Bilge pump and aerator pump (same?)

[Guzman]

Just bought a '78 champion boat put a hose to the boat and turned on the bilge pump to make sure it worked. no water was pumped out. Here is what I have trouble shooted so far and my insight:
- turned on bilge pump put ampProbe on line going to pump, .12 amps being drawn...kind of tells me pump is shot.
- turned on aerator same amp draw as bilge pump reading. no bubbles coming into live well.

- found pump behind gas tank.. weird but it looks and feels like pump is being used for bilge and for aerator. This does not make sense to me. Maybe the previous owner wired the bilge switch to aerator pump to make it seem like the boat had a bilge pump. followed hose from aerator pump and it looks like it is going to livewells


found a plug that fits into aerator inlet (right by the drain plug). what is the deal with this.

boat has two ports on the side... i'm assuming for the livewells. one had a plug... again why?

My next move is to remove the aerator pump and get manufaturer info.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I'm new to boating.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Bilge pump and aerator pump (same?)

deal with the plug is the hose is probably shot, and he didn't want to sink the boat.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Bilge pump and aerator pump (same?)

Bilge pumps and aerator pumps are not the same. A bilge pump sits on or very near the bottom of the boat and water is drawn into it through the grate-like structure at the bottom. An aerator pump draws water from the stern and pumps it to the live well through an adjustable spray head. A standpipe or overflow pipe may be used in the tank or the tank may have an overflow on the side that drains out the side of the boat. Now there are a bunch of different live well systems so what I just described is a fairly basic design. The other opening at the back of the boat -- the one with the plug in it, is probably the bilge drain. If you want to sink your boat, just leave that plug out. If that's not the bilge drain, it could be the livewell drain and would normally be left open UNLESS the drain hose has been cut, broken, or otherwiuse disconnected in which case it must remain plugged so you don't sink the boat. Very simple physics is involved here. If there is a hole in your boat with nothing connected on the inside, your boat will sink unless that hole is plugged.

 

[jtexas]

Re: Bilge pump and aerator pump (same?)

Bilge pumps are submergible pumps that pump water up and out of the boat.

Livewells usually have a fill pump where the intake is a thru-hull fitting below the waterline, and the outlet usually has a sprayer bar type of thing. Livewells may also have a pump-out and/or aerator pump with a thru-hull fitting on the outside wall of the well (inside the boat) - where the discharge is plumbed thru the hull above the water line, optionally with a diverter that allows it to function as a recirc aerator. The fill pump won't draw water in when the boat's under way (or on the trailer) hence the need for recirculation. They don't usually put pumps inside livewells cause they might raise the water temp and/or shock the occupants.

Your champion boat transom probably has a livewell intake below the waterline, and a livewell drain and a bilge pump discharge above the waterline, as well as the normal drain hole, which will be dead center at the bottom of the transom.

Not long ago I was launching early one morning as a bass boat was loading - they stopped on the ramp and water was pouring out the drain - he had put the drain plug in the livewell intake instead of the drain hole.......................

 

[Guzman]

Re: Bilge pump and aerator pump (same?)

Thanks to all that answered. After more troubleshooting here is what I found.
Bilge pump was hidden under fuel tank... sporadically working, I replaced it.

boat has two livewell's. The front one is working fine. Aerator pump is filling it fine and there is an overfill on the side of the boat...again no problem.

The confusing part was the back livewell. It had a disconnected/broken hose between the overflow and the side of the boat. This was causing the boat to fill with water. Previous owner solved this by plugging aerator inlet and overflow outlet. The front overflow outlet was not plugged... and this was fine, If water comes in, it will only be to the water line which is below the livewell.

I'm converting the back one to a cooler anyway to I plugged up the hose going to into it and the overflow coming out on the side of the boat.

A lot to learn... but I'm having lots of fun in the process.

 

[yfz450guy]

Re: Bilge pump and aerator pump (same?)

not trying to hijack but i just got this bayliner bass boat and i am in the process of re-decking and carpet and the front and rear live wells were not connected and i need help with re-doing them. from what i can tell there are 3 holes in the transom down low. one is obviously the drian hole as it has a threaded brass plug in it. and there are 2 more holes one on each side ofthe drain plug. there is old tubing in the bottom of the hull and some t-fittings also. the wells have a 3/4" elbow at the top with a perforated tube attached in each well. there is also 2 1" fittings in each well. one at the top and one at the bottom. they join at the bottom tube with a t-fitting. none ofthe tubing is hooked to anything and i need to run new tubing before i install the decking. it would be awesome if i could find a diagram for the plumbing. it would appear the fill tube and the drain tube are joined with a t-fitting and work as the same thing. help, this is my first bass boat and posting on this forum. thank you in advance for your time and replies.
sorry for the long post.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Bilge pump and aerator pump (same?)

You are almost correct. The two openings at the back of the boat are inlet for the pump. The outlet of the pump feeds the spray head fitting (the tube with the holes in it). Since you have two live wells, you could "T" into the pump outlet and feed both live wells at once. I would install a second pump or a valve so you didn't have to pump into both live wells with one pump. Hit the switch, the pump picks up water from the inlet and sprays it out the spray bar. Normally, a live well plug would be inserted in the botton hole to prevent water from running out when the live well is in use. The upper fitting is then "T'ed" into the lower fitting so when the live well is full, it simply overflows into the drain line. When you are done for the day, pull the plug in the bottom of the live well and water goes out the drain tube. The rear live well can be "T'eed" into the same drain line as the front live well.