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How high does the water need to be for the water pump to work

L

leachy

Regular Contributor
Hi All,
Getting ready to finally get the boat back in the water after 2.5 years. I wanted to test the water pump to make sure its ok. I could only just get the inlet vents submerged not above the cav plate but all vents underwater. When I disconnected the hose the water was not pumping through the pee hole, would easily with the hose connected. So Im assuming the water needs to be over the cav plate or half way up the leg flooding the impeller al idle to pump water.

Regards
Leachy
1000024287.jpg
 
those pumps are not self priming, they are what’s known as flooded. Your photo says it all.
Get a regular trash can, & fill it.
 
That's one of the problems running an engine out of the water without using ear muffs at the water intake ports with a water hose with running water connected. When I was a kid I did a lot of barrel running and all kind of abuse of my impeller on daddy's, 1956, 10 HP Scott Atwater engine. The water would get hot in the 55 gallon drum so I would put it in gear and blast the prop to clear hot water out with a garden hose refilling the drum.

Knowing what I know now, I cannot believe the impeller in that engine survived all that abuse I gave it, like running the engine numerous times out of the water. and it never let me down for the years I ran it before on one of my overnight camping/fishing trips, I was in a river and crossed a place where a railroad bridge had been with the pilings sawed off about 6" below the surface of muddy water (where I couldn't see them) and I hit one and broke the mid section in half.....after the accident, the only thing holding the lower half of the mid section and the LU was the shift cable, which allowed me to paddle home with the whole engine. I was just a teenager and I learned a lot from exploits with that engine.......but it was a super time for a teenage boy and I have been in love with boating ever since....at 82 currently.
 
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