Live well not filling with water

[Dan Whelan]

Hi there - first post. I just bought a 2017 2120. The live well does not seem to pump water. When switched on, I can hear the pump running. There is a valve where the water enters the live well but turning it every which way doesn't start the water flow either. Is there another valve at the intake that is accessible while the boat's in the water? Where is the access to the pump?

Sorry for new newbie questions. The boat didn't come with an owner's manual and the one I found online didn't have any detail about this. Thanks in advance.

 

[Inshore Chaser]

You should have a seacock with a valve in the bilge area. One thru hull pickup serves both the raw water wash down and the livewell. When lever is perpendicular to the hull it is open (just like a house lever valve). Just be sure to close it when docked or not using raw water or live well. Valve inside the livewell is used when your seacock is open but you do want any water flowing into the livewell...such as while running the boat. If both valves are open water will continue to fill the well when the boat moves...it is designed as a high speed pickup. Hope this helps!

 

[tomc585]

Just because you hear the pump running doesn't mean it pumping.

 

[Antidote]

There may also be a valve right on the live well filling port. It operates the same as the through hull. Perpendicular is off. In-line is open. It's there so the through hull can be open to use the raw water wash down; but, the water can be turned off to the live well.

 

[Bodick93]

It may be sucking air through a different fitting in line.
Slightly off topic, but you can test it with one of those plunger looking flush rigs for inboards. My washdown pump froze up, and I was able to give it a force feed and free it up.
Take your water hose and shoot water backwards through the fitting in the livewell to verify flow path. Pop the cartridge out and check it. With the previous suggestions, you should be able to get it working.

 

[PKS1801]

"Perpendicular is off. In-line is open."

This is not always the case. Seacock handles are held on by a nut, and can be removed and rotated in 90* increments. Sometimes done to make them easier to reach, or because the standard orientation may be blocked by something else in the bilge. Verify, then you can trust eyeballing them.

 

[capecodparker2320]

When I first launch, my livewell pump will not always move water. It appears to be an air lock in the system. Once underway outside the harbor, pump seems to prime itself and works great all day. Only problem with that is when the bait is in the harbor.

 

[Ducktown]

I bought a slightly used 1801 three years ago and had the same problem. My issue was that the previous owner had allowed barnacles to grow within the intake tube. I solved the problem by reaming out the tube with a broomstick handle. I need to do this yearly as the boat is on a saltwater mooring.

 

[Mike D.]

Like others, check the seacock valve is open. If it is and still not pumping, could be air locked. Mine is air locked almost everytime I start it (noticeable since it is 2x as loud), I simply push the tab on the pump cartridge and pull it up an inch and let some water flow out, and push it down quickly and try to turn it on again and the pump starts pumping water.

 

[Ducktown]

I bought a slightly used 1801 three years ago and had the same problem. My issue was that the previous owner had allowed barnacles to grow within the intake tube. I solved the problem by reaming out the tube with a broomstick handle. I need to do this yearly as the boat is on a saltwater mooring.

Wow - did I ever get my wires crossed on this! My problem was the well wasn’t DRAINING!!! It was the outflow pipe that was clogged. Hahaha!

 

[Efx]

Be careful with doing that as I have seen before where we prime the pump by taking it off an inch and then put it back on and get bait. Then we start the run out of the harbor and the water pressure will push the pump off and before you know it, the bilge is full and you are sinking. Bottom line here is to put the pump on fully by turning it the full range and engaging the push latch. If we didn’t notice the bilge pump running and broke out the hand pump fast, we would have lost the boat. The amount of water coming in through the water pickup at 25 mph is a large amount that no bilge pump can handle. To put this in perspective, we had ONE inch of freeboard left at the transom. Not a good feeling. Two people, full tank of gas, full livewell, 10 rods and gear.

 

[Dan Whelan]

I finally had a chance to get back to the boat to hunt down the valve that controls the water intake. It was shut off (not too surprising). Pulling the lever to open (vertical in my case) did the trick and both the live well and the raw water wash down work just fine. The biggest problem was locating it - it was under a round deck cap in the engine well on the port side.

Nice to find such a supportive group. Sincere thank you to everyone who responded, with special thanks to Inshore Chaser who responded right away and very accurately.

 

[Dleopoldi914]

Parker uses a cheap pump that breaks often. It is a shureflo piranha. Outside of the whole the water valve might not be open, it is a common maintenance item to replace

I wired up my pump to have one of these quick disconnects.

I get maybe 1 season out of the cartridge. It is pretty easy to swap and twists on.

 

[user 11267]

Hello, and new to the site. Apologies for reviving an old thread. I just bought a 2016 2120 SC this season, and my livewell pump had only been intermittently working, whether all valves were open or not. It would of course fill while underway if needed without running, but I cannot hear anything coming from the pump when switched on after priming. I called a few Parker parts places and they say they don't have a specific part listed for the livewell pump, and I am now not near the boat to check and see if it is only binding, or if it needs replacement. Would anyone know if my year also has the piranha shureflo installed, and if so is it the 1100 gph or the 800 gph?? I would rather have a replacement cartridge or pump handy than need one and not have it. Any and all help is appreciated.

 

[Dleopoldi914]

So for me those cartridges fail frequently. I use my live well a lot as well.

What I did was I have it on a water proof plug and I have a spare one sitting under my console in case it fails out on the water

 

[user 11267]

Thank you for your reply. The plug seems like a great idea. Any idea which model you have in your boat?

 

[Dleopoldi914]

Thank you for your reply. The plug seems like a great idea. Any idea which model you have in your boat?

 

[user 11267]

Awesome thank you.

 

[Bodick93]

My limited experience is that the piranhas get noisy before they fail. I ran mine for at least 20 hours noisy before I replaced the 62 dollar cartridge. It already has a plug hidden in the harness. Just had to cut a few tyraps. I just cut a long pigtail off the old cartridge so I could use it a few more times on future cartridges, cutting a few inches off each time.

 

[Bodick93]

The noise was coming from additional downward movement allowed by the worn bearing / bushing of the pump allowing the impeller to contact the inside of the casing or body of the pump.