Pressurized water: a blessing or a curse?

[Dave_S]

I was thinking of fitting a timer switch to the water pump to limit shower time. Has anyone done this, did it stop the long showers?

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

How can you sink your boat with water from a tank in the boat?

You are correct when refering to fresh water. I was thinking about the statement advocating pressure seawater. I must admit I failed to mention that fact when I responded earlier .

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Dave_S

I was thinking of fitting a timer switch to the water pump to limit shower time. Has anyone done this, did it stop the long showers?

😀Well you can try it! Made me laugh though...I can only imagine my own family's response to having their shower go off in the middle of shampooing. !!
My hand pumping pressure sprayer works awesome as a shower and sure saves water, but I have a 29 footer!

[Emmalina]

And then man invented the wheel ...

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Don C L

😀Well you can try it! Made me laugh though...I can only imagine my own family's response to having their shower go off in the middle of shampooing. !!
My hand pumping pressure sprayer works awesome as a shower and sure saves water, but I have a 29 footer!

Don its called a mutiny.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by newhaul

Don its called a mutiny.

Ha!!! I think on my boat I'd be keel- hauled!!!! Good thing we only have a 22' waterline! I think I can survive that!😀

[seaman-lew]

pressurized water? are you married

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Don C L

Ha!!! I think on my boat I'd be keel- hauled!!!! Good thing we only have a 22' waterline! I think I can survive that!😀

Think spareair.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

How can you sink your boat with water from a tank in the boat?

There actually is a way and some folks have managed to do it...

By leaving the freshwater fill hose connected and turned on at dockside. Some boats have been retrofitted with a garden hose connection to keep the city water hooked up to their boat in marinas. Dumb idea, but you can see it being done all the time in marinas.

[DefinitelyMe]

I had a full pressure system and got tired of the maintenance, poor build quality of the pumps, expense, complication (running wires as well as plumbing etc.). I got rid of it, installed two whale footpumps (galley and head) and have never looked back. You can use both hands instead of using one to turn a tap on and off all the time, and our water consumption dropped by about 1/2. We do still have one pressure pump, for the shower. It serves only the shower. Predictably, it started leaking when it was about six months old, but at least we can just turn it off when we're not showering. I bet if you install foot pumps in line with the pressure system you'll end up using the foot pumps most of the time.

Oh, and while I went through 3 electric pumps in 3 years (two broken pressure switches and one unfixable leak) the whale foot pumps have never broken in 5. And I got one of them second hand.

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by Don C L

Ha!!! I think on my boat I'd be keel- hauled!!!! Good thing we only have a 22' waterline! I think I can survive that!😀

Ha, yep I didn't think it would be easy but it might be funny...............you know, a short term kind of funny.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Don C L

Ha!!! I think on my boat I'd be keel- hauled!!!! Good thing we only have a 22' waterline! I think I can survive that!��

Post when we are going to try that, I bet a lot of us are interested in the results. Never know when this type of knowledge is handy.

[Cheechako]

I have had manual pumps; foot pumps and Fynspray, along with pressure water. IF you dont like the noise, get a good, big, accumulator tank, then the pump will only run occasionally.

[jstevens]

I owned and sailed a boat for nearly 25 years that had neither hot nor pressurized water. Just a Whale foot pump in the galley and a hand pump in the head. The hand pump was almost never used as another poster mentioned - hard to wash one hand at a time. Of course that was on a boat used for weekend and vacation sails on the Chesapeake Bay. When I purchased a boat for ocean cruising and living on-board I got hot water and a pressure system.
I can waste just as much water with a foot pump as I can with pressure, I just have to work at it more.
Also, I've never worn a hair shirt, just not into self-punishment.

John

[Stu Jackson]

My boat is 30 years old. I've owned her for the past 19 of those years. The OEM Shurflo pump still works great and I have a backup on board. Three or four years ago we got the dreaded pump cycling when the faucets were off. It's GOOD that it makes a little noise, so you an use it as a telltale. If it was silent, I would NEVER have known I had a leak. So, I found the culprit (a slit in one of the hoses) and I replaced all the plumbing. Gee, took me all of a whole day of work.

Noise? Geez... I WANT to hear it: know it's working and leak telltale. If it's too noisy, then remount it on some rubber pads.

Water wasters? Hardly. I have water savers on my galley faucet and a cutoff on the shower wand. What's so hard?