Pressure water system won’t hold pressure, runs continuously

[Olddan1943]

What is the pressure in your accumulators?
When you bled your FW system, did you let the pump charge your accumulators?

[CommodoreDoug]

You'll want to confirm this, but once you've isolated and addressed the leak, I suggest removing the accumulator tank. I'm 99% certain your pump is a variable speed unit, which makes it incompatible with the accumulator.

[Compactorguy]

Had a similar problem pressure pump running continuously and fresh water filling bilge
Found water heater relief stuck open and not sealing off. Went to hardware store and replaced. Problem solved

[chuck g]

Thanks to all for the additional input and ideas while I was off on my boat; glad to know I'm not the only one with water system issues. A few additional responses and pieces of information:
- the Johnson pump is barely over two years old and worked well for the past two summers. I chose it because of top reviews from Practical Sailor in their most recent freshwater pump review piece
- Johnson recommends that the pump be used in conjunction with an accumulator tank, although I've experimented with bypassing the tank to see if that would help (it made things worse)
- I'll take a careful look at the hot water tank and the input side of the system for leaks, in addition to exploring some of the other suggestions offered here

[antoha]

Is this pump rebuldable? Mine is an older belt driven, par-itt-Jabsco 36950-1000, and I have to rebuild it every couple of years (although I feel this is too frequent): the pulsation dampener, as they call it, looks symmetric on the in and out sides, but one is suction and the other is pushing the water out, so the suction side always gets crumbled and eventually leaks. First symptom is, it wouldn’t prime (I have a deep bilge tank), and sure enough there would be a puddle under the pump after I get it going. A pain to get to, but now it’s part of my spring maintenance.

Anton