SX ballast slow/quit draining & filling

[Supraman]

Over the last couple trips the ballast has started to fill and drain slower and slower. Today, it took almost 45 minutes to fill and would not drain. This leads me to believe that I have something blocking the intake/output. I changed both of the pumps at the beginning of this season and they have about 100 hours on them. Up until about a week ago the system worked flawlessly.

Does anyone have any ideas of what it could be? I keep my boat moored in the water, but I think I will have to pull it out to check and see if anything is caught in the intake. Has this happened to anyone else?

[Supraman]

Thinking about this last I came up with a couple of questions that might help me diagnose this:

1) Is there anything I should be able to see on the valves that indicates whether they are opening and closing?

2) If I put the boat on the trailer, will I be able to remove the brass mushroom cap on the intake so that I can see if anything is plugging it up? Or is it glued to the hull?

3) If the internals on one pump failed, could it prevent the system from filling and draining as it should? I'm not at the boat right now, but I think the system works by passing water through the fill pump in order to drain. If the fill pump failed, (and by failed I mean exploded internally) that would explain the poor fill time, and if by failing its created a blocked passage way, this could also explain why it won't drain. If anyone with more experience with the ballast system wants to chime in on this thought I'd like to hear it.


I'm still hoping its just something plugged in the intake. Im considering putting on some goggles and swimming under and trying to fish it out with a coat hanger.

[wakejunky]

the "mushroom cap" is not just a cap. its part of the intake all one piece. i would look under the boat to see if anything is stuck in the grill. you might shine a flashlight up into it, but it may be hard to see because the pipe leading up to the ball valve is in the very front . opposite the grill. you can also disconnect the hose fitting above the ball valve and look down the intake. to be honest i have never had the intake clog up and Ive been in some very grassy shallow lakes.

yes the pumps push water through the opposite pump. it is slightly restrictive but not as bad as you would think. i would fill one of your tanks through the vent hose and while you have the fitting on top of the intake ball valve off hit the drain button and watch the flow rate of the water coming out. this will at least help you narrow it down.

FYI the ballast solenoids are very restrictive and i had problems with them. eventually i gutted the whole system and went larger. some guys on here have installed large solenoids and have been very happy. the stock system is very restrictive its a combination of 1" 3/4" and even 1/2" plumbing. the solenoids are 1/2" and that is why the guys are upgrading them. i had some very poor electrical connections at the solenoids before i trashed them. you might check that as well

[Supraman]

Up until about a week or so ago the system worked flawlessly - It would fill or drain in about 10 minutes or less... It slowly got worse and now doesn't work at all. If it was just one side, I'd think it was one of the valves - But now, neither tank will drain or fill, which leads me to believe it's something else.

Last night we were on the lake and got the tanks full (approx 45 minute fill time), but now they won't drain at all.

Since both sides seem to be effected the same, I don't think it's the valves.
Since both fill and drain does not seem to work, I don't think it's the pumps.

This leads me to think I sucked something into the intake... Any other ideas what could go wrong?

[Supraman]

I got time to pull the boat out and examine the ballast system yesterday. It turned out that both pumps had failed. I tested both of them by connecting them directly to the battery. Both of these pumps were new in June of this year.

Any ideas why these pumps would have failed prematurely?

[sxalberta]

Is it possible that you left them on overnight without realizing ?  It is pretty east to bump the switches with your elbow  I also needed to clean out the valves as these got pretty restricted with crud in them on my SX

[Supraman]

I'm positive they were not left on over night.. Also, I think there is a time delay that automatically turns off the pumps if they are left on and the engine is not running. I'm wondering if I just got pumps that were a bad batch? Do you usually have the engine on or off while filling? I'm wondering if the voltage (12v vs. 14.4v) could somehow impact the longevity of the pumps?

We've only got about another month or so left in our season, so if I can't source the pumps locally at a reasonable price I'll probably wait and do it this winter. I'd really like to come up with a system that will allow me to fill each side independantly for surfing... Not sure how much money/time I want to invest in this project though.

Is the lake you run in fairly dirty? I inspected my valves when I pulled the system apart the other day and they were still pretty clean. I've put about 120 hours on the boat since July of this year.

[brad]

On the topic of isolating the internal ballast for surfing on my SX, I put a secondary switch on each valve.  I still use the factory fill and drain but use the the secondary switch to keep the valve closed (no power from the factory system) or open (allows power from the factory system) so I can fill or drain only one side.

With my secondary switches in the "on" position, the factory ballast controls function as normal.

I may be tweaking the approach this winter, but this has been a good, short-term solution to isolate the internal ballast tanks.

[Supraman]

Brad, that sounds like a great solution. Nice and simple! I will probably implement something similar over the winter months.

[sxalberta]

my solution  was even cruder I just put a connector on the wire going to the  one pump and disconnect when I want to fill just one tank for surfing,  BTW I finally tried out my teak swim platform that has been raised and cut down, all I can say is that it is well worth the effort
as far as the deposits these were more mineral and the boat was originally from Wisconsin and I think the water was high in iron because initially the boat came with a nasty orange water line stain in the gel coat