Fresh water pump & flow

[mimoza]

In that case, your file is either the wrong type or too big. It has to be 640 X 480 to post.

[rick_bradshaw]

Tony,

Don't know where your valves were located but it appears to be in the same locker ours is. Your installation seems to be a bit more cumbersome than ours. I'm at least trying to attach our manifold system of valves. (Would have thought that this would be the standard way to have a fresh water tank selection system.) Note that it is just inside the locker door under the saloon table. Perhaps you can see the labels I have added to the photo. If not, I can send a larger version if that would be helpful but it might not show up.

Have you traced your entire fresh water system yet? If so, I think you will have found some change in the ID of the hose. If not, then you must have a clog in the copper pipe. If that is the problem, could you disconnect all the taps and water heater and use an air compressor to blow out the copper pipes? I would think that would prevent damage to any of the fixtures. You could also inspect the fixtures at the same time to see if anything is clogging there.

FWIW, I'm starting to think of trying to restrict the water flow a bit now. The 1/2" ID is wasting a good amount of water after we got used to having so little flow. We're having a difficult time adjusting to the "huge" flow. Am thinking of putting in a 3/8" section of hose after the carbon filter to slow it down a bit.

[Great_Aardvark]

Rick,
I have not worked on the water system because I am trying to finish the bow sprit. Regarding the valve to switch between the forward and aft tanks I only have to tune the one valve (the "Y" valve) and that is it. You have multiple valves and have to be sure that the right ones are opened or close for you to either get water from the forward or aft tanks and also weather to send it through the pressure pump or manual hand pump. Since my manual pump is now a direct connect into the tank I can have both the pressure and the manual faucets giving water at the same time. I never have to change a valve to do use the manual pump.

Tony

[Great_Aardvark]

[rick_bradshaw]

Tony, Looks like a good clean install. If it were me though, I'd go ahead and make that manual galley pump able to access all the water regardless of tank. It does come in handy.

What kind of stuff do you think is in the aft tank? We've always thought there is a bit of a different taste to that tank. We keep "flushing" it with fresh water that tests (using our water maker tester) at 020 or less when 750 is good drinking water. I haven't opened that yet due to the closeness of the engine to the tank lid. Due to a bit of rust on the lid & bolts, when I do, I will likely need to replace all of that too. Just curious as to what you think/know is in there.

[Great_Aardvark]

Rick,
The bilge pump quit working when she was on the hard for two years. Because of all her leaks the bilge filled up and covered the water tank with oily water. Because the top seal was not tight the water leaked into the tank. When I first got the boat and used the water system chunks of ioly goo came out. It was enough that it clogged the pump and killed it. Right now I am on a lake and can refill easily so I am using only the forward tank. This winter I will clean the aft tank. My next door neighbor's kid who helps me on the boat is about 6'4" with real long arms so this will be a happy job for him.

Tony

[rick_bradshaw]

Tony,

Sounds like a good plan. Too bad that kid isn't down here. Haven't seen too many Mexicans that fit his description. Maybe in Columbia? Would sure like to get our aft tank cleaned out too. I've started the thought process about what to coat it with and how thick if there is a problem. I suppose "food grade gelcoat" if such actually exists.

What kind of leaks did she have? Did the p.o. leave the hatches and ports open?

Neglect can be a difficult thing to detect sometimes. When we find things we just kind of scratch our heads. (Maybe we should have gutted the boat and rebuilt from the hull out? No. Don't want to go anywhere near that.) We just finished replacing the bilge pump hoses. Looked good until you started to dig a bit. Then we found the underside, where it was not seen, cut lengthwise in places, the outer covering cracking and splitting, the inner wrapping starting to delaminate, and in one place where it went through the bulkhead it had collapsed to about half its diameter and cracked on the inside of the curve. We replaced it with a reinforced, plastic, black stripe hose that people are using for bilge hose these days. Green stripe was just way to heavy and expensive. Hopefully we'll get 5 or 10 years out of it.

In the process, found an unused, 1" green stripe hose that I had not seen before due to my inadequate ability to get into the lazarette and look closely at the starboard side. One end plugged with a plastic plug and the other end high up under the aft deck; no indication of a hose clamp at any time. From all indications, it had been there since the boat was built; apparently it was for an engine mounted bilge pump that was not installed. One would think that the p.o. would have found that long ago and maybe removed/used it. However, we left it there too. Might come in handy in the future and it isn't hurting anything. Maybe he thought the same.

[Great_Aardvark]

Rick.
There are a few items I have found like your hose that either can't figure out what it is for or I ask what were they thinking when they did it this way. As far as your problem with the aft tank, do you have any filters installed. This could get rid of the taste problem. Dionis posted some pictures of their filters of which one is a UV that kills any nasties that are in the water. I am going to do a setup using the UV and a filter for cleaning out any garbage. Here is the like Ziggy send me for the UV filter.


http://www.waterfixercompany.com/

Tony

[rick_bradshaw]

Tony,

We have a filter in line. We've looked at the UV thing in conjunction with a water filter but it is an AC kind of thing and that is too electrically "expensive" for us. Away from the dock, I don't think this will work too well without a genset that can refill the batteries when the wind is calm (wind gen) or it is cloudy (solar panels) or the fuel is getting low.

It is just one of those things that eventually, we will find a solution to. When you are out sailing for long distances in high temperatures, shade and water are some of the most important things. That and replacing the electrolytes in our systems. Having good tasting water can make the difference between doing well and not doing well at all.

[Great_Aardvark]

Rick,
I believe the UV device has bot a 12 volt and 120 volt version.

Tony