Ballast Deflating On Their Own via Reversible Puppy?

[sprfrkr]

So, after riding for a few hours, I think my ballast bags are losing water from accelerating the boat and having the water pump itself back out the intake at the rear of the boat past the jabsco reversible puppy. Is that possible?

Would the pump spin freely with any current being applied to it to allow this, or will they essentially "lock" when no current is applied?

As a follow up question, would putting the bag connections on the front of the bags (toward bow) do anything to prevent this, or would the boat decelerating cause the same effect?

Thanks!

[dirtysparks]

Jabsco pumps use a rubber impeller. That will block water from exiting/entering unless it's all burned up. Take the cover off your pump and have a look at the condition of the impeller. If you have an overflow, it might be creating a suction and emptying that way in which case you'd need a vented loop - this is uncommon in reversible pump systems though... What boat is this? Homemade or factory built ballast? Can you explain more about how your system is set up?

[sprfrkr]

Thank you so much for the reply. I appreciate your help. Try not to laugh, but it is a Yamaha jet boat. It has a water pick up at the bottom of the hull in the rear which attaches to a Jabsco reversible puppy which resides just forward of the stern as well. The bags sit midship and are connected to the puppy using a t fitting that goes to each ballast bag (500lb each) and is attached in the center of the bag in the rear of teh bag.


Edit:
So, if you put backpressure on a pump, it will not spin freely if no current is applied? It only spins when under power?

[dirtysparks]

So you have 3 bags piggybacked on 1 pump? It fills the center first and then overflows to fill locker sacks? I still don't think that would be enough pressure to force the impeller in a ballast puppy.....unless you're impeller is burned up and missing vanes. The ballast puppy has a rubber impeller, that means no water will be able to push through the impeller unless power is applied. Do you have your bags vented?

Where does the water exit when draining, does it just exit the same thru hull or does it exit out the side. Did you put this pump in or is it factory? If the factory did it, there will be a shut off valve right after the thru hull. Close that and see if you still lose water. How much water do you think you're losing?

[sprfrkr]

I have two bags piggybacked on one pump. The puppy is less than a season old.

I would think teh water exits out the pickup through hull fitting in the back of the boat the way it comes into it. It is a factory system, but there is no shut off valve. I am thinking that is the solution to the issue is to put a valve in the line, but that takes a tiny bit away from a fully auto system.

[dirtysparks]

Something is likely wrong with your pump(impeller) then, it should not let water out unless turned on. Take off the 3 screws on the top of the pump and see what it looks like. An aerator style pump will let water out, but not a 2 way. A different solution would be to put in a check valve and redirect your water output out a thru hull on the side of the boat. This should be unnecessary but I'll attach a schematic just in case.

You could check to see if you're losing water out the intake by filling the ballast in your driveway manually and seeing where/how much comes out.

[dirtysparks]

pic

[sprfrkr]

Thanks a ton! I never thought to fill it in my driveway. I should have that done by this weekend and let you know if I see any issues.
Thanks!

[dirtysparks]

It might be easier to just look at the impeller first to see if it's damaged. Just to clarify, ballast puppies use a rubber impeller, these can burn out and break vanes off if they are run dry.