Leaking Water Tank or Strainer ?

[TPorch]

Trying to determine if my water tank is leaking, or if it might be the connection between water tank and strainer? 4 pictures to illustrate:

first pic is under the v-berth, tank is under panels at top of pic, open area aft of tank contains water heater, pressure water pump, etc.

next pic is looking down into opening, shows corner of water heater, tank fitting coming through wall, and connecting to strainer. After filling the 20 gallon tank and going out on a choppy day, there can be over an inch of water at the bottom of this compartment!

last 2 pics shows closeup of tank fitting coming through bottom of wall, and connecting to strainer. The gunk on the fitting makes me wonder if a new strainer might be the answer, or if the problem lies in the connection between the tank itself and the fitting? The tank is original plastic, circa 1996.

I removed the wood panels over the tank and peeked into the inspection port, everything looked okay, but hard to be certain.

Any ideas or troubleshooting tips?

Thanks.

[Mark Zarley]

That filter looks like a bilge pump filter , an appropiate water filter would be in the 2 micron range. As to the leak, wrap a piece of paper towel around all the suspect connections, secure with twist ties or wire ties, the wet one is the winner. Just a process of elimination.

[Tellie]

I like Marks suggestion on finding the leak. However I question the location or the need at all for a strainer in that location. How would you clean it with any water still in the tank? If it were my boat that is the location where I would prefer to install a shut off valve then a filtering system further down line in an easier to get to location if possible. The gunk looks like, but hard to tell, as plumbers pipe dope.

[sabray]

Originally Posted by Mark Zarley

That filter looks like a bilge pump filter , an appropiate water filter would be in the 2 micron range. As to the leak, wrap a piece of paper towel around all the suspect connections, secure with twist ties or wire ties, the wet one is the winner. Just a process of elimination.

No bilge pump filter. Its a large screen. Here is what I use. Shut off on tank then filter that isn't bilge pump filter then fine filter at the tap. The screen catches the bigger stuff and helps save the life of the finer filter.

[TPorch]

Originally Posted by Tellie

I like Marks suggestion on finding the leak. However I question the location or the need at all for a strainer in that location. How would you clean it with any water still in the tank? If it were my boat that is the location where I would prefer to install a shut off valve then a filtering system further down line in an easier to get to location if possible. The gunk looks like, but hard to tell, as plumbers pipe dope.

Thanks, I like the idea for finding the leak as well. A shutoff valve between the tank and the strainer also makes sense. Keep in mind that currently the outflow of the strainer goes into a short piece of tubing, then to the input of the water pressure pump.

Both ends of the strainer are barbed, and I believe are meant to connect to hose? Given that the right side is coming straight out of the pipe exiting the tank, and the presence of the pipe dope, could this be the cause of the leak? The more I look at the strainer to pipe connection, the more I wonder...