Ballast Problem

[darryl1860]

Looking for some help with my ballast. I have an 07 GG. Great boat, except for the ballast. Hopefully this coming off season I'll upgrade. But for now I have a problem I really some help with. My center bag won't fill. At first I thought it was the switch, replaced that and still nothing. I get the lights on the switch but nothing the pump will not turn on when I go to fill it. The left and right work fine. When I fill either the left or right I get water in the center. So, I manually flipped the swith on the sprinkler-value to keep it from filling. However, I can't empty what was in there either.

I also checked the fuses. Yes, the center fuse was blown. So, I replaced that and thought for sure I had it solved. Nope, same thing.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

[kodybyron]

ok i had the same problem...your pump is prolly frozen up. I took off the 4 small screws (dont drop them!!!) on my front tsunami pump and took a small screw driver and turned the lil windmill inside (you'll see it . its prolly white) after that i hit the switch and bammm!
Try that..if that dont work look at your wires connected to pump..mine is kinda worn and i have to move the wires sometime to get it to kick on. lemme know ! good luck

[jonyb]

Rip it all out and build it the way it's supposed to be built, not with sprinkler parts from your yard. Mine's never worked right.

[tbone0190]

I'm interested to hear what works for you. I was late winterizing last season, and did it half a**. Needless to say I have a few problems this year to deal with. None of my pumps worked on the first outing. Switch lights come on, but nothing from the pumps including the lift pump.

jonyb - What do you recommend to replace them with if it comes down to replacement.

Thanks Trent

[Fman]

I'm interested to hear what works for you. I was late winterizing last season, and did it half a**. Needless to say I have a few problems this year to deal with. None of my pumps worked on the first outing. Switch lights come on, but nothing from the pumps including the lift pump.

jonyb - What do you recommend to replace them with if it comes down to replacement.

Thanks Trent

Not trying to take over your thread, but I did this modification last year and it has been working flawlessly for a year now. Just got back from the lake today with zero problems again with the ballast/fill drain. Well worth the investment if you use your ballast system often and dont want anymore headaches. That sprinkler system never worked from day one on my '08, very poor design.

https://forum.supraboats.com/showthread.php?t=4595

[jonyb]

I was going to use 4 Jabsco pumps and build it myself, but right now I really just don't have the money. SC was going to help, but it was still more money than I could afford at that time. I'll be off work for a total of 6 months this year, so it's not like I can just spend it like there's no tomorrow.

[darryl1860]

The pump works for the rear ballasts but not the center. I suppose my next step is to check the solenoid on the "sprinkler" valve. I plan to upgrade it over the winter. It really is a lousy, and cheap, way that Supra did their ballast system. I was glad to hear that they've upgraded the newer boats. Too bad that doesn't help me. I'll post it the solenoid solves my problem.
Thx.

[jonyb]

You can swap solenoids, or even replace the one that's bad, but it's all just gonna happen again. have you checked out what it consists of? there's 1 intake that goes to a manifold. That manifold feeds 3 sprinkler valves (that can be bought at a hardware store). Each switch turns the pump on, but also depending on the switch opens the sprinkler valve to allow water to flow to the bag. Sometimes these valves get trash in them, or just quit working. They belong in the ground, not in a boat. to troubleshoot, you can swap the valves around to see if that moves the problem to another area.

In my boat, I just have to isolate the water from the intake valve because like I said, my crap never works right and I'm just tired of messing with it.

[darryl1860]

Yes, going to try swapping the solenoids today to see if that is the problem. Someone else also said to make sure the solenoid was not loose. Evidently if you loosen them a quarter turn the close...or something like that.

[darryl1860]

The solenoid was the problem. After really looking at the ballast system is truly is hokey. My plan is to replace it during this upcoming off-season. Thanks for all the assistance.