Fresh Water Leak Into Bilge

[Dreamweaver]

I have fresh water leaking into the bilge AFTER I have:

(a)  Turned on the water pump, then the tap in the sink.  It's not this water as I have turned on the tap and placed a bucket under it, then emptied the water over the side.

I need to know:

(a)  Lying on your stomach on the floor, head down in the bilge and looking in the third compartment of the bilge closest to the galley sink; there is a hole about 1" diametre where this water is coming from.

(b)  How do I trace this back when the floor is solid, to find either a t-section that may be leaking; a hose fitting that may be loose, etc?

Please help - it is driving us crazy!

We have a 1997 C34 MkII - Hull #1361.

[hdevera]

Not sure from your description but I think had a similar problem.  The hot water heater tank check valve broke.  It was easy to replace.  Just locate your hot water heater tank and check the valve outside the tank.  Mine was a plastic valve that split.  I replaced it with a metal one.  Have not  had a problem since.  Good luck.

[rirvine]

I suggest you check all the fitting on the hot water heater.  They are all plastic on my boat and the heat casues them to crack and leak over time.  Does you pressure pump run frequently?  If it does, this would indicate that the leak is on the pressure side of the water system.r

[john daley]

We had a slight overheating problem - turned out to be a mangrove seed went up the water intake and partially blocked the raw water entry - anyway I found the bilge full of fresh water which  had me puzzled. However soon realised the overheating of the engine was causing the pressure release valve in the hot water cylinder
to expel the contents into the bilge. Sorted out the engine overheating and everything returned to normal.

[vmenasce]

I'm not sure if you are in a Northern climate, but freezing can cause plastic fittings to rupture. There is a short length of pipe and a T junction between the two ball valves for the fore and aft fresh water tanks. Even if you winterize each tank, you can still have fresh water in this short section of pipe. It can cause the downstream side of the valve to crack. This one was easy for me to notice and repair.

Another problem I ran into was the hose clamps on several connections had not been sufficiently tighten during the manufacturing process. This took considerably longer to debug. I tighten them all systematically. In so doing found the one that was leaking. Water often travels some distance, so the evidence of the leak can be quite far from the source.

Good luck.