump.  I went and was gonna buy one of them mesh screens to put on it, but I was too lazy.  I just took a 1/2" drill bit and drilled me a good size hole right in the center of the black plastic cover, like a straight shot into the hose...   Get the mesh screen and do it right.

[bass1cpr]

     Another problem no one has mentioned is that you might have the wires backwards. If that's the case the motor is runnign backwards so it won't pump any water in. Just another thought.

[FiveAlive]

Like I said...it worked once for me and pumped water fine. What I'll do is get the mesh screen and try it. If that don't work I'll see if it's the vapor lock.