Leak in Presssurized fresh water System

[km1125]

OK, those edits help a lot. What compartments are you unscrewing? Do you have the seating area just aft of the fwd shower/head and across from the galley? Do you have an icemaker under there? (see pic below). The image I added is the "A" floor plan... does this match yours? If so, there are all the plumbing connections under the the seating indicated. This connect to the shower and if it leaks will end up in the fwd bilge. Mine leaked last year due to a failed fitting adapter at the faucet. If you have the optional icemaker, then there would be a connection back there for that too. The galley sink plumbing could be leaking too, but that is much more obvious if you stick your head under the sink and look. It would also drain to the fwd bilge

carver_3607_floor_plan.jpg

[km1125]

Here is a rough layout of the plumbing on my boat. The blue is the cold water plumbing and there would be a corresponding hot water line coming from the hot water tank. I do not have a shower on the swim platform, but would imagine it would tee off to the lines under the aft berth. I also added an accumulator tank on mine just after the potable water pump. It stops the pump from cycling as much and gives a more even flow of water.

carver_3607_rough_plumbing.jpg

[tomschauer]

Did you check the water heater? Specifically the relief valve? It could be a slow leaker. Odds are it would leak more when the water is hot.

[Viper]

Qr Bbpost.....pressure pump in aft compartment comes on about every 5 minutes for 15 seconds.....

Interesting, every 5 minutes indicates that it's not too big a leak as it's taking 5 minutes for the pressure to decrease enough for the pump to cycle again, however, 15 seconds for the pump to re-pressurize the system is a long time for what doesn't seem to be that big a leak. Something isn't adding up. If any one of us were to open up a faucet and let a steady stream of water flow, the pump wouldn't take 5 minutes to kick in, nor would it take anywhere near 15 seconds to re-pressurize. If your system has an accumulator tank installed, it'll get the numbers closer to what you're experiencing but they'd still be strange. Of course there may be other conditions contributing to it such as a failing pump.

Other than visually looking for a leak in the system plumbing and all fixtures including such items as a transom shower, all lines and connections, water tank, hot water heater, etc. there's not much else. Ensure you check the back of fixtures that you can't normally see that are mounted to a wall like the shower. If you look in the bilge around such an area and you hear water running or put your ear up against the fixture/wall and you hear water, you've likely found the problem. I run into shower fixtures leaking behind the walls all the time.

While this is happening, is your hot water heater turned on? Even if it's not, if you have a faulty relief valve, it can leak continuously or discharge a large amount of water at once. If yours has a hose hooked up to it that leads into the bilge in case it discharges, you wouldn't see a leak around the tank base but the water would discharge into the bilge. Pretty common source of fresh water leaks in addition to all those mentioned above.

Keep us posted

[km1125]

Qr Bbpost Did you check the water heater? Specifically the relief valve? It could be a slow leaker. Odds are it would leak more when the water is hot.

If he's seeing the water in the bilge in the forward part of the boat, then it's not the water heater. On this model the water heater is in the stern and separated by two bulkheads.

[Viper]

I'd put it all out there as possibilities anyway as one never knows what the previous owner did or whether the OP is relaying information/symptoms accurately so I try not to assume anything and expect everything. May also help someone else experiencing a similar issue with a different model/setup.

[tomschauer]

All of the bulkheads have bilge drain cutouts so water can flow front or back and equalize. I believe these sit a bit bow heavy, so I would think its quite possible.

[km1125]

Qr Bbpost All of the bulkheads have bilge drain cutouts so water can flow front or back and equalize. I believe these sit a bit bow heavy, so I would think its quite possible.

Not on my boat. The bulkhead separating the engine room from the fwd compartment is about 3' tall in the center. There is one cutout for wires about 12" above the hull that is (or should be) sealed. Even unsealed, water would have to be 12" deep in one of the compartments to transition to the other.

The aft bulkhead in the engine room does have a cutout in the bottom (I've always thought of making a plug for this), however it goes to two compartments in the aft that do have plugs that should be in there. If they are, then water has to rise above the floor level to transition from the aft bilge to the engine room bilge.

When he went back and clarified his initial comments, the leak begins to make a lot more sense. We'll see when he updates again where we're at.

[nashvillekat]

Qr Bbpost OK, those edits help a lot. What compartments are you unscrewing? Do you have the seating area just aft of the fwd shower/head and across from the galley? Do you have an icemaker under there? (see pic below). The image I added is the "A" floor plan... does this match yours? If so, there are all the plumbing connections under the the seating indicated. This connect to the shower and if it leaks will end up in the fwd bilge. Mine leaked last year due to a failed fitting adapter at the faucet. If you have the optional icemaker, then there would be a connection back there for that too. The galley sink plumbing could be leaking too, but that is much more obvious if you stick your head under the sink and look. It would also drain to the fwd bilge

carver_3607_floor_plan.jpg

Your diagram helps. As in the diagram, I removed the kitchen steps and the hatch to the forward bilge compartment. The leak is coming thru a hole behind the forward bilge pump. You cannot see the hole until you unscrew the plate the forward bilge pump sits on.

[nashvillekat]

YES... This diagram corresponds to my boat.
The leak is coming thru a hole directly behind the forward bilge pump. You cannot see the hole until you unscrew the plate that the forward bilge pump sits on. I did unscrew all the seating around the kitchen table and did not observe any leaks. also no leaks under kitchen sink. ANY CLUE AS TO WHERE THE LEAK IS COMING FROM.