Water Pump Troubleshooting

[Millz90]

So i took my dredge out for the first time today got all of the hoses hooked up turned the motor over and NO suction!?!?

Can the pump go bad? Any ideas on trouble shooting it?
I tried to prime it by running the filter thru the water and getting water in the tube but it still wouldn't suck any water up into the box?

 

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[Jason in Enid]

It's impossible to tell from your description. First, have you ever run a dredge before, so you know exactly how everything should be operating? Did you properly prime the pump before you started? Did you try to prime after the the motor was running? Was the pump pushing water?

 

[SHoward]

You are either sucking air (air leak on the suction side ) or you did not get it primed properly.

 

[Millz90]

It's impossible to tell from your description. First, have you ever run a dredge before, so you know exactly how everything should be operating? Did you properly prime the pump before you started? Did you try to prime after the the motor was running? Was the pump pushing water?

I'm not sure if i properly primed it or not lol

I thought i just had to get all the air out and have water in the hose? Is that not right?

I did try to prime it after it was started but i also tried to prime it with the motor off.

And no the pump wasn't pushing any water. That is my problem.

 

[Millz90]

You are either sucking air (air leak on the suction side ) or you did not get it primed properly.

When u say suction side. You are referring to the hose that sucks up the dirt right?

 

[Jason in Enid]

When u say suction side. You are referring to the hose that sucks up the dirt right?

OK, you are obviously new to this, so I will try to explain the steps.

1- you need a good foot valve with a good flapper in it. If not, the water instantly runs out and you will have an almost impossible time to get it primed.
2- assuming you have that, pump the foot valve up and down, vigorously in the water
3- you have to keep moving water up the intake until it is running out the output hose of the pump. (this is why we use clear hoses!)
4- now start your motor with the throttle at idle
5- go back to the intake hose, if your pump isn't pushing water, pump the foot valve up and down some more until the pump begins the push water.
6- adjust the throttle until the water flow in the box is what you need.

7- edit to add, you need the pressure input of the jetlog to be UNDER WATER, otherwise you wont be able to create a suction on the dredge hose, it will just be blasting pump water up the jetlog.

 

[Millz90]

Yup def new to the dredge lol
So foot valve.....?

I googled foot value but all i see are filter looking pieces, i that what you mean a filter with a valve in it?

 

[Millz90]

Im also not sure what you mean by "jetlog" needs to be under water?

 

[Jason in Enid]

This is a footvalve. It should have a rubber flap in it if you want life to be easy, but not all of them have it.

This is a jetlog

 

[Bill_saf]

let's see if I can help you out here for one sec



If you in large the pic I out lined where this goes on the pump

 

[russau]

also check the flapper on the footvalve to see if it is bent out of shape by NOT storeing it correctly! I saw a guy in Colorado trying to prime his pump by pumping the foot valve up and down for a LONG TIME only to finealy get to me. I asked him if I could look at it. he said he thinks the pump is shot! he said go ahead! I looked it over and decided t oopen up the footvalve. sure enough , the flapper was warped open from not storeing it properly.I removed the flapper and flipped it over and put it back together and it primed up and run fine! this guy was sooooooo mad about his pump (being shot) he would have sold it to me cheap! and now he was running just fine with some good info! very good points were brought up here as to leaky suction lines (to the pump/footvalve) and keeping the jet under water! sounds like you just need to get with someone that has more experience with this. this man drove across 2 states to do this.............I kinda saved his week!

 

[Millz90]

ok i got it now.....i actually took it off when i was getting everything ready because they had it ducktaped between the filter and hose, so it either broke off, which the ends dont look broke, or this is just a seperate piece and he didnt have the right connectors so he duct taped it.......But i do see now, and plan on connecting a hose to the filter then to the foot valve, like 6" or something, then a hose from the foot valve to the IN hose, again like 6". The hose i have fit both so that would be perfect unless you think that will be an issue?

 

[Jason in Enid]

That duct tape is most likely just to keep the band from cutting up their hands.

 

[Millz90]

No it was actually hold the pieces together....no band, just duct tape....lol

The end of the filter is the same size as the end of the foot valve piece....so they duct taped it together.

 

[Millz90]

i put the clamp on the one in the picture i was just trying to show that it was a seperate piece and had a flapper in it.

 

[Millz90]

So am i missing something here?

A water pump is VERY simple right? Water goes in from the turning of the impeller inside and shoots out the water right?

The only moving part is the impeller and if thats turning it should suck water right and im probably not priming it correctly?

 

[Jason in Enid]

Yes, they are that simple, but being properly primed is KEY. Did you follow the directions I wrote earlier?

 

[Millz90]

Yes, they are that simple, but being properly primed is KEY. Did you follow the directions I wrote earlier?

Yes but the tube i used and primed was about 15' long....does that matter? I was going to try a shorter hose and see if that made a difference?

 

[Jason in Enid]

doesn't matter as long as it's full of water, and you're not trying to pull water up 15 feet! The pump should be no more than a foot or so from the water surface.

 

[MadJack_ME]

And be sure the foot valve is not in the sand/gravel or you will quickly learn how fun it is to replace a seal!

You have said "filter" several times in this thread, do you mean the "CAGE" or SCREEN" around the foot valve?