Calorifier Leak

[MarieK]

On my never ending quest to get to know the new the boat inside out I spent Saturday living in the bilge. While down there I discovered a leak coming from the calorifier, its not very much maybe a drop every 5 seconds and it only occurs whenever the water pressure pump is turned on so fine when I am away from the boat.

I am hoping its just a matter of nipping up a connection but the calorifier is very difficult to access so I only want to do this once! Any advice or things I should look for are greatly appreciated. ie what type of connections am I likely to find?

Thanks
Ryan

 

[Tranona]

Just been through the same thing. Could be the connectionsso worth giving each a go. They will probably be plastic fittings with a sealing washer so don't need to rammed up tight. If it has an immersion heater it could be the gasket where that goes in.

However, mine turned out to be a crack in the weld holding the end cap on so the system had to be drained and tank removed to weld it up.

Hope this helps

 

[deaks]

On our arrival in Kinsale last August (with the Wildbirds of Fowey)after a very bumpy ride from Lands End, the next day saw damp patches on the Carpet!!
The outlet from the Calorifier had burst a hole in the pipe and steamed it's way empty /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif.
In the end after a 3 mile walk to the nearest builders
co-op we ended up fitting one of those flexible braided lenghts of hot water pipe.
Not so cheap but flexible. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif and seems to have done the job

 

[John100156]

Could be anything, can you provide more detail? Is it from a fitting? Could it be the relief from a pressure relief valve (although this is best piped to external). If you can give us more info I am sure many of us can help.

A lot of Forumites also upload images which help us all see whats going on. Not sure if you know how to do this but: You can do this by openning a free account with someone like Photobucket:

http://photobucket.com/

You upload your images to them, then post the images http in the box when you click on 'Image' in the Instant Mark-Up box!

A picture speaks a thousand words......

 

[RIN]

Ryan
Yes it could well be the pressure relief valve. I have this problem on my calorifier and the water comes out through an outlet pipe directly into the bilge. I mayreplace the valve but an easier solution suggested by a forumite was to run the pipe into a plastic bottle and empty occasionally which seems to work quite well.

 

[MarieK]

Ok so it would be quite normal and this is just the pressure being released directly into the bilge? I did notice a stain under the drip, it looked like it had been happening for rather a long time.

Thanks

 

[RIN]

I think you need to find out if it is the Relief valve doing this. I would expect it has a pipe from the valve to the bottom of the bilge. Have a look at the contents of this post from when I asked for advice. If not the valve it might be the inlet or outlet connections that need nipping up a bit. If it is the valve, I found that one of those two litre plastic bottles of water was just the right size

EDIT yes - thats what the PRV is supposed to do but read comments in the post on the use of an accumulator.

 

[MarieK]

Ok I will get in there and have a good poke around and report back.

 

[MarieK]

OK I took some pictures and did a bit of reading, it seems to be the pressure release valve and I have now rigged a little bottle to empty as required.

Here is pic,