Cruising Sailors Forum Archive

Troubleshooting the fresh water system. Update

I suspected that the tank itself may have been the problem so I spent a couple of hours over the weekend searching with a trouble light. The inspection port on the tank is just big/small enough and I am now older and wiser to realize that if I got my arm in there to feel around for a crack it's likely I would be there until the fire department came to cut me out. So I used a high intensity light and could see nothing but a disturbing amount of dirt on the bottom. I then added a couple more gallons of pink antifreeze and shut the supply line valve. The antifreeze is still in there and not in the bilge so I feel pretty safe that the tank is godd. From there I moved to the pressure pump and all the related fittings from the supply line, all tight and show no signs of leaking pink. I checked the supply lines to the galley footpump and the footpump itself, no signs of leaking. Checked the fittings to the pressure lines to the galley sink faucet, all tight. Inspected the pressure line through the port lockers to the vanity sink in the head, no signs of a leak. Checked the fittings to that faucet, all tight, no signs of a pink leak. What I can't easliy get to are the supply lines, presurized and non-pressurized, that leave the locker with the pump, circle around behind the diesel to the port side locker where the galley sink is. The thing is, almost all of these lockers that the pressure line passes through are tabbed to the hull so any pink antifreeze that leaks should have pooled in there. The lockers do not have weep holes to the bilge, the pressure line passes through holes that are above the bottoms. So the only areas that could leak directly to the bilge are the supply lines behind the diesel. BUT, I can get my light in that area and see no evidence of pink.

So, all of that said, the pressure pump will not build up pressure and shut off and there is always air in the pressure line to both the galley and head faucets. There is pink antifreeze in the bilge.

When we took delivery of the boat it appeared that the fresh water system had never been used. The supply line from the tank to the pump was disconnected. The line from the pump to the faucets was connected to the intake side of the pump, not the pressure side and the 12volt leads to the pump were disconnected. The deck fill was dusty inside.

This is all the information I have. What I could use is a fresh set of eyes on this, what am I missing? There is obviously a problem that I don't see.

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