I have the turn valve ( right is auto, middle is empty, and left is recirculate). How do I use the recirculate option. I thought I just turned it to it and that was it. Yesterday I did that and it kept pumping fresh water in. Am I supposed to hear a click? I do on auto not on recirculate. 2004 Stratos 285
2004 Stratos 285 Pro XL 150 Johnson
How do you know it kept bring in fresh water? Did you have the main pump on or the Aux pump on?
2000 Javelin Renegade 20 DC.
Strong men create easy times, Easy times create weak men & weak men create hard times. Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum
In 1944 18-20 year old's stormed beaches, and parachuted behind enemy lines to almost certain death.
In 2015 18-20 year old's need safe zones so people don't hurt their feelings. "Author Unknown"
In 2021 18-40 year old's want to and work to cancel you out if you have a different opinion.
Your selector switch when set on recirculate does not bring in fresh water. The word closed would be a more appropriate word for the function it does.
Auto= the flapper closes the inlet plumbing so water does not escape when the boat is in a forward moving motion but it will open when the boat is at rest and let water naturally flow in/out the line. (not much but a little flow)
Empty= open/drain/empty...no water in the livewell when on dry land.
Recirculate= flapper is closed. No lake water from the outside of the boat goes in through the inlet plumbing.
Here is how you recirculate water. Set the selector valve switch to recirculate (closed). Then you recirculate water buy the rocker switch on your dash labeled recirculation pump. When doing this your recirculation pump circulates water in the closed loop system. No fresh water is brought in when the recirculation pump is running. The water level will not rise or fall it's simply recirculates. It's a pump that does the recirculation not the setting on the control valve. However to get recirculating water you need the valve set correct and then you activate the pump to do the work.
A couple of side notes...the flapper in auto is controlled by gravity/momentum. When the boat is at rest its open and this allows water to flow into the system (not much but a little). When you put the boat in gear and start moving forward momentum is supposed to close the valve. In the event that setting fails and the flapper does not close when you get on plane all the water will be sucked out of your livewell. I have had this to happen and this is when I learned how the system works. I do not recommend the auto setting for the flapper but it's your choice. I always use the recirculate/closed setting for the flapper. In the event it fails you simply remove the screen from inside your livewell and plug the drain at the bottom of the livewell. In case of an emergency I keep a cork that's just the right size to plug the drain at the bottom of my livewell just in case the flapper fails in the recirculate/closed setting. I have never had to use it but I do have a way of closing my drain if necessary.
Regarding pumps...you should have fill pumps and recirculate pumps. They are what does the work regarding moving water around in the system. Fill pumps bring in fresh water. When the level gets high enough in the livewell it will go out the overflow and simply drain back into the lake. A recirculation pump pulls water out of the livewell and puts it right back in creating air bubbles/oxygen.
Here is my routine...when I catch the first fish I want to keep I set the valve to recirculate/closed. Then I turn the fill pump to manual and fill the livewell. This typically takes 5 or so minutes to fill the livewell. Once water reaches the overflow I turn the fill pump off. Then I set the recirculation pump to auto. When my recirculation pump is set for auto it kicks on for around 30 seconds and then it kicks off for about two minutes. It keeps repeating the process over and over and long as it set to auto. I keep an eye on my water level and if for some reason it gets low I turn on the fill pump and add some water. Rarely will this happen. Also in the heat of summer I will turn on the fill pump to auto and "change" out the water in my livewell. I just simply let it cycle a few times on auto, then I turn the fill pump off. Doing this will cause water to overflow out the drain and introduce new water. I always have on my recirculation pump anytime water/fish is in my livewell. I do not turn my recirculation pump off until I drain the water and remove the fish. i always keep my recirculation pump on auto so its constantly kicking on/off. Just so you know the pump setting auto = timer on/off in a timed sequence and manual means runs non stop. This applies to the fill and recirculation pump.
When you say "it keeps pumping fresh water in" that leads me to believe you had a fill pump on manual so I have to ask was the water level rising and going out the overflow or was it simply just spraying water. If the level was trying to rise you had a fill pump on. If the water was simply just spraying you had a recirculation pump on. Either way your issue sounds like a pump setting and not a control valve/flapper setting.
Yes I get long with my explanations but tdt91 is my number one fan and enjoys reading my epic writings
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Here is what I got. The first pick is the rocker switches and the second is the selector valve. My understand after reading the post above is I can turn the selector to auto and rockers to manual/auto to fill the livewell? If I want to recirculate I turn the selector to recirculate and then the rockers to auto? My old boat had separate switches for recirculate and aerate but this on does not.
2004 Stratos 285 Pro XL 150 Johnson
I'll try this in quick simple language.
The Aux switch does not run water through the actuator valve and has nothing to do with recirc. It only pumps fresh water in, no matter where your selector lever is turned too.
The Main switch runs water through the actuator valve thus the selector lever matters in this case. If you only want to recirculate then flip the main switch to manual and the selector lever to recirc and it will continually recirc. If you put the main switch on auto then it will turn on and off with a non adjustable timer.
I rarely use the Aux unless I want to fill the wells faster then I'll turn Aux and main on.
I hope this helps and I'm sure you didn't get tired of reading.
Last edited by tdt91; 03-20-2020 at 06:59 PM.
2000 Javelin Renegade 20 DC.
Strong men create easy times, Easy times create weak men & weak men create hard times. Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum
In 1944 18-20 year old's stormed beaches, and parachuted behind enemy lines to almost certain death.
In 2015 18-20 year old's need safe zones so people don't hurt their feelings. "Author Unknown"
In 2021 18-40 year old's want to and work to cancel you out if you have a different opinion.
Based on the picture I would always set the selector to recirculate. Then turn the Aux Aerator on manual for about 5 minutes (or however long it takes) to fill the livewell. Once the livewell is full of water turn Aux Aerator off and set Main Aerator to auto to recirculate water which will generate oxygen. In the auto setting it should kick on for a few seconds then kick off for a couple minutes then on/off repeating the process as long as its set to auto.Originally Posted by tnsportsman86
When i use mine (285) during the day i use auto and aux pump, that keeps fresh water coming in, when i get ready to take out i switch the selector to recirculate and turn off the aux pump and go to main pump.
I am like DaveA. I keep my valve selector on auto almost all the time. This allows some fresh water to enter but closes off when on plane. I only switch to recirculate when I enter muddy water that I don't want to enter the livewell. I use the manual pump switch to fill the wells and the recirculate switch for recirculating the livewell water and for pumpout. On plane I turn off the main pump and only run the recirculate pump.
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