Ballast Puppy Issue!
 

Assistant please…

My MB has two pumps (left/Right) and the right works fine. The left side will stop working intermittently. If I turn the switch and wait a moment it will work again; however, it might only work for a minute then it stops and I turn off the switch again.

When the pump is on it moves water fine.

Could it be overheating? I do not thing it would be the impeller because the entire pump stops working…unless it was getting “jammed”. (But what do I know…hehe)

I am new to this so any information will help…I do not want to buy a new pump if I can help it.

Thank you!

Make sure you have green impellers

Do you have ballast timers with these pumps? If so, that would be the first thing I would look at.

I will check the impellers; however I believe they are stock (2006) due to the boat hardly being used prior to me buying it...(would having a bad impeller shut off the pump?)

As for the Timers...I do not think I have timers. The ballast is stock and drains out the sides of the boat. You know when the tanks are empty so no need to have timers turn the pumps off for you. But I will check when I get home.

Green impellers ($$$) but fix the problem. The pump isn't shutting off it's binding up. The other thing is these take a lot of amps to run. So, if you're running both at the same time you may need to put it neutral and bring the rpms up to 1200'ish. At idle(650 rpm) the alternator is barely keeping up. The ballast puppy impellers are good maybe up to 3 seasons.

Cheers,
DC

A few things. You don't have the green impellers. I don't think they were available in 2006. The yellow impellers are hard, and even without use, they will get really hard and tough to spin.

You also may have some corroded contacts in the ballast pump that is making for some intermittant operation. I have rebuilt my former pumps a couple of times (they did get wet from time to time in my previous boat). You take the top of the pump off, and sand the hell out of the contacts for the graphite and anything else that has rust, then put it back together. Putting it back together with the spring loaded brushes is the hard part. I developed a process that makes it painless.

Dennis,

That all makes sense!!! I was actually running the pump without the boat running…and just the left due to surfing. I will look into getting the green impellers but may be an offseason purchase depending on the price.

Thank you for the knowledge and insight!

They are $25 a piece.

http://www.wakemakers.com/jabsco-bal...-impeller.html

I will say that I suspect your pumps are drawing more amps than they should if they contacts are getting corroded. On my enzo, I run 3 pumps at a time, with the boat OFF, with no issues.

On my previous boat, the Supra, with those ****ty ballast timers, I could barely keep one going.

Yea I just looked the impellers up and they are not too expensive. (Well maybe for a piece of green rubber!!!) Hehehe

I guess I should clarify expensive. Online $25 for the green impellers is worth it. The local dealer charges $34.99 each and well I have 7 ballast pump so it's a bit much for me =).

-Carzin I wonder if my factory timer box (that was reset to not time) still draws to much? I can run 4 pumps at a time, but bumping up the rpms definitely helps. I noticed though with the old yellow impellers I would get stuck. Then I'd have to rock them fwd/rev to get them going again.

Everyone - whats your opinion on putting Vaseline on the impellers when installing them? Or just install them and not worry about it. I use soap currently.

Cheers, DC

Vaseline is petroleum based and soap can be a degreaser, especially dish soap. Neither is good for impeller material. Use 100% silicone paste commonly called dielectric grease at the auto parts stores.