Factory ballast bags won't empty all the way?? Any insight would be great!

I have a 2012 launch 22ssv. I am having problems with my port side factory ballast bag (400 pound fat sacs) not emptying all the way. It goes down to about 1/3 or 1/4 and it starts to sounds like there is no water going through the pump (running dry). I need to lift the bag and weight it toward the back of the boat to get it to drain any further. My starboard side empties almost all the way. Could this be an air leak in the line or could the pump be defective? Doesn't this system run on a sealed pressure system in order to suck out the water? I bought the boat at 25 hours and its been doing this since. It only has 50 hours on it now.
Any help would be much appreciated.
thanks!!

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Originally Posted by brentrc

I have a 2012 launch 22ssv. I am having problems with my port side factory ballast bag (400 pound fat sacs) not emptying all the way. It goes down to about 1/3 or 1/4 and it starts to sounds like there is no water going through the pump (running dry). I need to lift the bag and weight it toward the back of the boat to get it to drain any further. My starboard side empties almost all the way. Could this be an air leak in the line or could the pump be defective? Doesn't this system run on a sealed pressure system in order to suck out the water? I bought the boat at 25 hours and its been doing this since. It only has 50 hours on it now.
Any help would be much appreciated.
thanks!!

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50?????/ wow mine is a 2012 I bought with 14 it has 190 something hours on it.....(I got it this year in APRIL) are you emptying underway or standing still?

we empty ours with the nose high so all or most of the water is pushed to the emptying side of the bags.... like 9 or 10 miles an hour with the wake plate fully raised so nose is high.

might help might not but that's how we empty ours

good luck

Thanks so much Sirgonz. I appreciate you taking the time to give me that tip. I will try it this weekend. I'm still puzzled why one side empties all the way (about 98%) and the other only 75%. I may check the lines as well.

As for the boat hours, I only bought the boat in the middle of august and have put about 30 hours on it. I usually put about 75-80 per season with our canadian summers being shorter.

Thx again!

I had a similar issue with one my Jabsco ballast pumps... I tried everything to figure it out and finally found it was a defect in the pump itself... I diagnosed by flipping the pump upside down and reversing the polarity of the wiring... The drain side just wasnt as efficient as the fill and couldnt empty before the timer ran out of time... Jabsco is replacing the pump under warranty...