I just purchased a 99 Skeeter Zx185c and can't figure out the pump out for the livewells. With both switches on the pumps run , but no water is leaving the livewells. I don't have an adjustable head in the livewells . Any help would be appreciated.

Are you trying to drain the live wells? If so, there is probably a cable operated "in line" drain valve in the bilge with a lever somewhere near the console to open and close the valve. There is a hose connecting the live well to an outlet at the transom. I have a Champion boat, not a Skeeter, but that is how it is set up.

The two switches/pumps are for recirculating and aerating the water in the live wells. The aerator just puts air bubbles into the water in the wells. The recirculator pumps water out of the livewells and replaces it with fresh water from the lake to help keep fish alive.

Wayne

Thanks Wayne , I have a multitude of controls for my livewells. I have manual and auto switches for both port and starboard livewells on the dash. Also a timer ,I also have a 2 control levers at my feet for draining the live wells that have three settings empty is in the center ,recirculate and auto left and right, Just below the two controls for the Live Well I have two switches very similar to what's on the dash that have pump out port and starboard on them . Those are the two switches I can turn on and hear the pumps running but will not empty Live Well.

Wow, I thought mine was complicated! I have no idea why you would even need all that stuff.

If you have control levers at your feet for draining the live wells, what is the purpose of the pump out circuits?

Wayne

If the boat is in the water, and there is water in the livewell, it won't drain (at least not without getting on pad). With a pump-out, you can empty the livewell of a floating boat.

The 3 position control valve actuator you have is a flowrite product. Read about it at flowrite.com. Your pump-out pumps are probably in series with the control valve's empty outlet. Have you tried placing that selector on "Empty" and then turning on the pump-out pump? This may be necessary for the water to get from the livewell to the intake of the pump-out pump.

I have not tried that , but will do . Thanks

OK, That makes sense, just never thought of needing to empty the live wells until the boat was on the trailer.

Wayne

We used to pump out in order to get our cool treated water into a weigh-in bag at the pump outlet. This lowered the water in the livewell while getting good water into the bag. The lower water made transferring thrashing toads a little easier!

Ok I tried pump out with both livewells completely full tried with it on recirculate, aerate and open position with no result . Pumps run but no pump out.Any other options , besides tearing out everything in the back of the boat ,gas tanks batteries ,to look at hose routing?
I had a Champion that had dual pump outs similar to this but I had three exit ports on the transom of the boat. This one I only have one exit port and I can see that the bilge is what drains through it.

Have you reached into the livewell to the head that sprays the water and pulled out or pushed in on it?
I know you said you don't have "adjustable" spray heads, but maybe you have the following and don't realize it?
Flow-rite makes a combo aerator/pump-out assembly that looks like this:
Flow-rite combo aearator & pump-out Flow-rite assembly
The red part pulls out and pushes in. One way it sprays recirculated water, and the other way the water is diverted back into the lake.
This seems likely as you seem to have 4 pumps, but I thought I would ask just in case.

Another test I wonder if you have done. With the pump-out pumps running (via electrical switch and hearing them run), move the livewell valve control to try all 3 positions while the pump-out pumps continue to run. Leave it in each position long enough for the pump to prime when you test. Again, be mindful that it may be pumping out the drain line to the transom. The reason for this test is that we don't know how the plumbing is connected, so you're just eliminating combinations.

I'm betting that the respective control valve must be in the EMPTY position for the pump-out pump to draw water from the livewell.
I also believe that the EMPTY function is constructed with a check valve. The pump-out pump is likely located between that valve and the transom. With the valve not in "EMPTY" water can't reach the pump-out pump. If you drain the livewell while on plane by simply selecting "EMPTY" on the valve control (but no pump-out switch on), water will drain out, but not come back in when you come off plane.

Thanks Flippin that's a good point ,I'm going out today and I will check that out . I will let you know.

I found this photo online which is what I have in both sides of my live well.
d if this will help any let me know .

That photo confirms you don't have the aerator/diverter assembly I wondered about in a previous post. I believe the answer lies in putting the livewell control valve selector in the "Empty" position before you turn on the pump-out pump.

Problem solved , with a lot of wealth. If you put both control valves to empty and hit the pump out switches the water pumps back out the intakes at the bottom of the transom. Thanks for all the help.