Accumulator tank

[rappareems]

My friends Niagara 35 has an accumulator tank which maintains water pressure so his pump does not come on with every use of the pressure water system as mine do.  Have you heard of these on a Catalina?

Mark

[Jim Hardesty]

Mark,
I don't have one on my 34 MKll, don't see the need.  I assume that your reason for wanting to add one is for noise reduction.  Did put one on my previous boat, the pump was in the head that was next to the vberth.  Wanted to keep the sleeping cabin as quiet as possible.  Remember that the larger the accumulator tank the more water you can draw without the pump comming on.  And you can mount the tank anyplace in the system past the pump.  With the boat type tank you can only draw a glass of water or two before the pump cycles.  If you put in a house sized tank you could draw a half gallon.  That would make a real difference.
Before doing anything you may want to look at the mounting of your existing pump to make sure that it isn't allowing excessive vibration.
Jim

[Ron Hill]

Mark : The accumulator tank is not necessary with the Sureflow and Flowjet fresh water pumps that the factory installed. 
If you have another brand, then one may be necessary. 

[Stu Jackson]

There also is the concept of "knowing" your pump works and, more importantly, that you do not have a leak in your system, by hearing the pump run when a faucet is turned on.  You'll also know if you left a faucet partially open.  Just old school, here...  Also just bought a replacement, old style, pump, on a good sale.  I'd thought about an accumulator for many years and haven't been able to justify it.

[Kyle Ewing]

When we bought Donnybrook the water pump was very noisy.  I found it had worked its way off some of the rubber bushings.  Correcting made it much quieter.  My boat before Donnybrook had an extremely loud pump so I'm satisfied. 

I actually find someone pumping the manual head at night more disruptive than the water pump.

[Tony Benoit]

Hello folks,

I have a tangential question:

When my water pressure switch is on, the pump cycles on for about 3 seconds every 15 minutes (without any tap open).  I don't see any sign of a leak in the water system downstream of the pump.

Have you encountered such a behavior from your pump?  Any suggestions for fixing it?  (The noise is annoying.  And I don't recall it happening the first few years I had the boat.)

Thank you,

Tony Benoit
Helen C
'89 #903

[sailingdream]

Mine does the same thing, but not every 15 mins, more like once or twice if I'm on the boat ALL day.

[Jim Hardesty]

I don't know how your pump is set up, but this sounds to me like a dirty or faulty check valve.  It would be between your pump and tank may be built into the pump at the inlet.  It would look like a ball and spring.
Jim

[Ken Juul]

You probably have a slight leak on the pressure side.  It is probably so small or in multiple connections that you will not be able to see it, clear water on a clear line is tough to see.  It is easier to run a piece of tissue paper around each fitting to find the leaking ones.  Or since you have to check each one, I would just get my 1/4" drive socket and a screwdriver and tighten each clamp.  The real hard ones feed the galley sink, they are buried behind the hot water heater.  As a point of reference, mine cycles maybe once every 8-10 hours.

[Mike and Joanne Stimmler]

I think that once every 10-12 hours is probably normal, but I had the same problem a few years ago, my pump would cycle about every 5 minuted and and this was after we had done some extensive plumbing changes, new water heater, sink and faucet.After spending days trying to find a leak, it turned out to be a bad pressure switch in the pump. We got a new variable speed pump and it's been working good ever since. Just one more possibility.

Mike

[Kyle Ewing]

The threaded plastic fittings on the water heater are another possibility.  Mine had a very slight leak so I had to remove and reseal with teflon tape. 

[Bob K]

I had a similar problem. Turned out to be the hot water heater. Could not find it until it got worse this year.

[Brad Young]

DarBay had a similar problem. The pump would cycle every 30 minutes or so. I tighten all the clamps and now it just cycles every 4 hours or so. I think I can live with that. I am afraid of over tighting the clamps.
However
I do have an accumulator tank on our boat. It has a scharder (bicycle type value) Should I pump this up to a certain psi?

[Ron Hill]

Guys : When the fresh water pump cycles as it has detected a difference in output pressure that can be caused by two things:

1.  There is a slight leak in one of the numerous hot or cold water hose junctions / dripping faucet.
2.  Junk in the tank (especially the shavings from cutting in the vents and exit ports) can and will get caught in the diaphragm of the fresh water pump.  In the early 1990s I recommend that all C34 owners change to a finer fresh water strainer.  The strainer that origionally came from the factory is the same course type as the raw water engine strainer.  In the Mainsheet tech notes I gave the company tel #,  the part # and cost for the finer strainer.

A few thoughts

[sail4dale]

I belong to the same club only my slight leak was in the cockpit shower lines
  ..... .out of sight and out of mind till the pump told me about it. It is worth a look.