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Re: Leak in Presssurized fresh water System

Posted: December 8th, 2017, 4:20 pm
by nashvillekat
yes.. this corresponds to my boat.

Re: Leak in Presssurized fresh water System

Posted: December 8th, 2017, 4:44 pm
by bud37
This may seem simplistic, but to me after reading all this it seems you may have found the general area of your leak.....if there are water lines in the space where you saw the water coming from you are going to have to look in there, very bright light and one of those borescope cameras could help....may be a line has chafed against a bulkhead etc.......good luck man

On a lighter note , your forum name reminds me of an old Lovin Spoonful/ John Sebastian tune........ :beergood:

Re: Leak in Presssurized fresh water System

Posted: December 8th, 2017, 10:46 pm
by nashvillekat
camera idea may work. thx. the hole is about 1/2 inch so shining a light will not help much. 8-)

Re: Leak in Presssurized fresh water System

Posted: February 13th, 2018, 6:44 am
by Daveb500Uk
I also had a leak in my carver aft cabin. the bilges in the engine compartment would always have water in them. After pumping dry, and leaving over night, again would fill with water. when tested this was found to be clean water, and not from engines, or from the river. All the through holes were dry and no signs of leaks. There were no leaks from either of the fresh tanks. Eventually this was traced to the pressure relief valve on the hot water tank. To test I put the discharge pipe into a container which was higher than the bilge water level. If that filled then I knew where it was coming from. Next day it was full and overflowing. Testing it I found it released a almost no pressure. An easy fix, now looking forward to a dry bilge.

Re: Leak in Presssurized fresh water System

Posted: April 7th, 2018, 6:11 am
by Daveb500Uk
Update, nope didn't fix it. Yes the pressure relief valve had failed, so that was one source. The fittings to the water heater were also loose, so weeped. those were sorted. Now still have a leak, all in the same area. Going to move the battery from the engine side of the heater tank to check under there. I do suspect the Raritan water heater. Reading the spec Raritan make the tank out of steel, not stainless or copper, so it possible over the years it has pin holes in it.

Re: Leak in Presssurized fresh water System

Posted: December 30th, 2020, 6:49 pm
by nashvillekat
After many years have found my fresh water leak into the front bilge compartment (under kitchen).
Stuck my head into front of engine compartment and heard a slight hissing sound coming from rear of engine compartment.
Leak from T fitting by bulkhead between salon and rear bedroom.
Now plan to fix with a 1/2 inch shark bite fitting.
Any comments pro or con appreciated.

Re: Leak in Presssurized fresh water System

Posted: December 30th, 2020, 7:19 pm
by tomschauer
If you have the older Grey Pex Pipe, make sure you get the proper fittings. They are not the same diameter as the newer pipe and a 1/2" shark bite will leak.
John Guest fittings work better than Shark Bites on plastic pipe.

Re: Leak in Presssurized fresh water System

Posted: December 30th, 2020, 7:34 pm
by Midnightsun
tomschauer wrote:Source of the post If you have the older Grey Pex Pipe, make sure you get the proper fittings. They are not the same diameter as the newer pipe and a 1/2" shark bite will leak.
John Guest fittings work better than Shark Bites on plastic pipe.


Not sure it is the older stuff. I am pretty sure the standard is 15mm and not 1/2” when it comes to boats. Even my relatively newer 2007 Carver has 15mm which buy the way is the same as the older grey stuff. Hopefully Viper will chime in as I am sure he has seen most of what’s out there. Bottom line is you do need to put a caliper on the lines or there may be markings showing what size you have not to mention what kind of Frankenstein stuff previous owners have done to their boats. To confuse things even more, the newer red and blue lines are available in 1/2” and 15mm so color does not determine size used.

Re: Leak in Presssurized fresh water System

Posted: December 30th, 2020, 9:09 pm
by km1125
nashvillekat wrote:Source of the post After many years have found my fresh water leak into the front bilge compartment (under kitchen).
Stuck my head into front of engine compartment and heard a slight hissing sound coming from rear of engine compartment.
Leak from T fitting by bulkhead between salon and rear bedroom.
Now plan to fix with a 1/2 inch shark bite fitting.
Any comments pro or con appreciated.

I had an 83 version of that boat, and had a leak in the same spot. Those two "T" fittings are in a tight spot!! That was with the older grey lines and was the third or fourth year in a row that I had to find or fix a leak, so I ripped out the old grey stuff and replaced it all with PEX and all the years after I felt GREAT knowing I had new lines all over. It's not really that big of a job to do!!

Re: Leak in Presssurized fresh water System

Posted: December 31st, 2020, 10:53 am
by chpsk8
Make sure you measure with a caliper. I was also told mine would be 15mm and bought a bunch of fittings and pipe online and it turned out i have 1/2” gray pipe. Watts fittings from the hardware store fit perfectly.

Also thanks for the circle back so people can learn from your experience. Always good to hear about solutions. I’m chasing a two year water leak and may have found it during winterizing. Excited to see if I really found it in the spring.