Water Leak - Fresh Water System

[Stu Jackson]

BTW, your fresh water tanks are called just that. Holding tanks are for the waste from your heads.

[MarkSF]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

BTW, your fresh water tanks are called just that. Holding tanks are for the waste from your heads.

and it's important not to confuse the two, for reasons that should be obvious!

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by MarkSF

I can assure you that it is not useless, if you are in salt water, to determine whether the leaked water is salt or fresh.

It's useless once your boat has had salt water in the bilge. And then there is all the "other" things that have been in the bilge at some point.

But if you want to go around tasting it with your taste calibrated tongue it is OK with me

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

BTW, your fresh water tanks are called just that. Holding tanks are for the waste from your heads.

When you ask questions, it's important to use the right terms. Stu is correct.

Someone suggested not leaving the city water hose connected and that is good advice but it doesn't solve your problem.

Nobody on the Internet can tell you where a leak is, you have to see and feel it yourself. If you can't, there are professionals who can find and fix it for you.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by Dave22q

Are you sure you are your head uses your fresh water? Normal set up would use ocean or lake water not precious drinking water. You might want to check those intake lines along with your fresh water lines.

FWIW, that's not so much the "normal" set-up these days, at least certainly not in a Cruisers (brand) motor yacht. Could be, but I'd guess more likely his head is freshwater flush.

-Chris

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by jzender42480

Since we are only connected to dock side fresh water and by-passing fresh water holding tank and pump I am still fairly confident that its a leak some where in the plumbing system and more specifically in the forward head area. We did pull out cabinets in forward stateroom to get a better look at bow thruster and no leaks here.

If you're getting leaks in the forward area of the boat, and if it's plumbing-related... it's very likely the leak would be within the "common" plumbing hoses and fittings, i.e., those serviced by either/both dockside and onboard water.

(Assuming you've eliminated outside sources like from your rope locker and so forth.)

Approx 99% of your plumbing is "common."

When you connect to the dockside water source, you get continuous pressure... all the time, whether people are using system... or not... and you can't hear that.

If you disconnect from there, put water in your freshwater tanks, and turn on your freshwater pump... the pump will pressurize the system... and then after that the pump will only cycle when you use water... or when the system leaks and needs to re-pressurize.

If you try that, it might at least lead you closer to where a leak might be. For example, you might find it happens maybe only when a forward faucet has been used. In any case, hearing the pump go on and off may help you troubleshoot.

-Chris

[Sandero]

If you have a pressurized fresh water system.... the pump will pressurize it until it reaches design pressure and shuts off. When you use water... the system drops in pressure and the pump will cycle on to repressurize it.

If all the faucet valves are closed the pump should NOT cycle ON. Even a small leak will allow pressure to go done as the water leaks.

You could install shut offs at various locations and close them and isolate upstream parts of the system. If the leak stops and the pump is not cycling... your leak will be found on the upstream side of the valve.

Good idea to have shut offs at each fixture in any case... for servicing/replacement.