Dock water safety

[Ivanvet]

We use one of these flow-meter timers and set it at 200Gallons.



We still disconnect the hose when we leave the boat just in case. When I bought the boat, this is one of the first projects I did, and even with the pressure regulator, as soon as I connected to city water I had leaks from the fresh water hoses. The following project was going over all of the hose clamps (hundreds of them): 30 were broken, and as many were loose... After replacing all of them, the leaks stopped on cold water side (one win), but the water heater kept leaking through the high pressure safety valve (which is what it is supposed to do). Adding an expansion tank right before the HW tank solved the problem (second win), but this reflects how a simple project like adding city water inlet can lead to a lot of other things (including a fast flooding and sinking of the boat).

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by GordMay

When we lived aboard, and didn’t connect to dock water, I filled twice a week, and replaced burned out HWT heating element twice a month.

If you are lucky enough to have more than one water tank on board there is a simple solution to this issue:

Fill both (or all) water tanks. Leave one tank unselected. When the other ones run out you have some reserve to use while you get around to filling them all again.

[newhaul]

If you have to have dock water hooked to your boat ( not a good idea imo but not my boat)
Install a garden hose valve at the vessel city water connection and turn it off when not needed. Run on the tank at night. Also turn off when you leave the boat.

https://www.amazon.com/SOMMERLAND-A1...09213126&psc=1

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by newhaul

If you have to have dock water hooked to your boat ( not a good idea imo but not my boat)
Install a garden hose valve at the vessel city water connection and turn it off when not needed. Run on the tank at night. Also turn off when you leave the boat.

+1 for the hose valve and turning it off when you leave. Biggest problem is eventually you may forget to turn it off.

The other item to put on would be an inline pressure regulator to avoid high pressure bursts (which probably blew your hoses off the water heater). I think you said you had one but wonder why it didn't work/stop from blowing the hoses off?

3rd thing would be to add a rust/sediment filter for the incoming city water. You'll be surprised on the amount of stuff it will trap.

Yep, saw a couple of boats sink in their slips from something breaking and having the city water hooked up. You got lucky this time.


Bill O.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by wingssail

If you are lucky enough to have more than one water tank on board there is a simple solution to this issue:
Fill both (or all) water tanks. Leave one tank unselected. When the other ones run out you have some reserve to use while you get around to filling them all again.

Problem was, Maggie would occasionally wash dishes 'till water ran out; but not turn off electric water heater.