leaking water tank??

[bderosa]

Few days ago I have noticed that water is leaking out of my water tank when my boat is hooked up to the shore water.
I have not had time to investigate the problem thoroughly, but I have some questions already:

1) Can anyone suggest a good and thourough marine plumbing book?? I would like to understand how the system works, before taking it apart.

2) Is it normal for the water tanks to fill up when the dock water is on??

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Bill

[Irwin32]

I don''t know anything about shore water systems. I do know that if it fills up your water tanks, unless there is some type of a valve, water would be pushed out of the tanks vent tube. If the tank is vented into the bilge, then that might be the source of your leak.

[cklanac]

There should be a pressure valve to prevent the shore water from pushing into your tank. And depending on you set up, this same valve probably maintains the pressure from your regular water pump.

Be sure to turn off the shore water when you're not the boat. If the boat plumping springs a leak then there is nothing to prevent the city water from filling the boat.

[RichH]

Definitely the pressure from dockside water can and will rupture a boat tank unless the tank is specifically constructed/rated for this pressure (60-80 psi).

Most boat water tanks are only built to withstand atmospheric pressure plus the weight/mass of the water .... and not much more.

What you normally need is a pressure reducing valve between the pressurized dockside water supply and the tank .... so you dont rupture the tank. Such should NEVER be left ON when you are away from your boat .... A good way to sink a boat.

[sailandoar]

Check out his books. Amazon is a good place to read summarys and reviews. He get the maximum of 5 stars in his reviews and from me.

For your question:
Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/007...Fencoding=UTF8

[sailingdog]

Don Casey also has several good books to read.

One thing that I highly recommend, is that you turn off the shore water connection after filling your freshwater tanks. This will reduce the chance of something leaking due to the pressure caused by the shore water connection,. And if something does leak, the amount of water that fills the boat is limited by your tank capacity, not by how long the faucet is running for before you find the leak.

I've seen boats that were sunk due to the inability of their bilge pumps to keep up with the incoming shore water connection.