water leak (fresh)

[Krill]

well i know whats leaking but where is another matter so i can only say what i have checked and need some help with the pipe routing to source this PITA leak.

the boat - Bavaria 30 cruiser 2006

its fresh water finding its way into the bilge from the taps / pipe work, its not coming from the taps because they're all dry, and its not from the drainage as they're equally dry.

if i switch the water pump off after use and drain the taps - bone dry bilges, if i leave the pump on it will occasionally re-pressurise as its leaking somewhere!

i've left talc and paper towels in various locations and can confirm its not -

- the shower behind the aft cabin
- The hot water or anything under the aft cabin including the pump itself
- Not from the taps or heads pipework in the cupboard
- not from the galley sink plumping either!


so the only things that's left is the interconnecting pipes between them all... but where do they run? would it just be easier to buy some plastic pipe and replace the connections between the areas? im assuming there is no connectors in these runs anyway.. its bizarre! any help appreciated as i dont know what to try next but its definitely fresh water from the water tank

the only other thought is the water goes through the engine for hot water perhaps its these pipes?

[Odysseus]

Check stern shower tap both parts, as they have a habit of cracking in winters if not removed.

Odysseus
Bag 38

[Holger]

You should check all connections and not only visually but manually. The pipes have to be pushed as far as possible into the connectors. Otherwise the rubber ring in the connector will not properly seal the connection.

On our 30 (2005) we had a similar problem some years ago. The fresh water pump worked from time to time (but not regularly) and also if we left the boat without draining the tubs there was water in the bilge the next time when we came back. I have been looking for the leak for more than a year but several visual inspections did not show any results.

Finally, I really followed all the pipes starting at the tank in the aft cabin and took the pipes and the connectors in my hands. Behind the motor there was one cold water connector where the pipe was not pushed wide enough into the connector and every time the pipe moved slightly (e.g. in waves) the connector leaked. When the boat did not move everything looked okay.

On our 37 (2006) we had once the problem that the connector at the boiler failed. Apparently the constantly high water temperature at the outlet of the boiler had deformed the connector and at some point the seal in the connector was affected as well. However, in this case we did not have to look long for the problem but you could even hear it and clearly see it.

Maybe you should monitor whether the periods between the water pump works (without having used the taps) is roughly the same or whether there are shorter and longer periods. I would believe that the first would be an indication for a constant leakage while the latter may indicate that the problem occurs from time to time (as our problem did). Good look.

[Clivert]

Had both problems mentioned on our 34.
Outlet pipe from hot tank deformed so cut the end off and refitted.
Also pump was giving a brief pressure " burp".
I eventually tracked this to an air leak on the pump caused by loose bolts .
Tightened them re-sealing the gasket and problem solved.

[Lyra]

If the water accumulates in the bilge  try to find a trace of water towards the accumulation point - this may help reducing the area of search.
You can also try to plug the drain holes in the floor "ribs" so that water will be accumulated at the origin point and not drain to the lowest point. 

[Kibo]

I had the same problem.... couldn't find it on any of the taps or connectors. The transom shower is always a good place to look though....

I was lucky and found my problem....might be that you have something similar.......it had occurred where two of the plastic pipes were close to each other and the hot pipe (red) and the cold pipe (blue) had slightly "crossed" over them selves and were rubbing against each other. The leak was caused not by catastrophic failure but simply by the wall of the cold pipe becoming very slightly porous due to the wear. Hence the very slow leak and the cycling of the pump every 15 mins or so. No leak when not under pressure just as you say.

It was where the pipes ran aft under the companion way stairs to run to the transom shower.

I fixed it by cutting out the worn piece and getting two inline connectors and a short piece of the blue pipe to insert in the line and remove the worn area.

Good luck !

[Kibo]

post script.... I noticed you mentioned "hot water pipes running through the engine"

The hot water heater usually has the engine cooling water running through the hot water tank like a house hot water heater in a central heating system rather than the hotwater pipes running through the engine.... maybe there are those types of systems too but I have not seen one? Happy to be enlightened on that.

All my boats have had calorifiers (hot water tanks) plumbed as above so you have a hot water tank which feeds the hot water lines (red ones). Many boats also have an electric immersion heater in the tank too for shore power/no engine days.

The hot water tank can fail obviously but I would think that it's usually more of a catastrophic type than a small leak.

[PEA-JAY]

Hi, check the hot water pressure relive valve. Over time the tension spring weakens and water might leak from there too!

[Krill]

thanks all, i will start inspecting the pipes in more detail.

The pump only comes on once every 1-2 hours so its a slow leak but its just not obvious as the water is in the bilge but no obvious route!

the aft cabin is dry, the heads are dry so its got to be a join between the aft cabin and heads / galley.

The hot water tank under the aft cabin is bone dry too so i think the relief spring is fine, along with the usual stern shower

the water gathers in the bilge in front of the steps and goes to the next one with the bilge pump in via the connecting holes.

of course no taps on and no water so i know its not rain water at least

[Ricd]

Check the PRV on the calorifier.  We get a bust of water sometimes in engine bilge where the over pressure pipe ends up. 
Another issue we had several years ago was a small crack in the calorifier metal at an outlet pipe.  The trickle was almost undetectable but overtime water in bilge.  Had to replace calorifier.

[paulemeier1]

check the hot water pipe the first 50cm from boiler.
I have had the same issue. My pump comes every 10 min . I found a leak jaust big as a needle. I can not see it but find it as the moment water come into my ey.....

I have solved the problem completely. changed the pipe till the next white peace to connect. Does not know the english word sorry.

next I switch of the boiler immideatelly after twenty minutes of heating. Before this problem it was on as soon we have wall power for the complete time.

[tckearney]

I Had same problem and concur, with the hot water boiler pipe.   I pushed a bit of plastic steel around the joint into the boiler as a temporary repair, That was  four years ago and still is fine.  I’ll get around to doing it properly one day.