Why is my ballast emptying by itself?

[TXBecca4]

I get out to surf, fill the port side with the switch on the boat all the way until the sac is almost full. I start surfing and notice the wave isn't very good after a few mins. I check the sac and it is down to 1/2 full. I filled it back up and notice it is slowly draining out of the over flow hole but the bag isn't full yet. I went to flip the fill switch again and this time it doesn't light up like normal. I flipped it to empty and it lights up and starts to empty like normal. Flipped it back to fill and nothing. I filled the sac back up with the portable Tsunami pump I carry and no matter what the boat starts emptying the sac as if it is already too full even when it isn't full yet. Any ideas? I don't know if it is the switch that is broken because it doesn't light up when I flip it to fill anymore (but it will light up and empty fine). Why would it think that the sac is already full and start dumping water out when it isn't full yet? Never had any issues at all until this last weekend. Thanks in advance!

[chpthril]

You've got 2 problems. One electrical causing the fill pump to not run and one of passive draining causing the filled sac to drain off.

What style pumps are you using, 2 aerators per sac or a single reversible impeller per sac?

For that passive draining, you need to be sure which section of the ballast plumbing, the water is draining from.

[TXBecca4]

I was hoping you would chime in :-) I'm using whatever pump you sent me last summer (to empty) and then whatever stock set up my boat came with to fill. Everything has been working awesome and I LOVE the wave that I get from the custom sac you sent me. I'm 99% sure the water seems to be draining from the "overfill" hole and not the "empty" hole out the side of the boat. Does that make sense? Not sure how to word it sorry!

[chpthril]

Ok, looks like you have a Custom Enzo sac and a replacement drain pump.

If the switch lights in drain and the drain pump works, we know the switch has B+ and B-. B stands for battery and + and - hopefully are self explanatory. If the light does not light in fill mode and the fill pump does not run, likely a bad switch.

Where did we install the 3/4" check valve? I want to say we put it in the fill line because we anticipated passive draining there from the beginning.

[TXBecca4]

Yes it was the fill line where we put it, that is the correct spot right?

[akdoc]

Put a check valve on your overflow line, that's what I did when I had the exact same issue years ago and it works great. The only hose I don't have a check valve on is the one from the pump out.

[TXBecca4]

Where can I get another one of those? or Chpthrill, do you have to mail me another one or can I find one local in the plumbing section?

[Ewok]

How did you plumb the fill, drain and vent lines? A check valve into the fill line is necessary to stop a siphon from draining all the water through the fill pump. You will also get enough water pressure to drain some water out of the drain pump too, and it's especially bad if the drain line and vent line are coming through the same side as the ballast bag. The drain and vent lines should be crossed over to the opposite side of the boat so that they are higher than the top of the ballast bag. This will stop prevent 99% of passive draining.

[TXBecca4]

Everything was already plumbed from the factory. I took out the hard tanks and swapped them with the Enzo one and followed Mike's directions so dont think I messed up there that I know of. It has been working perfectly fine the last year or so, just started the passive draining thing out of no where. The "fill" switch also isnt working, the "empty" part of the flip switch works fine though.

[Ewok]

If it came from the factory then I doubt the lines are crossed to the opposite side of the boat. I would look at the lines and cross them over this winter. The positioning of the bag and the loops of the fill lines or drain lines might have been preventing the passive draining before. This year the large bag could have just not settled into the same spot as last year and now you have a siphon forming and draining the bags. The only way to be 99% sure the passive draining will stop is to put a check valve on the fill lines and get the rest of the lines crossed over to the opposite side.

I also added a check valve to my vent lines so that my bags suck down flat like a raisin so I can use the lockers to store my boards and gear driving to/from the lake.

[chpthril]

Where can I get another one of those? or Chpthrill, do you have to mail me another one or can I find one local in the plumbing section?

Ive got them in stock and can mail one out tomorrow. A check valve in the vent/overflow line can stop the passive draining. If the passive draining is through the drain line, we might need to cross the drain line.