Major leak in fresh water system 2002 330

[jip40]

Yesterday I got on the boat after about a month in high/dry storage and noticed that the fresh water pump ran continuously - I tried getting water out of the faucet but nothing. I checked the level in the tank and found it empty - I thought there was water in the tank when I left last time.

I filled the water tank and then tried the faucet again. This time I got water out of the cold side but not hot side. About 10 minutes later I was in the head and saw that the tank was only 1/2 full - figured there may have been an air bubble in the fill line which gave the impression it was full. Shortly after that I heard water rushing out on the port side - looked over and saw that the forward bilge pump was working like a champ. I then checked the water level and found it was empty.

Hopefully it is as simple as a hose connection but I don't know where to begin to look. Does anyone have any sage advice. Through different threads I think that the tank is located on the port side about 3' forward of transom and the pump is accessed through a panel on the port side of aft cabin (or the cave as my grandkids refer to it).

Does anyone know of any easy way to check out the tank and connections or is it a job for a trained technician?

 

[wspitler]

Common places for leaks are the fresh water shower in the transom and the cockpit sink connection. I've had both and those hoses are more exposed to the elements and/or freezing. The pump filter, etc. are port side behind panel in aft berth. Not hard to access. Pull out the hoses for both sink and cockpit shower and look for leaks. Look at all of the places you can get fresh water, even in the head. With the amount you are losing you should be able to hear water running. I don't leave the batteries/freshwater switch on so when I'm gone a leak won't empty the tank. Good luck and let us know what you find.

 

[Meanwhile]

Timely post as I'm hunting the same issue in my 2007 Marlin. I did a blast of bleach and allowed some contact time, and it ended up in the bilge after a trip. I'm hoping to find an easy hose fix. I hate cutting the caulk out of the floor hatch.

 

[wspitler]

I inspected all of the hoses that I could get to and the only leaks I found were at places where the braided hose went to an outlet. The main hoses are pretty rugged and well clamped in my experience. I guess the pump manifold and pressure switch could go bad, but mine (2007) looked like new.

 

[jip40]

I got a call from the tech yesterday and found that the leak was coming from a broken valve on the water heater. Evidently from 12 years of pressure on the valve it finally gave way. This certainly wouldn't have been the first place that I checked but it was nice to find out that a simple replacement of the valve solved the problem.

When I asked him to check out the problem, he said that it probably wasn't the fresh water tank as he has not seen one of the molded plastic tanks fail yet.