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-   -   Ballast Bag Leak - cant find source of the problem! (http://www.wakeworld.com/forum/showthread.php?t=800024)

greg_smith 09-19-2013 1:23 PM

Ballast Bag Leak - cant find source of the problem!
 
So, I have a 2001 X-Star with a leak on the port-side ballast. I'm using the High Fly 750s in the back departments. So... this leak I have seems to almost defy logic, I cannot figure out what it is!
I basically fill up the bag, and within about 10-15 minutes, the bag empties to about 20% full (80% of the bag empties out roughly). It does NOT completely empty! The boat does NOT have to be moving for this to occur. I simply have my boat stationed at a slip, and this will occur.

This is what I have done:

#1 - I switched both ballast bags in the back around. I moved the port bag over to the starboard side, and vice versa. I was curious to see if the problem would move from port to starboard, or if the problem would stay on the port side. The result was that the leak stayed on the port side. So, I'm assuming that means that there is NO problem with the bags.

#2 - I filled up the port-side ballast bag, and then shut of the intake valves (as to stop any water from getting pulled back out of the boat). Anyways, this did nothing. The problem remained!

#3 - Referring to the pumps that empty out the 750 bags, I took the o-ring from the impellor on the port side bag, and swapped it with the o-riing from the impellor on the starboard side (thinking I may have a bad o-ring). The problem remains!!

#4 - I took the part of the pump that the impellor sits in, and that screws into the bottom of the 750 bags, and swapped them from port to starboard... thinking that there may be a crack or leak in this. I was curious to once again see if the problem would move from port to starboard. The result... the problem stayed on the port side again!!

The only other thing I can think of is to replace the entire pump impellor on the port-side. Other than that..... I am completely out of ideas. It almost seems impossible to me that none of the things I have tried have yielded any results, or haven't moved the problem to the starboard side.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. This is driving me nuts!

brichter14 09-19-2013 2:13 PM

Im guessing this is an aerator system. Do you have a check valve after your fill pump? Sounds like water is siphoning out your fill hoses.

xstarrider 09-19-2013 10:43 PM

I am guessing your gate may be broken on the port side. Try putting a check valve on the on the in/fill line.

Those gates really don't seal completely. Especially if its the original one. The arm gets worn out. You can try to adjust tt but you're much better off just adding the check valve. I was having a similar issue when I swapped to the bags. They would empty slowly and by the end of a set be 1/4-1/2 full. I gutted the manual gates and installed this check valve......No more drainage. Swapping to the bags puts a ton of back pressure on the aerator pumps and they dont seal like the reversible pumps due to prevent the water draining back out the fill line

http://www.wakemakers.com/marine-check-valve.html

eternalshadow 09-20-2013 9:58 AM

Another quick solution would be to install a ball valve at the bag, the downside is that you have to remember to open and close it.

greg_smith 09-20-2013 1:08 PM

Awesome guys, thanks very much! I'm going to try and install a check valve this weekend and we will see how it goes!! Hopefully I can find one at a hardware store or something that fits. I'll let ya know how it goes!

greg_smith 10-04-2013 12:22 PM

So I finally got a bit of time to install the check valve. After I installed it and filled the bag, I only had about 15-20 minutes to see if the bag was getting any softer. It looks as though the bag has stayed full! Normally, the bag starts getting softer right away, therefore I know the bag is losing water. This wasn't the case this time. I will have more time this weekend to monitor the bag and watch it over a longer period of time, but I think its safe to say the check valve is working!

Thanks again to everyones' input!

greg_smith 10-04-2013 1:07 PM

One other thing..... do these check valves slow down the fill speed at all?


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