Leaking seacock next to marine head (video included)

JollyRodgers

JollyRodgers

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For those of you who remember my last thread about the sea toilet not working, I fixed that by replacing the water pump.

Now I have the exciting problem of the left seacock next to the toilet leaking ever so slightly. I believe that this is the 'waste out' seacock.

Not entirely sure where exactly the leak is originating from and I dont recall there being a puddle on the floor when I first get to the boat, which would indicate that the water is only coming out when I open the seacock to pump out the waste..

I tightened up the bolts at the base of the seacock (it was hard, they were very tight anyway) and that hasn't seemed to make a difference.

I am now wondering if the leak is starting from further up the seacock and trickling down into the base of the seacock, as it was damp up there too and surely if my seacock was closed and there is no leak and only leaking when it is opened (whilst it is being pumped). Just looking at this video now, perhaps I should tighten up the top bolts that come out underneath the lever, I didn't do those when I tried to stop the leak?

I serviced/greased up the seacocks as they were seized when the boat was out of the water last month. If the leak was at the bottom of the seacock, would I be okay to sparingly put a little bit of epoxy miliput down there?

If the boat was out of the water, I would just buy new seacocks and install them as they are in a naff condition anyway (not my fault).

Apologies for all the erms and ahh's. I had loads of distractions and my phone was going beserk whilst I was using it as a torch.

 
I'd try to get everything as dry as possible so that the source is clearer. Then it will be obvious. My guess is that the seacock is leaking at the top where the cone is inserted, held in by the bolts there. If there's plenty of grease in there (you say you greased it when ashore) then gently tightening the top bolts should stop it leaking. It'll make it stiffer too of course and it's a balance. Don't over-do it - you don't want to break anything.

When you tried to tighten the lower bolts holding the flange to the hull, did just the nuts turn?
 
Blake seacock so probably leaking from the 'cone' not sealing correctly in the body. How easy is it to turn the lever? If very easy then the two screws could be tightened up, making sure you also tighten the locknut underneath. Also check that you turn off the valve correctly - the should be rotated until it touches the exit pipe, if you only turn 90 degrees then it it is NOT off. I only found this when we renewed the Blake valves on a friends boat. Also check that the outlet pipe does not have a pin hole or has been damaged by the hose clip.
If still leaking then it means checking the valve properly which means either slipping the boat or doing it over a tide against posts/quay or similar - but make sure you have all equipment to hand, another helper on site, another valve to fit if necessary(perhaps from a local chandlery on a sale or return basis). A good idea to fit new hoses at the same time. Good luck .
 
Many thanks, both.

garvellachs said:
I'd try to get everything as dry as possible so that the source is clearer. Then it will be obvious. My guess is that the seacock is leaking at the top where the cone is inserted, held in by the bolts there. If there's plenty of grease in there (you say you greased it when ashore) then gently tightening the top bolts should stop it leaking. It'll make it stiffer too of course and it's a balance. Don't over-do it - you don't want to break anything.

When you tried to tighten the lower bolts holding the flange to the hull, did just the nuts turn?
Click to expand...
It's really hard to get the bottom of the seacock bone dry, which is why I had thought the leak was coming from in there. I usually sponge it all out/old rag to dry it all up and that lasts until I next go to use it.

You can actually see in the video that the top part of the seacock where the cone is inserted that it is quite wet as the light reflects of it. When I am down there on Sunday, I will tighten those up and see if that makes any difference.

I tried to tighten the bottom bolts but I couldnt really make them any tighter, it's also a very difficult angle to get a spanner in there.


PetiteFleur said:
Blake seacock so probably leaking from the 'cone' not sealing correctly in the body. How easy is it to turn the lever? If very easy then the two screws could be tightened up, making sure you also tighten the locknut underneath. Also check that you turn off the valve correctly - the should be rotated until it touches the exit pipe, if you only turn 90 degrees then it it is NOT off. I only found this when we renewed the Blake valves on a friends boat. Also check that the outlet pipe does not have a pin hole or has been damaged by the hose clip.
If still leaking then it means checking the valve properly which means either slipping the boat or doing it over a tide against posts/quay or similar - but make sure you have all equipment to hand, another helper on site, another valve to fit if necessary(perhaps from a local chandlery on a sale or return basis). A good idea to fit new hoses at the same time. Good luck .
Click to expand...

The seacock was originally completely seized, both were actually. Once I had taken them apart, I greased them up and put them back together.

I can open/close both seacock levers with my foot pretty easily, so they aren't very tight at all to be honest with you. When I serviced them, it was really the first time I had ever touched a seacock (first boat), so didnt know how tight/loose to put them, I just knew that they werent opening/closing before I looked at them.

I think it hasnt been leaking until now, because I wasn't using the toilet (as the pump hadn't been replaced and made the toilet broken).

I will dry everything up, tighten the top bolts and see how things play from there.

Thanks for the tip about swining the lever around all the way until it touches the exit pipe. I wouldn't have known otherwise. Will also check the pipe/hoseclip.
 
You can see water on the upper part of the sea cock.... it needs the top bolts tightening up. Don't go mad, you are only pushing the cone into the valve body. If that does not do it, it may need the cone part of the valve lightly grinding in to fit the valve body better. (out of the water!!)

