[Buckethead]

Okay, my boat has a front and back live well. The pump for both is on the transom below the water line. The recirculator pump is in the rear, next to the rear live well. They are controlled by a rocker switch on the dash. The front live well and aerator work fine. The back doesn't. There is power to the rocker switch because the light comes on when you switch it on but the rear live well and aerator won't work. What the heck is going on? Its the same pump and aerator for bot live wells but only the front works.

 

[Buckethead]

Re: Aerater/live well

The previous owner is my dad and it worked up until last year. What has me puzzled is both live wells use the same pump and aerator. The pump and reciculator have a separate switch but both the aerator and pump only work on the front. Neither works on the back.

 

[Buckethead]

Re: Aerater/live well

No because the pump and aerator don't turn on when I hit the switches. I have power to the switches because they light up when I turn them on. The pump and aerator just don't come on. I'm assuming the pump and reciculator are wired together even though there is a seperate switch for each because neither is working.

 

[Buckethead]

Re: Aerater/live well

Thanks for the offer, Ben but I'm out in Mercer Co on the Ohio line. My uncle is supposed to take a look at it. I can sum up my entire electrical knowledge in this way: If you do it wrong, it hurts. That's about all I know about it.

 

[Buckethead]

Re: Aerater/live well

I wouldn't worry about it. You don't catch enough fish to need two live wells.

The back live well is for my guests on the boat. But you'll never have to worry about using it.

My uncle and I spent about three hours trying to figure it out tonight. We still can't get the pump work for the back live well. I even looked to see if there was a separate pump for the back well but there isn't. I did find out the recirculator is only for the back live well and is working. There is no recirculator on the front tank. So, if worse comes to worse, I can fill the back well with a bucket and recirculate the water when needed.

 

[Buckethead]

Re: Aerater/live well

No, I have a Monarch. I'm not confusing the bilge pump with anything. The boat has fore and aft live wells. They get filled by the same pump. The pump is run on a rocker switch. It works when you switch it to fill the front well. It doesn't work when you switch it to the rear well. The switch indicates both front and rear wells but you bring up an interesting point about the plug. From what I recall, the pump used to fill the rear well. If I can't figure it out I'll try removing the well plug to see if that works when I get it on the water. I used to have a sea nymph but the well filled by the pump, not by removing the plug. There was no recirculator on it. It had a long plug with an overflow on it and if you wanted to freshen it up, you'd just pump more water in it and the excess would go out the over flow. This boat has the same type of plug. Around a 10" piece of conduit that screws into the bottom of the well.

 

[Buckethead]

Re: Aerater/live well

That doesn't explain why the pump doesn't turn on

 

[Buckethead]

Re: Aerater/live well

Well, I finally figured out the problem. A 61 year old (Uncle Howie) and a 44 year old (me) apparently can't fix it. It takes a seven year old. I crawled back under the back deck to make sure the rear well didn't fill by back-filling through the drain. I saw the back tank line was connected via a 3 way splitter with the pump line and the feed line to the front tank. So, thinking along the line of Taters smart alec comment about the mouse stuck in the line....

..... I decided to see if maybe it was blocked by sediment. I tried to remove the line from the tank to blow compressed air down the hose but was having a tough time because there isn't much room under there. I saw the elbow at the tank was removable So I decided that would be easier than laying on my back, messing with the hose. I wondered aloud how the elbow removed from the tank and the Wee Man, who was seated next to me helping, said, "I think you unscrew these black things" Which were in the lines in the tank. So, I gave one a twist and it started to loosen.


Yeah.......they're plugs.

You open them to allow water to fill the live well and tighten them down if you don't want to use the live well. They were tightened all the way down. The pump fills both wells at the same time. The rocker switch is unnecessary but they put it on there anyway

And yes, I called my uncle to tell him how dumb he was.

 

[Buckethead]

Re: Aerater/live well

Anybody need a transmission put in their truck or anything else fixed? I'm hiring the Wee Man out. He'll be available right after he helps the FBI find Jimmy Hoffa.

In my defense, why put a rocker switch on something if it only works one way!

 

[Buckethead]

Re: Aerater/live well

Had the boat out today. Low and behold when you loosen up those plugs, that darn back live well fills right up.