Water heater leaking antifreeze

[Analgesic]

I'm very depressed.  Last Summer my old Seaward water heater must have rusted through at last and emptied all of my fresh water into the bilge right at the start of my vacation.  I bypassed it and endured the Summer without hot water.  In the Fall I replaced the heater with a new model S-600 by Seaward.  My first couple of sails this year with brief motoring to get off the hook, I noticed very low levels of antifreeze in the engine.  I assumed there was some redistribution going on after bleeding air out and just topped it off.  Today for the third time the antifreeze was very low and looking further, it seems to be leaking out the bottom of the new heater onto the plywood base.  I carefully checked where the antifreeze hoses enter and exit the heater and they appear dry.  For now I bypassed the heater with a short 90 degree angle of 3/8" hose connecting the thermostat to the pump and the engine seems to be running fine.  I left the inside of the new heater dry over the Winter-no water or antifreeze.  I can't believe that the new heater came with a leak-the thought of taking it out, shipping back, etc is very frustrating as it was such a big job last Fall.  Is there any other possible problem I'm overlooking here? I was thinking of pouring some water with food coloring down the antifreeze hose to see if I can track down the leak.  Any other ideas /suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Brian McPhillips

[Ken Juul]

Just because the connections felt dry doesn't mean the leak isn't there.  May only happen when there is some pressure on the system.  Did you check that the clamps were tight?   I always use a nut driver or small socket to tighten hard to reach/see hose clamps.  How old are the hoses?  Maybe one of them has a pin hole leak that is running down the hose and dripping in the pan.  Before you start replacing, check everything with the engine hot enough that the water is circulating through the water heater circuit.

[Stu Jackson]

Brian, are you aware of this Critical Upgrades post? 

http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,5078.msg31079.html#msg31079

[Analgesic]

Thanks for the advice.  The hoses are new.  I have never looked at the hose attachments with the heater under a pressure load, just saw the puddle under the box when I got to the boat yesterday.  It certainly seems more likely the source since I can't imagine they would have shipped a heater with a leak.  I'll check into that next time on board. 

[Ron Hill]

Brian : On some of the items that I reconnect or change hoses on, I use a small dab of #2 Permitex to insure that the hose seals. 
Also I've found that on some connections I wrap a piece of this leather between the hose clamp and the hose.  That way I can really crank down on the clamp without fear of the clamp cutting into the hose.  This is especially true if the fitting is the "flow IN" fitting.

A few thoughts

[Ed Shankle]

Sinc the water heater is a coil inside the tank, I assume it must be the nipple to the tank or the hose connection. I'd expect to see a trail elsewhere if the leak was further in the direction of the engine. Rule of thumb is always start where you last changed something, right? Is the nipple welded or threaded?

Ed

[Jack Hutteball]

Brian,

Had asimilar leak on our boat, turned out that the hoses were not clamped tight enough.  Had to tighten them about 3 times to stop the leak.

Jack

[patrice]

Hi,

As Ed mentionned, the anti-freeze run into a coil inside the W-H, so I don't see how it could leak from inside.
Must be the connections, maybe try to retighten them, and wrap some scott towel around the connection, if they leak under pressure while motoring you see it.

[Ron Hill]

Brian : If you haven't already tried it, wrap some folded paper towel around each engine hose fitting.

Then run the engine as I'm sure it's a engine hose connection leaking and NOT the HX inside the WH.

A thought