How to check livewell at home to make sure its working

[wl1193]

Hi. I have a Ranger Reata 180. How can I make sure my livewell is working at home? I took the boat to a lake and turned on the livewell. The livewell filled up with a few inches of water and thats it. I heard the livewell pump turn on, run and then turn off intermittingly. No new water was brought into the livewell wehn the pump ws running. There was no circulation in the livewell. I hosed down all the openings in the livewell in an attempt to flush stuff out in case something was lodged in the pipes. How can I fill and check livewell at home to make sure its working properly? Thanks in advance.

[VJ]

Not sure how to check at hm but i had the same problem with my 88 tracker and first i made sure the switch and wiring had proper voltage then i changed the livewell pumps out and next time out it worked perfectly. hope it helps

[mark poulson]

If you hear the pump running, it may be worn out, and unable to pump water because the impeller is too worn.
Just to be sure, check and make sure there's no crossover switch that's on recirculate, instead of auto fill.
There might also be some debris in the pump. They are easy to remove and check.
Ditto with the intake screen on the transom.
Lastly, make sure you don't have a crack or break in your livewell fill lines.
If all those things are okay, it's probably a bad pump.

[wl1193]

Hi. The pump is brand new. I had a dealer install a new pump in July. I removed the screen in the livewell and the screnn on the bottom of boat. I shot water through a hose in all the openings. How can I check at home to make sure the livewell works without going to the lake?

[WackySenko]

Do you have a lever or switch to move, so that water can come in or go out? That might be where the problem is.

[Dan Pollard]

First their should be a lever that you switch over that permits you to fill the livewell. With out switching over the lever it will not fill. Assume that is ok then manually fill the live well with a hose then you can switch on the recirculate the water. That way you can see if at least it will recirculate. then let the water sit in the live well to see if it leaks. If everything still checks out it probably is the impellers in the pump.

[wl1193]

I have a switch next to my throttle. The switch has three settings empty, auto and recirculate. Then i have a button on my dash board that says rear aerator and I can choose manual or auto. When I put the boat in the water, I turn the switch to auto to fill the livewell. It only fills a few inches. I then push the dash button to aerate the water and turn the switch recirculate . Thats when I hear the pump cycle on and off. No new water comes into the livewell and no water comes from the spray nozzle near the top even when I hear the pump cycling.

[Terry Smith]

Don't know how to check at home but when on the water put you selector by your throttle to auto then turn switch on dash to manual until the livewells are full then turn switch to auto. There should also be A round knob on the dash that you can turn that will change how long the pumps will turn on and off. If your livewells are not holding water the valve that on your selector next to your throttle is bad and needs to be replaced. The recirculate position will not add any new water to your livewells.

Hope this helps, Terry

[Marty]

It would seem to me that you have to have water in your livewell before you can run auto, aerator, and recalculate! I would fill with manual until you have your desired level of water. Once you have the desired level of water turn your switch to auto and chose aerator or recalculate. At least that is what I do!

To test it at home, use your garden hose to fill the livewell and then first test your aerator. Once that is done test your recalculate – what will happen you will end up pumping the water out of the livewell (since your boat is not in the water and your intake is under the water line).

[wl1193]

I filled my livewell with water from my garden hose. The water drains from the livewell via a bottom opening and then out the bottom of the boat. I plugged the hole in the livewell and then filled it with water to the overflow. Water drains from the overflow and out the boat through a different opening. When I unplugged the hole, water came out both openings at the bottom of the boat. Water does not want to stay int he livewell unless I plug the drain. I turned on the pump to recirculate the water. The pump turned on but no water came out the spray nozzle. Could I have a bad valve? Bad spray nozzle?

[mark poulson]

Sounds like your 3way valve may be bad. You should be able to access it through your rear compartment.
If not, take to a boat mechanic, and have him/her check it out.

[kopper_bass]

It is likely 1 of 3 basic things.
All the things you mentioned have to do with the pumps and how they run and what they do, but that has nothing typically to do with holding water in your livewell. The fact that you get a little water to fill, but thats it, is because that is essentially the water line of your boat and you wont get any more with the valve open. As you tested, your boat is not HOLDING the water in the livewell, so that is exactly what you are getting. Therefore i think your issues is one of the things below related only to a valve that should close off your livewell.

1) Because you have a ranger reatta, it could just be that you have a manual livewell. what that means is that you have pumps that will fill water and recirculate water in the livewell, but you DO NOT have any actuator to close the drain hole. Therefore, you have to manually install a drain plug on the inside of the livewell every time you go out to fish and pull it at the end of the day. This is very typical on fish/ski boats and non tournament ready bass boats. this is how my fish/ski was, so i bet this is your problem.
or -
2) There is another switch that is actually the handle to close the valve. Are you sure you dont also have another switch somewhere that is simply marked open/close or fill/drain? my skeeter has these handles by the throttle, but they only open/close the livewell drain hole and have nothing to do with recirculate, fill, etc. if i leave them open, i can try to fill all day, but i get exactly what you are experiencing.
or -
3) as everyone mentioned, you DO have a lock for the drain that gets actuated automatically, but its broken and not working properly. this is the least likely since i dont know of any boat that does this, most have some sort of mechanical lever to close the valve, and then many different switches that control the actual motor functions.

Good luck and let us me know if #1 is the correct answer - that's where my money is.

Kopper_Bass

[wl1193]

I appreciate everyone's response. I brought the boat to my friend home and we filled the livewell with water. While filing the livewell with water, he switched the pump on and off as well as the lever that is labeled auto, recirculate and empty. While the pump was running for a few minutes, we heard a sound coming from the pump like something shifted or sped up. After that, water started to shoot out of the spray nozzle. He thinks there was something in the impeller that was dislodged. Turns out I only have one pump to fill and circulate the water.

[NoCAL]

If there is no lever,then you do need a drain plug. I have a Tr-21X, and it requires drain plugs to keep water in the livewell. It has pump in, recirculate, and pump out but if you don't put that plug down in the bottom, the water will just run out when you get on plane.

NoCAL

[mark poulson]

My buddy's older aluminum boat had a drain hole in the bottom of the livewell, and a piece of plastic pipe that he put into it that brought the drain action up to the top of the pipe, so the livewell only drained when the water level got to the top of the open vertical pipe.
You should probably check with the boat manuf. to see if maybe your boat came equipped like that, too, but somehow the pipe was lost sometime in the past.

[HEH]

I have an old (86) Ranger that had similar problems. Factory rig had a 3 way valve (inlet from transom, inlet from bottom of livewell, and outlet to spray bar.) This valve gave me fits! It would wear out quickly allowing "blow-by" from whichever source was suppose to pick up water resulting in my livewell not filling or draining out. After replacing it a couple times I pulled it out, installed a separate pump-out/recycle pump and manual valve and haven't had any problems. It's a pain in the butt, but sometimes you just have to do it yourself.

Harold