Ballast pump impeller location

[themaestro]

I have a 2003 Air 216

I think I may have a bad impeller on one of the ballast pumps. Where would I look to find the impeller?

[Chexi]

I do not believe there are impellers on a stock 2003 system. They are aerator style pumps. They are typically in-line with a fill near the thru-hull and an empty nearer to the ballast tanks. I'm not sure exactly on v-drives. I haven't looked on my new v-drive yet.

[themaestro]

OK then my next question is, if I can hear both pumps working, they should be pumping water in? Both the empties work fine, but I'm not getting one of them to fill. I thought maybe the pump was working but the impeller wasn't.

[Chexi]

It sort of depends on homw many pumps you have. I believe that the 2003 has 2 separate aerator pumps for each ballast tank (one to fill and one to empty). I'm not sure whether you have 2 tanks or 3. At any rate, if you hear 2 pumps working when you are trying to fill or empty only 1 tank, then something is wired wrong. I doubt that is the case. What I think you probably have going on here is a common problem in the 2003 system. Jeff (as in the Jeff who created this site) has a huge thread on this problem and the fix.

[Chexi]

This is the thread I meant, but looking at it again, it's about a constant filling problem, so perhaps not applicable. http://www.planetnautique.com/vb3/sh...Ballast-Valves

You might have a blocked vent, which could be crud or a stuck check-valve, or the fins might be broken in your intake pump. It could also be a priming issue, but that woudl be intermittent.

[themaestro]

I've read that whole thread. I use the thru hull ball valves to open the valves, turn on both pumps, I can hear them both working, but I don't necessarily get water coming in. How long should it take?

I've gotten frustrated with the system, and tried to just close the valves and use a fat sac, but now I'm getting water leaking into the tanks even when the ball valves are closed. Ah! I'm getting frustrated with this.

[Chexi]

Honestly, your best bet is to rip out the tanks and put in a bag and impeller pump system. You will lose your gauges, but it's a small price to pay for a much better system. You may even want to cap that scubber thru-hull and put in a mushroom-style or two, or have the scupper replaced with a mushroom... or cut some holes in the back of the scupper to relieve some of the pressure. I think your year was the worst of the worst. The system they had in 99-2000 was less problematic.

[TRDon]

There is a better way to use your impeller pumps that dont require a ton of money to redo and is far less complicated than a impeller system. I did it on my boat, and it was pretty cheap by comparison.

[gs430]

I am having a similar problem, I think. Today I took our 2003-216 out and it kept filling until turned off the valves in the motor compartment. I am such a newbie that I have no idea whats going on. Although, I was proud of myself for remembering the manual valve shutoff in the engine compartment.