Aerator vs ballast puppy

[99SAN]

So I'm plumbing my ballast and was going to use my 3 750 tsunami to drain and buy 3 800 tsunami, to fill 2rear 750s and a 680 locker sac. So the 3 800s will cost about 75$ and 3 new ballast puppies will cost 700$. I notice most people use the ballast puppies but seeing the cost im not sure why. They both will get the job done but the aerators are cheaper.

[Brichter14]

Im a year into my aerator system. No problems at all. I have 1200s to fill and 800s to drain. Check my thread in the show nautique forum. Round page 4

[surroundsound64]

I went ballast puppies because of simplicity. They are high.

[gome123]

My System also uses Aerator pumps. The only thing that sucks is getting the fill to prime. But not a big deal, just put the boat to troll and once it has prime it fills just fine. Drain is problem as the water level is always above the pump and always primed.

[Mikeski]

Aerators:
Plus: pump large volumes of water fast, quiet, don't burn up impellers, low power draw, inexpensive
Minus: need valves, can lose prime, flow water through them when turned off

Impellers:
Plus: don't need valves, self priming,
Minus: high power draw, burn up impellers if they run dry, noisy, expensive

I redesigned my ballast system on my 2005 SV211 completely. I use impeller fill pumps with no valves and aerator tank mounted pumps to drain the tanks. Has worked fast and flawlessly since 2009. I think my approach might be the best way to do it, just not the cheapest.

System design is much more critical with aerator pumps to avoid unwanted water transfer. Needs to include check valves and siphon breaks to work correctly. Just remember, water flows downhill...

[obd666]

this has been a hotly debated topic for many years now. you can find lots of threads breaking down the merits of each as summarized by mikeski above ... for my money its a no contest when you consider the cost and maintenance of each. the aerators can be run dry, basically never tear up and are cheap to replace if they did. and on top of that, they move lots of water quick. as for stopping unwanted water just get the electric valves and wire them to open only when the fill pumps are on, works perfect.

[gome123]

^^ What ODB666 says... it has been debated. Do as much reading as possible. Then think about what your ideal system is and go with it. (budge may also play a factor) My buddy in his X-Star changed all his fill pumps to puppies and he loves it.

[Miljack]

I'll post my $0.02. I have had both styles of pumps, and IF you can setup the aerators to ALWAYS prime, they will be faster. The problem is getting that prime, especially if you're using them for bags to empty. My homebuilt setup used 6 pumps total, 3 x 1200 to fill, and 3 x 800 to empty. I used a RV wastegate and enlarged the thru-hull size to 1 1/2" (I think) and built a manifold to feed the fill pumps, if I had to do it again, I would have built a bigger manifold, but space was a problem in my direct drive boat. In the trunk, I was able to get the pumps a few inches below the bags, and they were able to prime the empty pumps well, but in the belly locker, I wasn't able to do that and priming that empty pump sometimes was an issue.
The impeller pumps (Jabsco, water puppy, etc) are noisy and slower and use more power, but, they can overcome the head pressure that most retrofitted ballast systems will have to deal with.

Have fun, most likely an off-season project...