No water transfer between FW tanks...

[MikeP]

I got back to the boat 2 days ago, filled the water tanks...and ran out of water in a day and a half!

I discovered that water is not being transferred between the tanks when filling - well, I should say that it's being transferred very slowly, so that the gauge shows full and the aft tank is overflowing via the vent but the forward tank has very little water. The gauge will show full but then, 20 minutes later, it is at around 1/2 as the water slowly transfers.

SO...I assume that the hose connecting the tanks/the associated fittings are calcified/clogged from years of use. I'm quite confident that the transfer hose has never been replaced but replacing it is not feasible at the moment - we have guests coming soon and I don't want to get into a project that could end up taking longer than I thought and making the guest room not useable due to needing access to the tank.

I was thinking about suctioning all the water out of the tanks and then dumping several gallons of vinegar into them, hoping that would dissolve the calcification and restore free flow. Anybody have thoughts re that or an alternate suggestion?

 

[carolinacoast]

Our valve is in the master closet. Perhaps the line above the valve is the culprit, and you can access it quickly there.

 

[bobk]

Mike, city water is not likely to calcify, so I would not try vinegar. It could be very difficult to remove. Can you arrange to back pressure it to push a blockage back? What else is connected to the transfer line? Any filters etc.?

Bobk

 

[MikeP]

I suppose I could apply some pressure via the vent line although the tank vents are on the "water" side of the slip and difficult to get to from the boat deck. Re calcification- we get plugged shower heads from city water that have to be cleaned regularly with vinegar or lime-away so I ASSUMED that since the hose has never been replaced, that either the hose or the tank fittings may have such deposits.

There is nothing that I know of between the tanks except the hose and a gate valve. The gate valve is accessible from the master closet but access to the hose fittings at the tanks will require pulling up the carpeting and finding the access panels for that...if there are any. I have had the carpets up and seen all the panels but that was years ago and I don't remember if there were panels for that purpose or not. I took pics of all of them but I can't find the pics!

(my pic filing system is no better with digital cameras than it was with film! Actually, I was better with film. With digital I take pics and often say "I'll label/file them later," but I usually don't...

 

[eze2bme]

If easily accessible, you might remove the hoses at the gate valve and see if you're getting free flow in either direction, at least it might show which one is restricted. You could also then check the valve to see if it has any rerstriction. Just a thought.

 

[Fanfare]

Mud dauber wasps can build their nests in the water tank vents, blocking them. Pull the little cover and check for this. I think this could cause these symptoms.

My water tank connecting hoses are pretty big and sealed from inside the tanks. I don't know how I would get to them.

Vinegar is cheap and won't kill you if you don't get it all out.

 

[MikeP]

Right you are, Jim. Vent was clogged for the aft tank - spider as big as me. OK, maybe not quite that big but big enough to ensure that the webbing/spider/eggs totally plugged the vent.

Fortunately the aft vent was reachable from the swim platform since the vents are on the water side of the slip and now water is pouring from both vents, indicating the tanks are totally full and all is right with the world.

Essentially, the clogged vent meant that when the water overflowed from the filler cap, the tanks were only about 2/3 full.

Now to figure out why one of the cable masters is not working...



All this boat stuff is interfering with my ukelele practice

 

[MikeP]

Cable master problem turned out to be a corroded momentary contact SPDT switch which operates the in/out feed. New switch (had to go to WM to get it, hardware store was out of stock - ugh!), and cable master is again the master of the cable!

 

[TROUBLE]

My friend,
You are having a great day so far.




Art

 

[ronparise]

Right you are, Jim. Vent was clogged for the aft tank - spider as big as me. OK, maybe not quite that big but big enough to ensure that the webbing/spider/eggs totally plugged the vent.

Fortunately the aft vent was reachable from the swim platform since the vents are on the water side of the slip and now water is pouring from both vents, indicating the tanks are totally full and all is right with the world.

Essentially, the clogged vent meant that when the water overflowed from the filler cap, the tanks were only about 2/3 full.

Now to figure out why one of the cable masters is not working...



All this boat stuff is interfering with my ukelele practice

This is great stuff, Thanks for posting your problem and thanks to Jim for posting the solution.

The secret to any troubleshooting problem, is I know, to start with the obvious and easy stuff. Im such a rank neebee that I dont even know how to ask the questions. But thanks to you guys, Im learning

Im using this post to start my troubleshooting file.

Thanks again.