Logic says that if the leak only occurs when the valve is in the open position, the problem MUST be in the upper half of the sea cock. If it was leaking from the base, it would do so whatever the state of the valve.
 
Alpha22 said:
You can see water on the upper part of the sea cock.... it needs the top bolts tightening up. Don't go mad, you are only pushing the cone into the valve body. If that does not do it, it may need the cone part of the valve lightly grinding in to fit the valve body better. (out of the water!!)

Logic says that if the leak only occurs when the valve is in the open position, the problem MUST be in the upper half of the sea cock. If it was leaking from the base, it would do so whatever the state of the valve.
Click to expand...

To be honest I hadn't properly noticed how wet the upper part of the valve was until I had looked at the video an hour ago or so and saw the light reflecting off of it! I agree with what you have put about it must having to be coming form the upper half of the seacock if its only leaking in the open position.

Will give it a go Sunday and hopefully that fixes that!

I really dont like living so far away from the boat (1hr 20) because it means that I have to wait until the weekends to do work on it. I saw some houses for sale in California (for peanuts I may add) that were right on the beach with their own pontoons at the end of their house. That is the life..
 
It's quite important to use the correct grease as well. I got some from a marine engineer, wasn't blakes seacock grease which is made for the purpose but was green in colour, quite thick and stringy. Don't know the name or manufacturer but it did the trick.
As said you may also need to grind the cone and mating face. If the seacocks were seized you could have some corrosion in there preventing a proper seal. When you see the price of new blakes seacocks you will want to try grinding them. You need automotive valve grinding paste, Start with coarse paste on the faces and work the handle around, back and forth then clean out the paste and use fine stuff in the same way. Make sure all the paste is removed before greasing and reassembling.
The boat needs to be out of the water or dried out for this.
 
Also check that you turn off the valve correctly - the should be rotated until it touches the exit pipe, if you only turn 90 degrees then it it is NOT off. I only found this when we renewed the Blake valves on a friends boat.

Not sure this is correct in all cases. We have 8 Blakes seacocks on our boat and the handles come off the cones, so it depends on the orientation of the handles on the cones. On our yacht they are mounted what I would call conventionally, ie when the handle is at 90 degrees to the hose, the seacock is off.

Neil
 
How much grease did you put on the cone before reassembly?
It should be just a light smear.
If you really plastered the cone with grease then it may be the grease that is preventing the cones faces mating. The grease is there for lubrication not sealing against water ingress. It is the mating of the cone faces that provides the seal; which is why it has been suggested the faces may need lapping in if a good seal is not being achieved.
 
neil1967 said:
Also check that you turn off the valve correctly - the should be rotated until it touches the exit pipe, if you only turn 90 degrees then it it is NOT off. I only found this when we renewed the Blake valves on a friends boat.

Not sure this is correct in all cases. We have 8 Blakes seacocks on our boat and the handles come off the cones, so it depends on the orientation of the handles on the cones. On our yacht they are mounted what I would call conventionally, ie when the handle is at 90 degrees to the hose, the seacock is off.

Neil
Click to expand...

Neil, I noticed the orientation when we replaced two seacocks, on inspection on the workbench, with the arrow on the square pointing towards the exit hose then it is fully open - at 90 degrees they were definitely not fully closed but fully closed when pushed until the handle touches the outlet. This was on both seacocks, one which was badly corroded and the other which was in good condition but seized.
 
I suspect that you need to tighten the two top bolts which pull the cone deeper into the fixed receptor. However what you need to do the next time you dry out is remove the cone (undo top two bolts and stand outside and whack the inside cone with some kind of drift) clean all grease off and smear medium grinding paste on cone. Reinsert and move back and forth for ten minutes. This will mate the surfaces correctly. Clean off grinding paste and light smear of waterproof grease. Reassemble. It will now work perfectly for at least two weeks before becoming stuck in the open or closed position. Thats owning a boat for you!
 
Don't buy new seacocks, they are very expensive and there is probably nothing wrong with the ones you have. As has been suggested, checking that the two bolts that hold the cone in its housing are done up is important. They need to be evenly tight to hold the plate snugly on top of the cone. You don't need to use a spanner on them, the cone should be firm in the body but should still turn. If you can dry out and take them apart have a look at the cone and see if it is evenly worn all over, if you need to grind them in use valve grinding paste and keep moving the cone so you are not grinding the same faces against each other. You should of course also check that the leak is not coming from the hose rather than the valve. If the leak is only present when the valve is open I would check the hose and clips before anything else.

Oh and if you need to do use a hammer and drift to release the cone there is clearly a bigger problem.
 
A coarse test of sea cock adjustment is to see if you can detect free vertical movement of the lozenge shaped keeper plate. There should be none although the presence of grease can mask such movement. The aim is to keep the edjustment as free as possible without actually having any leakage - aim to have the sea clocks operable with one finger. If leakage is persistent then, as said above, grinding in may be necessary but as a guide I've never had to grind in the seacocks on my 1987 Sadler that I've owned since 2003.I dismantle, clean, grease and reassemble them every Winter but usually have to readjust them after a couple of weeks afloat. Above all don't over tighten.
 
Update: The top right bolt on the top of the left (leaking) seacock was SO loose, I could actually tighten it up with just my fingers alone.

Anyway, the leak fixed itself it's dried up completely. Thanks for all the help.
 
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