Help me dial in my ballast plumbing setup... been fighting it for years.

[gabemcg]

I have a 98' VLX with a home made ballast setup that consists of the following:

3 Jabsco pumps with yellow impellers fed by a common manifold. That manifold is fed by a 1" thru-hull into a brass swing check valve... the output side of the manifold also runs through a brass swing check valve and out the side of the boat. One pump runs via soft line to the ski locker, another via hardline to the driver side connecting to the front bottom opening on a Pro X sac, and the last one via soft line to the front bottom opening of a Pro X sac on the other side of the motor. I did have the top rear openings of the Pro X sacs venting with a one way check valve, but got rid of those as they caused too much draining during surfing... I just burp air manually now.

Over the years I have fixed some problems, and discovered others:

1) If I leave the thru-hull valve open, the bags tend to fill themselves up. This is a PITA, having to open/close this valve. Is water pushing past the check valve AND the impellers to get to the bags? Should the scoop be turned backwards to prevent water being "pushed" into the system?

2) When emptying or filling a single bag, the running pump tends to draw air and/or water from the other bags. For example, if I am draining one of the rear bags to go from wakeboarding to surfing, the ski locker door starts pushing open from the bag over filling.

I originally had the black impellers in the pump, but they'd get stuck too often, so I went yellow. I am now reading that I should go green?

Help!

[Tyger]

I don't have any advice for most of your issues, but my Jabsco's orignally came with green. After having a couple of them spin out, I ordered yellow this time. I can't say that one is better than the other, but I wouldn't jump to green unless you are having problems. I don't think any of the things you list above will be fixed with the green nitrile impellers.

Edited July 28, 2011 by Tyger

[Fman]

I have a 98' VLX with a home made ballast setup that consists of the following:

3 Jabsco pumps with yellow impellers fed by a common manifold. That manifold is fed by a 1" thru-hull into a brass swing check valve... the output side of the manifold also runs through a brass swing check valve and out the side of the boat. One pump runs via soft line to the ski locker, another via hardline to the driver side connecting to the front bottom opening on a Pro X sac, and the last one via soft line to the front bottom opening of a Pro X sac on the other side of the motor. I did have the top rear openings of the Pro X sacs venting with a one way check valve, but got rid of those as they caused too much draining during surfing... I just burp air manually now.

Over the years I have fixed some problems, and discovered others:

1) If I leave the thru-hull valve open, the bags tend to fill themselves up. This is a PITA, having to open/close this valve. Is water pushing past the check valve AND the impellers to get to the bags? Should the scoop be turned backwards to prevent water being "pushed" into the system?

2) When emptying or filling a single bag, the running pump tends to draw air and/or water from the other bags. For example, if I am draining one of the rear bags to go from wakeboarding to surfing, the ski locker door starts pushing open from the bag over filling.

I originally had the black impellers in the pump, but they'd get stuck too often, so I went yellow. I am now reading that I should go green?

Help!

Couple recommendations...

You should have a seperate thru-hull for each pump (1") - they are not really effecient or designed to be used off a manifold system. One pump per bag works ideal, if you piggyback bags you can do this but you will need to definitely have a one way check valve in your overflow line. This will shut off air being sucked into your system when draining the bags. I also recommend keeping an eye on the bags when draining or fillin to make sure nothing gets pinched, you can also help divert water to the drain port. The one way check valve will also drain 99% of the water out of your bags, pancake thin.

You do not need a scupper, this will force to much water into the pumps and this is why you are having problems with your bags filling. Replace the scupper with a 1" thru-hull and this will take care of your problem. The JABSCO pumps will self-prime and suck water into your bags, no need to force water in with a scupper intake. The impeller should not make a difference of holding water back, unless it is damaged.

Hope this helps....good luck.

Edited July 28, 2011 by Fman

[gabemcg]

Thanks for the feedback...

Anyone have any other input on the proper way to run this system? Shouldn't the manifold be fine? Shouldn't these pumps not allow air/water to pass when filling/emptying another back connected to the same manifold?

If I have a thru-hull for each bag.. can these pumps push the water back out the bottom of the boat without an issue?