Ballast system using reversible pump.....

I setup new bow sacs in my X10 and have one reversible pump using a system of check valves to have one thru hull for vent and drain.

Does anyone hae a good method during the empty process to keep the pump from running dry and burning up the impeller. Obviously you turn the pump off when the water stops coming out but anyone have a good fail safe auto shut off system?

i have no idea but it seems you would be able to find a switch that is activated when the psi gets down to a certain level that will overide your pump switch.

You can buy a Jabsco pump with run-dry protection.

It will automatically shut itself down when water is not present. It's twice as much as the Simer reversible, but it would solve your problem.



-Bo

Does anyone know how the pumps knows to shut down?

What kind of switch or sensor do they use?

James can't awnser your question but I do know that My Jabsco has a shut down on it and I suspect it has to do with the couple extra wires that are coming out of the pump. These wires are extra to the power wires. I assume they might use a heat sensor, in that when the pump impellor gets to warm it shuts it off. But I may be way off. I have not actually taken the pump out from the transom to take a good look, just my 2 cents.

Bo, Is the jabsco with run dry protection reversible?

http://www.jabsco.com/prodInfoApp/servlet/DisplayItemDetail?itemId=18220-1121&catalogId=Marine&categoryId=JMGEN&typeId=JMGW B

Anyone have info on the patent pending run dry protection. I would like to know if my "water puppy can be converted to a "ballast puppy".

Thanks

Found the Jabsco reversible with Run Dry protection from Depco Pump in Clear water.

800-446-1656 x242 $181.oo+shipping.

Just a note… I have both the water puppy and the simmer pumps. They seem to be about the same speed when testing them in my garage. I got 2 simmer pumps for the rear sacks and will use the Jabsco for the locker sack. The simmer pumps are only $67. I figured I could replace 3 of them if they burn up on me. I am not to worried about running them dry when emptying because I am usually unloading gear and can keep an eye on the bags.

My system last season emptied out of a thru hull… you can tell when you are getting close to empty by the flow.

Anyone burn up a Simmer or Jabsco??

I Installed a Simer last summer. The worst thing that happened was it would stall and blow it's fuse (25amp).

Bruce

We have tested both, the ballast puppy had a brass sleeve on the ID of the impeller to make sure it doesn't turn on the shaft when it is reversed, it also has a thermister that will open up if the pump gets to hot because it is running dry. The thermister's contacts will close when it cools down and the pump will run again. You can buy the impeller with the brass sleeve and you can add the electronics but then
you would have spent the same money.

Jabsco makes a commercial duty pump that has a real 20 mim run dry protection, the pump body is made so water goes up and out so even if the supply is gone the output side of the pump still has some water to keep it cool.

Make-a-wake, are you all selling the Ballast puppy by itself and if so how much? I would like to make my ballast system idiot proof. The old mastercraft fill and empty system on my boat using the two pump method is very reliable albeit a little slower than the vane pumps. I want my bow sac system to have the best of both systems.
Speedy fill/empty and protection against a rectal cranial inversion.

I have run a Simer dry until it basically seized up. I had ordered and extra impellar when I bought it... so I started to replace the impellar.
When I opened it up I was suprised to find no
visible damage to the impellar. I dumped some veggie oil in there and fired it back up.

Next time I ran the pump dry again... I just let it cool and sprayed some silicon in the hole before I fired it up. It ran perfect. I still have the spare impellar.

My point is: Simer pumps are pretty tough.
Get the spare impellar and don't worry too much about it. The pumps are loud enough you should hear when it starts to struggle just before it stops running : )

Quick question. I am running the Simer pumps now in my system. My old system had two Rule 2000 gph pumps that were feed by 2 thruhulls. One was the regular thru-hull in the back and the other was a scupper on the bottom. The new set-up uses these same thru-hulls with the pumps being reversible and pumping back out through these thru-hulls. Will it pump out the scupper alright while I am under way?

Bruce

Sorry, we can't just sell the pumps. Jabsco has set us up as an OEM for their pumps with the agreement that we only sell them as a part of our systems.

make your own switch....... water conducts eletricty, so take a power wire for the pump, and cut it in half. Mount the 2 ends on a plastic bracket really close to the bottom of the tank. have the ends close to eachother. When there is water in the pumps, and you flip your switch near the drivers seat, you will have a connection and the pump will work. But when the tank empties, there wont be any water to complete the connections, and the pumps will shut off. In logicist the idea will work, but im not sure if it will create some kind of short in the pump or something like that, so you should look into that first.

or maybe find a place near the inlet tube of the pump to do that, the wires dont nessecarly need to be near the bottom of the tank.

Sprucie,
This link might help you get the details on any patent pending or intellectual property?
www.uspto.gov
Good luck!

nevermind my idea. It wont work on a reversible pump, you would never be able to get it running again.