Livewell, Baitwell and Washdown Pumps - Clean, Troubleshoot and Winterize

A livewell fill pump cannot pick up water on the trailer. Running it dry for more than a few seconds can damage it. Do your real test at the dock or ramp with the boat floating, and only bump the switch briefly on the trailer to hear whether the motor runs.

Make sure the intake seacock or ball valve is open, along with any fill valve in the well. Owners lose whole fishing days to a valve that someone closed for trailering. If your boat has a fill or recirculate selector, set it to fill.

Turn the switch on and listen and feel the pump. Silence usually means a blown fuse, a tripped breaker, a failed switch or timer, or a corroded connection. With a multimeter, check for battery voltage at the pump's wires while the switch is on. Voltage there but no sound means the pump motor is dead. Low voltage makes pumps weak, so check the battery too.

When you replace a blown fuse, use the size printed on the pump's label, never bigger. A BoatUS surveyor explains why: if debris jams the impeller and the fuse is oversized, the stalled motor keeps drawing power, overheats and can melt or start a fire before the fuse ever blows.

Weeds, grass, shells and trash clog the hull pickup and strainer. With the boat out of the water (or the seacock closed if the strainer is inside), clear the scoop with a stiff wire or long zip tie and clean any inline strainer. Clean the screen over the recirculating pickup inside the well.

On many cartridge-style livewell pumps you can twist or unclip the motor cartridge off its base without removing hoses (close the seacock first if the pump is below the waterline). Pull out fishing line, weeds and grit wrapped around the impeller. If the impeller is chewed or the motor hums but barely spins, a new cartridge is a cheap fix.

Symptom: the pump runs and sounds normal but no water comes out. Air is trapped in the pump body, often after running on plane, sitting on the trailer, or after the pickup broke the surface in waves. Turn the pump off for about 15 seconds and try again; repeat a couple of times. Check your pump's instructions, since some makers list their own airlock procedure. Stopping the boat or idling lets water flood back into the pickup. If airlocks happen every trip, the pump may be mounted with its outlet pointing down, or the hose may have a dip that traps air. The outlet should point up or at least level so air can escape. On fast offshore boats that get airborne, Boating Magazine describes a sealed pump box with a small vent hose and check valve near its top, routed well above the waterline with no dips, so trapped air can bleed off on its own. That is an installation upgrade for a rigger, but it explains why the problem keeps coming back on some boats.

Look for a kinked or collapsed discharge hose, a cracked fitting, and loose clamps on the suction side (they let the pump suck air instead of water). Check that the overflow and drain hoses are still connected; a disconnected overflow can flood the bilge. Replace rusty clamps with stainless ones.

Well overflows onto the deck? The drain is not keeping up with the fill. Boating Magazine's rule of thumb is a drain hose about twice the diameter of the fill hose; a clogged overflow screen or a kinked drain hose does the same thing. If there is a valve on the pump's outlet, close it partway to slow the fill.

• Runs but little or no water: closed seacock, clogged strainer, or an air leak on the intake side.
• Cycles on and off with the nozzle closed: a leak in the hose or nozzle, or air in the line. Look for drips.
• Won't shut off: a leak downstream, a worn pressure switch, or a tired diaphragm. Check the hose first.
• No sound at all: check the fuse, switch and wiring as in step 3.

After each trip, drain the well, rinse it with fresh water and a mild soap, and leave the lid open to dry. Avoid harsh cleaners that leave residue fish will absorb. Once a season, pull out the screens, overflow tube and spray head and clean the slime and debris off them.

Drain it before you leave the ramp. Livewell water can carry invisible zebra mussel larvae and other invasive species to the next lake. The national Clean Drain Dry campaign asks boaters to drain the livewell, bilge, motor and bait containers before leaving the water access, and to put unwanted bait in the trash. In some states it is the law: the Minnesota signs below, for example, say it is unlawful to transport lake water on the road in a livewell or to leave with the drain plug in. Check your state's rules.

Drain lines clogged with scales, blood or slime? Clear the overboard drain and pickup with a long zip tie or a small drain snake, then back-flush the line with a garden hose from the outside fitting. Take the hose off the pump first if you can, so debris isn't pushed into the impeller. Skip household drain cleaners: they end up in the water and can attack hoses and fittings.

Close the seacocks, drain the livewells and baitwells and take off the drain plugs. Bassmaster's advice is to towel out every bit of water around fittings and screens and briefly run the pumps to spit out what is left. Discover Boating adds: if you still hear gurgling and know water is trapped, give that line a dose of antifreeze.

Following Xylem's Jabsco method: switch off the power and close the seacock. Disconnect the pump's inlet fitting and put a short hose from the pump into a jug of propylene glycol antifreeze. Restore power, go to the nozzle and squeeze until it runs clear water, then full pink. Shut it off. Then protect the inlet hose between the seacock and the pump: pour antifreeze into it or disconnect it at the seacock so the pump draws antifreeze up through it. Xylem says this inlet hose is the part most people forget.

If a livewell pump or line sits in a low spot that will not drain, pour antifreeze into the pickup side or the pump body so the trapped water is displaced. Leave the seacocks closed for the winter, and tag the helm switch so nobody runs the pumps dry.

Open each seacock before you switch any pump on; Xylem calls this the most easily forgotten spring step. Check every hose and clamp for winter cracks. Flush the washdown until the water runs clear, and rinse the livewell well before you put bait or fish in it.