City Water on 53my?

[stormchaser]

Hi all...

Might be a dumb newbie question...but how do I get the City Water connection to work? Is there a Y-valve that needs to be slipped to get it to use the city water rather than the tanks? Yes, I know the risk, and will be putting on a flow timer and setting ti to 500gallons. Then when it trips, all I have to do is reset it rather than filling tanks...plus it will taste/smell a whole lot better...the water tank water smells TERRIBLE (will be flushing today). So...how does the whole city water connection thing work?

 

[stormchaser]

Oh, anyone know if there are drain valves on the water tanks?

 

[GJD]

Dave - If I understand your question, when you hook up the hose to provide 'city water' the switch is automatic. Not exactly sure how but it seems the city water then bypasses your water tanks and voila you're all set. As to draining stale water, as with winterizing, lust let a few spigots run till she's dry - no need for drain plugs. Hope this helps.

A safety ritual we apply is to make sure to turn the city water OFF at the spigot (out on the dock) when leaving your boat (like at the end of a weekend). That way when a pipe breaks you won't screw the pooch. We learned the hard way when a pipe connection started squirting and proceeded to soak the floor in the forward state room. No major damage but sure was wet.

 

[chris piazza]

Dave,

No Y-valve on my water system just a few check valves. I leave the city water hooked up all the time but never leave it on when I am not here. Make sure you turn off the fresh water pump before you charge the freash water line. I don't think there is a drain on the tank, at least I have never found one. I hold 250gal in the tank and once it is flushed and clean I put 2ozs of bleach in the tank and than fill it. This keeps it somewhat fresh but we stick with bottled water to drink and make coffee.

Chris
Superior Nights 53C

 

[MikeP]

The key to keeping good water in the tanks is to use it so there is a lot of turnover. We almost never connect city water to the boat. In fact, the only time I do it is when I arrive at the boat, usually very late at night. I connect the hose so I have water immediately and then fill the tanks the next morning.

I only use tank water from that point on for the rest of my stay on the boat - usually 6 weeks at a time.

Here's the procedure I use and the water from the tank has never smelled in the 5 years we have owned it...

I pump the tanks dry when leaving the boat for more than a week. There is no drain so you won't actually get all the water out. When I return to the boat - usually 3-5 months later, I put 2 cups of clorox in and then fill the tanks (387 gal per Hatt specs for our 53MY). This will shock the system quite well. I use the water as quickly as I can - washing clothes, dishes, showering, ice making, etc, using all the taps/showers at least for a few minutes. You could, of course, just run it all through immediately if you wanted to. You will notice the chlorine smell, especially taking a shower! When that water is gone I fill with hose water without adding clorox since there is some chlorine in the city water anyway.

The water never smells and tastes fine. I used to use the water for drinking and we never had any digestive problem but the Admiral read too many scary articles and now we use bottled water for drinking on the boat but not for any other purpose. Tank water is used for ice, coffee, cooking, etc.

We do not normally try to skimp on water use so the tank water goes through pretty fast. Normally, on the hook, we can make it for 4 full days, 3 if we wash clothes, a full week if we act a bit frugal.

 

[Angela]

I use the city water hook up most of the time. Yes, I always turn it off when I leave the boat, but I've never been concerned about sinking the boat with a broken hose or pipe. One night I got up to get some water upstairs in the galley. As I passed by the engine rooms, I heard a waterfall. Gotta investigate that!

A hose clamp had come loose, perhaps from expanding/shrinking of the hose in the hot engine room since we had been out that day. Regardless of how or why the hose came off, dockside pressurized water was spewing full blast for I don't know how long. It was 4AM when I found it.

What was comforting to see is that just one of my several bilge pumps outran the free flowing water. Still, I never leave the boat with the water spigot turned on. Shutting it off is just part of my leaving the boat routine as is locking the back door. As for being worried about it while I'm here, even if I'm sleeping...I'm not concerned about it.

Although my tank water smells and tastes just fine, even after a long period of sitting, there is just something about drinking it that bugs me, yet, I use the ice without bother. For drinking and making coffee/tea, yes, I use bottled water. I have gallon sized water jugs and refill them from the dock for cooking and some drinking when we're out of the slip.

I do have to keep getting a new white water hose more often than I care to do, but after a couple of months or so, I can taste the hose. And that's when I find the ice to be objectionable!! And that's when I go buy a new hose.

 

[Pascal]

setup probably varies by year, on my 1970 it's automatic... connect the hose and it flows thru the boat. doens't back flow into the pump/tank because of a check valve.

i also prefer to run off the tanks, this way every few days i refill them with fresh chlorinated water which kills whatever woudl be growing in there. I drink it and it tastes just fine.

using dock water only means water will sit in your tank for a long time... plus you may indeed have a plumbing problem (the resetable timer is a good idea). on the plus side, you are not putting any wear on your pump.

 

[Captned]

I use the dockside water at all times, used to have one of those 500 gallon timers but the SOB would run out right when I was in the shower. EVERY TIME. I'm hooked to city water 24/7/365. I blew a hot water hose at the Seaward tank one time, the dog started barking at the engine room hatch, so i opened and yow! Like Ang thou, I dont know how long it was running but the bilge pumps were taking care of business... I too would use bottle water for drinking, but we were using 2 cases a week. The admiral asked me about installing some kind of filter for the city water (i already have one of those home style units in the cockpit, but it gets the nasties about every two months and I have to change it.) so we could stop buying the bottle water. River Marine, a great marine store here in Miami had a big display about some water filter, so I went and had a look. It was a 3M filter with a litle spigot.

http://www.filtersfast.com/3M-USFA-Undersink-Filter-System.asp

I installed it about a month ago under the galley sink and could not be happier. You install the spigot at the sink, and now we cook and drink the water from it. It TASTES better than the bottled water. I did three taste tests with some friends and every body picked the filtered water.

Oh yea, I have to replace the white hose every 3-4 months too. God help if you move it to much, all that green slime breaks loose and clogs your main filter. I would always have some sort of main filter on your dockside water hose in your cockpit. I see some guys with a filter on the dock. That aint where you need it. Its the HOSE that gets funky.. At least down here in South Ameri...er, Miami....

Oh yea, has anyone ever got black ice out of your ice maker??? I did awhile back, after crossing the gulf stream. Freaked me out! I changed the filter on the ice maker, let it run a while and everything is fine now..... But, what the hell was that? I think it had something to do with unhooking and then rehook ing my dock side hose....... Let me see if I can find the picture....

Cheers,

Captned
MBMM

 

[Captned]

Heres the Black Ice and the filter I quickly changed!!!

 

[yachtsmanbill]

Man! liquorice ice cubes! Those filters all have activated charcoal elements. Mine did the same thing and I knew it needed changing. My cubes were just dark gray. ws