I'm having an odd problem this year. I have check valves in my fill lines to prevent siphoning through my aerator pumps. Been working great for several years. This year, the rubber leaves in the check valves are sticking closed. Since the hoses are empty (e.g. full of air), when the pump turns on the water compresses the air but cannot open the check valves. The air just remains trapped behind the check valve. If I then disconnect from the fat sac and suck on the hose, the leaves pop open and the water fills the hose and flows just fine. I get them flowing one day, but the next morning they are stuck closed again.
This is happening on multiple check valves on multiple fill lines, with different brands and sizes of pumps and check valves, so I think it's related to the water or something in it and not to the specific pumps or check valves I'm using.
A quick search didn't reveal any other threads mentioning this. Nothing marine related on Google either. Anyone else seen this? Any suggestions? My guess is a cleanliness issue, perhaps I need to disassemble and clean the leaves from lake gunk that may have built up over a few years and "glues" the leaves together when it dries. I can't see anything when I look at the rubber leaves but like lake "slime" it may be basically invisible yet still there, causing trouble.
This is happening on multiple check valves on multiple fill lines, with different brands and sizes of pumps and check valves, so I think it's related to the water or something in it and not to the specific pumps or check valves I'm using.
A quick search didn't reveal any other threads mentioning this. Nothing marine related on Google either. Anyone else seen this? Any suggestions? My guess is a cleanliness issue, perhaps I need to disassemble and clean the leaves from lake gunk that may have built up over a few years and "glues" the leaves together when it dries. I can't see anything when I look at the rubber leaves but like lake "slime" it may be basically invisible yet still there, causing trouble.
Comment