liveweel pumps not working properly

[luckycrank]

I just bought a new boat and found out in the mist of a tournament that the livewell pumps don't pump water unless you turn them on , start the outboard and back up then the'll pump. any Ideas? I am about 60 miles from the closest dealer (which I didn't buy it from) and about 1100 miles from the one i did buy it from!

[mww24]

i have to do that with mine. no idea why. and now the livewell doesnt work at all but did when i bought it. im interseted in the responses as well.

[sx2]

i had the same thing. If your boat is a lund and if you have a knob that has empty,recirculator, and fill put it on empty then back up then stop backing and then turn the knob on fill it should start to fill the livewell. The problem is that the line going to the livewell gets air bound. Most of the time it's the front livewell because you have alot more hose and as you drive your boat water runs back to the aerator and causes a air bubble in the valve.

[heat checker]

Couldn't you put a check valve in the line so water can't drain back?

[riverrat56]

Hmmm 1100 miles, thats not too bad.....

[CAMAN]

Are you able to see any high or low spots in the hose coming from the pump? If there is anything that can trap air or water get rid of it, make the line as straight as possible, you may need to remove it from the pump and shorten it.

[luckycrank]

there wasn't another boat in the nation I liked !

didn't seem like it was tha far till i was about 15 hours into it

[Deitz Dittrich]

What kind of boat is it?

[luckycrank]

09 skeeter zx190 the other ones I liked almost matched a freinds boat or where out of my budget, or where mostly white

which is what I didn't want

[marine_man]

If you're at a tournament there's probably not much you can do.

This is typically caused by a high point in the hose that feeds the livewell pumps, and the pump isn't designed to pump air, only water, so forcing water over the hump allows the pump to purge the system of air.

You'd need to locate your livewell pumps and the hoses routing to them and validate that there are no high spots in the routing.

marine_man

[luckycrank]

Iam currently unable to do so for a couple days do to being laid up from a cortizone shot biut I will check into it come this weekend, thanks for the suggestions !!