Fresh water leak on a 445

[Alastair MacGregor]

I am new to the forum so bear with me. Purchased a 1999 445 3 months ago and have found a fresh water leak slowly filing my aft bilge. The pressure pump to the system cycles when powered with no faucets or showers in use. There are no visible leaks but the bilge continues to fill. Pretty convinced the leak is coming from the holding tank when under pressure. Not sure how to access the tank to inspect it. Any help would be much appreciated.
Merry Christmas

[bud37]

Welcome to the forum.....the fresh water pump is cycling because there is a pressure drop in the system/leak somewhere. Your fresh water holding tank is not pressurized, the pump pulls from that tank and the tank is vented to allow that suction.
There are no easy answers to this, get down there and dry the bilge, put towels down to find what direction the water is coming from and check all the fittings you can with your dry hand and a very bright light. May take a little digging.....

Good luck and let us know what you find.

[km1125]

Find the water heater and make sure the the safety valve (the over temp/over pressure) valve is not leaking. That's a pretty common place for leaks to occur. Sometimes just cycling it a few times will clear it up, other times they need to be replaced.

[KyleR]

Also shower and sink connections. Remove the drawer(s) in the heads - that might give you access to see those connections and see if they are leaking.

Speaking of hot water heaters, ours had a leak but it wasn't the relief valve. One of the connectors had gotten brittle and just cracked.

Good luck and please keep us posted on what you find.

[Carverlvr2]

I just had a similar ordeal. When I sea trialed and then signed the purchase agreement, the bilges were dry. During the survey we found fresh water in the aft bilge and eventually found both hot and cold connections at the water heater were leaking. PO tried to quickly patch with hardware store pieces to get through the sale but it still leaked and was getting worse. I ended up ordering the exact OE 15mm pex connections and fixing it properly. Dry as bone since.

[g36]

Keep in mind that hooking to shore side water your leak will be continuous until found. Also a good rule of thumb to be certain whenever you leave your boat tied up and are using shore side water to always turn it off it case a water line breaks thus possibility sinking the boat..welcome to the forum

[Merkinbrumsky]

Agree with all of the above. I had the same issue last spring. Both the hot and cold fittings and the over pressure/temp valve were leaking on the hot water tank. I accidentally left the potable water pump on when away from the boat and it pumped the entire tank into the bilge. Luckily the mid ship bilge took care of it so it could have been worse. If your pump is cycling without any water turned on you likely have a leak in the water line somewhere.

[Alastair MacGregor]

QR_BBPOST I just had a similar ordeal. When I sea trialed and then signed the purchase agreement, the bilges were dry. During the survey we found fresh water in the aft bilge and eventually found both hot and cold connections at the water heater were leaking. PO tried to quickly patch with hardware store pieces to get through the sale but it still leaked and was getting worse. I ended up ordering the exact OE 15mm pex connections and fixing it properly. Dry as bone since.

Similar situation. Have only had the boat for 3 months. All bilges were dry. Survey was far from clean but this issue was missed. No obvious leaks though, not from the water heater or other sources. Have even checked the holding tank. What I can visually see anyway. Extremely frustrating. Thank you for the input. Will keep hunting.

[Alastair MacGregor]

QR_BBPOST Agree with all of the above. I had the same issue last spring. Both the hot and cold fittings and the over pressure/temp valve were leaking on the hot water tank. I accidentally left the potable water pump on when away from the boat and it pumped the entire tank into the bilge. Luckily the mid ship bilge took care of it so it could have been worse. If your pump is cycling without any water turned on you likely have a leak in the water line somewhere.

Thank you

[Alastair MacGregor]

QR_BBPOST

QR_BBPOST I just had a similar ordeal. When I sea trialed and then signed the purchase agreement, the bilges were dry. During the survey we found fresh water in the aft bilge and eventually found both hot and cold connections at the water heater were leaking. PO tried to quickly patch with hardware store pieces to get through the sale but it still leaked and was getting worse. I ended up ordering the exact OE 15mm pex connections and fixing it properly. Dry as bone since.

Similar situation. Have only had the boat for 3 months. All bilges were dry. Survey was far from clean but this issue was missed. No obvious leaks though, not from the water heater or other sources. Have even checked the holding tank. What I can visually see anyway. Extremely frustrating. Thank you for the input. Will keep hunting.

Thank you