Filled up fresh tank for the first time his spring. I was able to pressurize and run the system, but he tank pretty quickly went to empty. All into the forward bilge. I pulled the starboard tackle drawers. Pump is hooked up. Runs fine. I see the hot water tank and a faucet fitting on it. Doesn’t appear to be coming from there. Marina winterized it so maybe they disconnected a hose somewhere? Any ideas?
Marlin fresh water system
- Thread starter MA208
- Start date
The faucet/spigot will be the drain, which would be the initial thought. Second would be the pressure relief valve. I'm not sure how it is setup on your boat, but on my Sea Ray's the pressure relief valve was always plumbed overboard. I often opened that valve to make draining the heater faster. If your valve just dumps (and is not plumbed overboard), that's another option. The normal way to winterize a water heater is to simply drain it, then bypass it by connecting the cold/hot lines together. But if they did that (and forget to reconnect), it wouldn't (shouldn't create a leak). Other than that, there really shouldn't be anything else needing messing with for winterization - so you may have to check for freeze damage.
Thanks I’ll have to look for a pressure release valve. It’s a tight space in there. Owners manual doesn’t say much. I’m guessing it’s something to do with winterization.
On the positive I had just dumped a gallon of bilge cleaner in so I had to pump it anyways. And now the bilge is very clean.
On the positive I had just dumped a gallon of bilge cleaner in so I had to pump it anyways. And now the bilge is very clean.
journeyman
GreatGrady Captain
MA208 said:
Pressure relief valve is just like the one on your home water heater. It has a lever to operate manually and can be left that way. On mine it is accessed through the starboard tackle center and is piped together with the water heater drain directly to the bilge. I would think that if it was either the relief valve or the drain left open, you would have had a hard time building pressure and the pump would have run continuously trying to do so. There are any number of hose connections that could be leaking and/or split hose from freezing. If you don't find the easy button, you'll have to open panels and look for leaking joints or hoses.
Marina just called. They said it was the pressure relief valve and they closed it. Where is it located on the hot water tank? All I could see was the hose fitting for draining.
Angler Management
GreatGrady Captain
I'll go look tonight, but yes someone answer the question of where so the thread can have an answer.
A couple winters back I had a hose split on the run from the hot water tank forward to the head faucet. That was a real learning experience... by removing the panel in the mid-berth on STBD I could reach forward and feel the spray as the system was pressurized, but couldn't figure out which hose. Same with under the head basin, could reach back and feel spray, but not which hose was doing the spraying (hot or cold). I figure my reach left about a 1 foot section of the hull/bulkhead that I couldn't reach, and was worried I'd need to cut a hole near the head to access it!
Ended up removing both lines from the head end and walking them back into the mid-berth to figure it out, replaced the hose.
When this happens to you, make sure you tie a line around the hoses so you can pull them back forward again.
A couple winters back I had a hose split on the run from the hot water tank forward to the head faucet. That was a real learning experience... by removing the panel in the mid-berth on STBD I could reach forward and feel the spray as the system was pressurized, but couldn't figure out which hose. Same with under the head basin, could reach back and feel spray, but not which hose was doing the spraying (hot or cold). I figure my reach left about a 1 foot section of the hull/bulkhead that I couldn't reach, and was worried I'd need to cut a hole near the head to access it!
Ended up removing both lines from the head end and walking them back into the mid-berth to figure it out, replaced the hose.
When this happens to you, make sure you tie a line around the hoses so you can pull them back forward again.
journeyman
GreatGrady Captain
MA208 said:
Angler Management said:
As Journey mentioned, it looks just like the one on your home hot water heater. Just look again - you'll see it. It's not like it's camouflaged and trying to hide from you
1998sailfish
Well-Known Member
Beside the pressure relief, the Hot hot water heater has a low drain valve. Is this valve in the closed position for sure ?
1998sailfish said:
FYI, in his first post he said it does not appear to be leaking from there. But in a later post he confirmed it was the pressure relief valve that was left open.
Yes, I see what appears to be the drain fitting, but not the pressure relief valve. It wasn't leaking from the drain fitting, apparently I just don't know where the pressure relief valve is to tell that it was leaking from there. The marina is putting in a new fresh water pump tomorrow as I guess mine is not putting out enough pressure as well.