Lost prime on portable water pump on 238 deck boat! Please help...

[Chet labrozzi]

Hello Guys,

This rookie needs some help and advice once again. I have a 1998 238 deck boat, first time winterizing this boat, I now realize I pumped on board water tank to empty prior to putting in the antifreeze..Here is my problem, I pumped all the water out of the tank untill the pump was pumping air and squirting. The next day I dumped in 4 gallons of antifreeze and now the pump wont prime to flush and fill the lines. I tried dumping antifreeze back down the sink line, that failed. I tried hooking up a shop vac and blowing air into the tank while holding the vent closed, that failed. I tried squeezing the fill line hundreds of times to act like a primer, that failed. I tried to remove the hose from the inlet to the pump off the tank but of course it's froze to the tank and really hard to reach, felt like something was going to break so i retightned the clamp and gave up....

What can I do to regain the prime short of tearing into this major project? Has this ever happened to you before? Lost for ideas.

Thanks,
Chet

 

[oops!]

Re: Lost prime on portable water pump on 238 deck boat! Please help...

i think you are sucking air for some reason.......those pumps are self prime.

it is just a jabsco or sure flow. check lines form the tank to the pump....then re check.

oh....and if this is your first time winterizing this boat......are you sure you are filling the right tank?....there could be more than one inlett or more than one system.

for example you could be filling deck or shore water.....when the tank remains empty........check your owners manual...

i had a thirty footer trick me. its not hard to miss

 

[rbh]

Re: Lost prime on portable water pump on 238 deck boat! Please help...

Also you may have an air lock, crack the inlet fitting on the pump till the fluid flows, then tighten it down.
Then try it.

 

[Chet labrozzi]

Re: Lost prime on portable water pump on 238 deck boat! Please help...

guys, its the correct tank, come on give me some credit will ya...what line should i try to crack? the main inline is on the tank tight with a clamp exteremyl hard to reach and open? let me know...i have no idea, pump just runs like crazy and does nothing..

 

[Chet labrozzi]

Re: Lost prime on portable water pump on 238 deck boat! Please help...

guys, this isnt going well at all, today i pulled the line from the tank to the pump...no suction, poured antifreeze down it,nothing, blew air behind it from the compressor, nothing, stuck the end in a full gallon of anti freeze nothing, back blew air through the lines and still nothing? what the heck, the pump motor is running but nothing is happening? any ideas? its a surflo pump, should i try pulling a line off on the pump side of the pump? outlet side??

 

[Chet labrozzi]

Re: Lost prime on portable water pump on 238 deck boat! Please help...

oh another thing is the pump is well above the tank so gravity is working against me here, just beacuse the pump is running does that mean it's pumping/??

 

[rbh]

Re: Lost prime on portable water pump on 238 deck boat! Please help...

Like I typed, crack the "inlet line" at the "pump" (hose coming in from the tank).
If no fluid flows, get some one to preasure up the tank at the inlet (filler hole) till some fluid starts to trickle out the fitting (and yes turn the pump on so it primes).

Anyway to relocate the pump so the water/fluid flows down into it???

 

[Chet labrozzi]

Re: Lost prime on portable water pump on 238 deck boat! Please help...

wow, what an interesting day yesterday...All day on this pump, everything i tried failed. I tried cracking the line, a very small amount of antifreeze trickled out. put air to the system all different ways, nothing. I finally got upset and tore the pump out and will replace it today and see what happens then.,The fitting is on the top of this water tank which makes no sense to me but thats the way it is so regardless of where the pump is it still has to pull the water up and out of the tank. I have no idea why they mount these pumps in the places there do, u need extra long tools and what a hassle to access these things, i think im going to change the mounting location and add some extra wire and hose for easier assembly..wish me luck, day 4 on this pump!

 

[BRICH1260]

Re: Lost prime on portable water pump on 238 deck boat! Please help...

In similar instances I have used my mouth to draw enough vacuume on a faucet to get the pump primed. Have somebody watch the fluid and when it gets to the pump back off before you get a mouthful!

 

[Chet labrozzi]

Re: Lost prime on portable water pump on 238 deck boat! Please help...

Hey, thanks I even went that far as to try that this morning, finally i tore out the old pump bought a new Jasco self priming up, installed it and it fired right up. One of the hardest things was reaching the old pump mounted on the outside wall of the boat so once i had it down i replumbed it so a normal size person could reach it without problems. The new pump came with 1/2 line fittings and of course the boat has 3/8" line fittings so i needed a couple connectors, little pipe tape, couple wire connectors and BINGO...within seconds the new pump had pumped the antifreeze through all the lines, remounted the pump and job complete. Thanks for all the help but the pump must of went when it was spurting air and water while pumping the tank out...after all it was 12 yrs old, new pump was 99.00 at a local marina.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Lost prime on portable water pump on 238 deck boat! Please help...

guys, its the correct tank, come on give me some credit will ya...what line should i try to crack? the main inline is on the tank tight with a clamp exteremyl hard to reach and open? let me know...i have no idea, pump just runs like crazy and does nothing..

The most confident you will ever see a guy is when he has the fueling nozzle down a rod holder... It happens!

 

[Chet labrozzi]

Re: Lost prime on portable water pump on 238 deck boat! Please help...

Thanks, guess it does but didnt happen this time!

 

[oops!]

Re: Lost prime on portable water pump on 238 deck boat! Please help...

hi chet.....99 bux for a pump is cheep.....does it have the same flow rate?

those pumps are all self priming....but if yours would not draw a prime...the impeller was toast.

i just burnt one on Saturday.....it worked perfectly on Friday.....plugged it in on Saturday and no prime......toast....this was just a siphon system...so it was impossible to get air in the lines....

and on larger boats.....there can be many systems.....some very complicated ones......like i said...a 30 footer had me fooled for a day or two !

 

[Chet labrozzi]

Re: Lost prime on portable water pump on 238 deck boat! Please help...

Yeah a friend of mine works at a local marina so he gave me his cost on it. It's a 12 vo system with 3gpm flow and same amps etc..the only thing that was different was the size of the hose connections so i had to make some minor changes there but i also relocated the pump for easier access if i should ever need to work on it again so i would of had to make some length changes etc...i kind of figured after everything i did the pump was shot, i mean seriously doesn't it just figure when your trying to winterize and shut everything down it would go then. Yes, it's a self prime with a 10ft draw on the head so it's fine, only about a foot above the tank or so, thats done now onto winterizing the motor, lets hope that goes ok.