Water ingress

[Chasing28]

Where is the water coming from?

I have an LRC 42 and I have water in the bilge (port side only)

Does not appear to be shaft related
runs the pump ~ twice per day

Aside from the port engine thru hull, I am unable to determine the source. Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[SEVEN]

Shower leaks? Sump hose from shower, galley sink, washer if you have one.

 

[zigzag930]

I am dealing with a similar issue, and have finally located to source. Not sure if the 42LRC is the sam as the 58LRC with respect to this, but my issue is with a leak in the "sea chest". This is the fiberglass box on inside of the hull where different hoses connect and dump overboard.

When the waterline raises above the discharge on the outside of the boat (due to a wave, etc) I get water coming inside at the bottom of the sea chest. Apparently it is cracked. The port side of my ER where this sea-chest is located if very difficult to access due to numerous pipes, engine exhaust, etc.

 

[CMeacham]

I have a similar problem on a 53' M/Y but I do know where the water is coming from.

When I turn on the a/c the a/c water output overwhelms the sea chest capacity. It's not plugged as plenty of water exits the boat on the outside.

It is enough pressure to shoot through the little hole in the top of the sea chest though which fills the port bilge. Of course the port bilge pump just sits and runs because it can't push any more water through that same sea chest.... just shoots a higher stream out that hole in the top of the sea chest.

Maybe a partial blockage in the sea chest exit? Too much volume of water pushed by the a/c pump?

 

[cww]

I have a similar problem on a 53' M/Y but I do know where the water is coming from.

When I turn on the a/c the a/c water output overwhelms the sea chest capacity. It's not plugged as plenty of water exits the boat on the outside.

It is enough pressure to shoot through the little hole in the top of the sea chest though which fills the port bilge. Of course the port bilge pump just sits and runs because it can't push any more water through that same sea chest.... just shoots a higher stream out that hole in the top of the sea chest.

Maybe a partial blockage in the sea chest exit? Too much volume of water pushed by the a/c pump?

I have that issue on port too, to the point that when somebody turned off the bilge pump breaker to replace the pump, I got flooding in the hallway an hour after leaving the dock. The shaft packing drips like it's supposed to, but nothing that would account for that volume of water. Need to check that next time I go to the boat.

 

[zigzag930]

Well this is interesting. I recently replaced the HVAC seawater pump with a higher capacity pump. That is when I first noticed the problem.

I found a small round hole in the top of the seachest and could not understand why it was there. I decided to plug it with a ball of epoxy. Thought that would fix the issue, only to find water is still pouring out either on the lower right side or the bottom. I can' really see in there until I move all the plumbing.

Anyone have a thought on why there would be a (approx) 3/8" hole on the top of the seachest? The other ones do not have one.

 

[CMeacham]

Well this is interesting. I recently replaced the HVAC seawater pump with a higher capacity pump. That is when I first noticed the problem.

I found a small round hole in the top of the seachest and could not understand why it was there. I decided to plug it with a ball of epoxy. Thought that would fix the issue, only to find water is still pouring out either on the lower right side or the bottom. I can' really see in there until I move all the plumbing.

Anyone have a thought on why there would be a (approx) 3/8" hole on the top of the seachest? The other ones do not have one.

I figured that the hole was to allow for a pressure relieve so there wouldn't be a vacuum in the sea chest keeping the water from exiting.

 

[rwaldrop13]

I figured that the hole was to allow for a pressure relieve so there wouldn't be a vacuum in the sea chest keeping the water from exiting.

I have to agree with the air vent/pressure relief at the top of the sea chest. I had a water ingress issue in my generator room, replaced bilge pump/float switch/hose/check valve, and added anti-siphon fitting. That stopped one water ingress issue. Another thing to check is other drains coming in, I found galley sink drain hose was split on the back side and only leaking when dishwasher drained.

 

[Fanfare]

I keep the air conditioning on in the master cabin all the time when on board. Consequently the ac circulating pump runs all the time. Even though the ac pump piping is bronze (Chinese?) and bonded, every 7-10 years pinhole leaks seem to develop from voids in the casting. This leak took me a while to track down. I have now replaced the bronze with reinforced hose so I will see if this is an improvement.

 

[johnjen50]

None of my sea chests have the hole you are talking about. The sea chests are also pretty robustly fiberglassed, so if it’s cracked that would surprise me. Perhaps there’s a leak on the underside of a hose that’s hard to see. None of my pumps get air locked either and the water flow is quite good form the ac units. Given that a sea chest is down by the water line I’m guessing that hole should not be there. I certainly wouldn’t want it open to the water, particularly salt water.

 

[CMeacham]

I solved my problem.

I clamped closed the 1 1/8" bilge pump hose and the bilge quit filling with water while the a/c was turned on.

It seems the a/c discharge was making its way through the sea chest and down the bilge pump hose which was why the bilge was filling up and I wasn't able to find any leaks/drains going into the port bilge.

Looks like I have 2 options:

1) Put a 1 1/8" check valve into the bilge pump discharge hose...which I heard was a bad thing to do.

2) Drill the side of the boat and the a/c can have its own discharge thru hull. Not a good option either but might be the best option. The way it is now there is not enough discharge capacity to drain the bilge while the a/c is on. If I did have a problem in the future and needed that bilge pump to work I'll have to remember to shut the a/c off or the boat will sink. This makes me nervous.

Buy a boat they said... It'll be fun!!

 

[MadHatter53]

Sounds like giving the AC its own overboard discharge is the way to go.

 

[HahnR]

Our A/C pump has it's own discharge. It also makes it easier to monitor the flow

 

[rwaldrop13]

Our A/C pump has it's own discharge. It also makes it easier to monitor the flow

Both my current AC units have their own overboard discharges, which definitely makes it easier to monitor flow. When I put a third unit in service, it will be sharing the overboard with one of the 2 current units but to check flow i can always cut one of the units off at a time, or I can route the discharge for the 3rd unit thru the port engine room and use the discharge that is currently assigned for flushing the water heater.