livewell pump question

[gpeade]

Hello everyone. New to the forum. I owned a bass boat back in the mid 80's but never used the livewells. Just purchased a 1998 273VR. Going over everything out in the driveway and noticed both a recirculation switch and a aerator switch. The aerator works but not the recirculation switch. Switch lights up but nothing works. Former owner said he never used it, just used the aerator. My question is when/where would one be used over the other and what is needed to get the recirculator working again?. The aerator pump is plumbed with a pump pulling water from outside the hull. I assume the recirculator pump would be a separate pump that simply recirculates the existing water in the livewell. Problem is I don't have an additional pump. Am I completely wrong in my thinking or does it sound like someone in the past just eliminated the pump and left the switch hot? Really have no plans on ever tournament fishing so therefore may never even put a fish in the livewell but I'm just anal about little things. I want everything I can get to work like its designed to even if never used.

[WCBasser]

I have an '04 295 ProXL so I can't speak to your model specifically, but it sounds like they might be the same. For each livewell mine has two pumps (total 4 livewell pumps). The only reason I see to use the 2nd pump is to increase aeration in the summer when the water temperature is high and you have to work hard to keep livewell fish alive. If you're not tournament fishing I'd be tempted to just leave the switch off and not worry about it. It may be worth shining a flashlight into the bilge forward of the battery compartment just to be sure whoever removed the pump didn't leave the wires hanging.