Fresh water leak

[mrangry]

Did a wee shakedown overnighter to Portavadie the other day and whilst underway had a look in the bilge and noticed a lot of water sloshing around. After replacing 14 thru hulls prior to launch I was a little nervous to say the least, however after doing the finger test I was relieved to find it was fresh water. My Beneteau has three 200 litre tanks, forward, port and startboard, all but the forward tank are pretty much inaccessible. I am obviously keen to know which tank or pipe is leaking (given volume leaking badly) and wondered whether to add different coloured dye to each tank to identify the culprit. Does this sound reasonable or is there an easier way.

 

[Clancy Moped]

Have a look round your calorifier.

 

[mrangry]

Have a look round your calorifier.

Thanks, It is one of the few plumbing items that are easily accessible and it seems fine

 

[Laminar Flow]

Do you have a pressurized water system and is the pump kicking in? If yes, your leak is in the piping or even, as Clancy intimated, the calorifier post pump.

Does the leak favour one tack or the other? This could indicate which tank is involved and possibly indicate a problem with the filler attachment or a leak in a tank (inspection hatch etc) near the top.

Can you isolate the individual tanks to check which one might be involved? How about just filling one at a time or finding out which one is being drained?

Yes, food dye might work. Red & green, depending on which side. Of course, brown water in the bilge would still not be much help then.

 

[mrangry]

Do you have a pressurized water system and is the pump kicking in? If yes, your leak is in the piping or even, as Clancy intimated, the calorifier post pump.

Does the leak favour one tack or the other? This could indicate which tank is involved and possibly indicate a problem with the filler attachment or a leak in a tank (inspection hatch etc) near the top.

Can you isolate the individual tanks to check which one might be involved? How about just filling one at a time or finding out which one is being drained?

Yes, food dye might work. Red & green, depending on which side. Of course, brown water in the bilge would still not be much help then.

I do have a pressurised water system but the pump cuts off so I guess its holding pressure. I can isolate which tanks water is drawn from at the pump maifold but I suppose this wouldn't help if it is a tank that is leaking. I will try emptying all three tanks and fill one at a time to confirm which tank it is at least that way I wont need to drink red or green tea

 

[jordanbasset]

Just a thought, if it was on the hard I wonder if it could be rain water that has got in somewhere and when you launched it moved around and settled in the bilge?