I zapped my two water tanks with 4 oz of chlorine bleach per 5 gallons of
water capacity per Peggie's book on odors and had a result I can't
explain. Hopefully someone can.

Since I bought my sailboat in 1996 I have had a problem with
the pressure water pump kicking in every couple of minutes. I normally keep
the pump turned off except when using hot water, as I have foot pumps for
both tank and lake water. When I bypass the water heater for the winter
the problem goes away. I have remade all of the water heater connections
and cannot find any evidence of a leak. Because of the installation I have
very little access to the tank.

After treating the tanks, AND the water heater, the pump did not kick in for
several hours, not until after the heater was turned on. After the water
was hot the pump kicked in every hour +/-.

The presence of a leak is obvious, but why would it get better after
cleaning the system?

Tsailor

TSailor wrote:
I zapped my two water tanks with 4 oz of chlorine bleach per 5 gallons of
water capacity per Peggie's book on odors and had a result I can't
explain. Hopefully someone can.

Since I bought my sailboat in 1996 I have had a problem with
the pressure water pump kicking in every couple of minutes.

An air leak in the pump will cause it to lose pressure and cycle...it's
often a sign that the diaphragm and/or pressure valve in the pump is
failing.

After treating the tanks, AND the water heater, the pump did not kick in for
several hours, not until after the heater was turned on. After the water
was hot the pump kicked in every hour +/-.

The presence of a leak is obvious, but why would it get better after
cleaning the system?

Cleaning out the system may have gotten rid of something that was
causing the pump to lose pressure quicker. The pump shouldn't cycle at
all, though...so I suspect it will do so at increasingly shorter
intervals and longer each time till it finally runs continuously without
pumping any water.


--
Peggie
----------
Peggie Hall
Specializing in marine sanitation since 1987
Author "Get Rid of Boat Odors - A Guide To Marine Sanitation Systems and
Other Sources of Aggravation and Odor"
http://69.20.93.241/store/customer/p...40&cat=&page=1

TSailor wrote:

The presence of a leak is obvious, but why would it get better after
cleaning the system?

First, to put paid to a really silly bit of voodoo engineering, since
the pressure switch is on the discharge side of the pump, and your pump
contains a check valve to separate suction and discharge, and your boat
probably has a water system that operates above atmospheric pressure,
any air in the system could only enter the suction side of the pump and
therefore have zero effect on cycling. If the pump can create enough
pressure to cycle off, it is also compressing what little air might be
introduced to the suction side. If you are not getting air out of your
taps you are not getting it into the system.

It is likely that cleaning the system produced a bit of sludge that was
forced by system pressure into the area of the leak. Sort of like those
car radiator leakstop chemicals that rely on the leak itself to
transport the sealant.

Check the insulation around the heater and see if it is damp. The leak
must be quite small and what little water leaks out is probably mostly
evaporating due to the heat of the tank. Check around the heating
elements and other fittings.

Rick

Another possibility is the non return valve has some sort of growth or muck
in it, preventing it form seating 100. The cleaning may have cleared some
of it, resulting in a better seal, but not yet perfect. If you have access
to the non-return valve, I would remove it and give it a clean


"Rick" wrote in message
ink.net...
TSailor wrote:

The presence of a leak is obvious, but why would it get better after
cleaning the system?

First, to put paid to a really silly bit of voodoo engineering, since
the pressure switch is on the discharge side of the pump, and your pump
contains a check valve to separate suction and discharge, and your boat
probably has a water system that operates above atmospheric pressure,
any air in the system could only enter the suction side of the pump and
therefore have zero effect on cycling. If the pump can create enough
pressure to cycle off, it is also compressing what little air might be
introduced to the suction side. If you are not getting air out of your
taps you are not getting it into the system.

It is likely that cleaning the system produced a bit of sludge that was
forced by system pressure into the area of the leak. Sort of like those
car radiator leakstop chemicals that rely on the leak itself to
transport the sealant.

Check the insulation around the heater and see if it is damp. The leak
must be quite small and what little water leaks out is probably mostly
evaporating due to the heat of the tank. Check around the heating
elements and other fittings.

Rick