Live Well Pump doesn't work when boat is on plane.

[Prem1er]

Good Morning all,

I'm hoping you can give me a little insight on where I need to start troubleshooting to fix this issue. I just replaced both of my live well pumps. 1 700gph and 1 800 gph. Both are Rule pumps.

After install I dropped it in the water, both pumps were working great. Then I went from my "no wake" speed to putting the boat on plane (20 or 30 mph) and the pressure of the water significantly dropped in 1 tank (800). While on plane, I turned the pump off and turned it on again. When trying to turn it back on, it would not pump water at all. While tank # 2 did not decrease much in pressure, when I turned it off it did not turn on while on plane either. By turn on I mean pump water. The pump motor could very well be turning on.

Unfortunately I could not open the back hatch while on plane and check if the pump was actually running or not, but even without that info, I'm hoping someone has had a similar issue and can give me some tips on what I can try to fix this.

Thanks in advance!!

Shawn

 

[Splat]

Re: Live Well Pump doesn't work when boat is on plane.

More than likely your thru-hull for the water intake is located a mid ship or near the front of the boat. When your on plane or on "the pad" the water pickup is prolly above the water line and thus the pump can suck any water.

We need to know the location of the water inlet. You may have to move it, or may be able to use a scoop to help with water intake. Someone that has used scoops could prolly tell you better.

Bill

 

[Prem1er]

Re: Live Well Pump doesn't work when boat is on plane.

Thanks for the reply Bill. Both inlets are at the back of the boat and both pumps were working great when they were actually working. I can't help but feel like I did something (or didn't do something) in the replacement process that caused this problem. Also I forgot to mention that after coming back down to idle speed, the pumps come back on again. (I can't remember if I had to turn the switch off, then on again to make them come back on.) I wouldn't be opposed to your suggestions, however i'm puzzled as to why it was working fine before and now after what seemed to be a simple replacement, is malfunctioning.


Thanks again and I welcome any more suggestions, advice!!!

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Live Well Pump doesn't work when boat is on plane.

You do not have a problem. On plane the pump intake is above the water line. Nothing you can do about that and most boats are set up that way. That's why some boats have a recirculate feature so that the water can recirculated under way. If you had a scupper under the boat you could pick up water that way. But with a through transom live well pump they will not pump water on plane. It's not a problem unless you need to run very long distances but you can stop a couple times to allow some fresh water to be pumped in and then take off again.