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Suspect air pockets in the line from the water tank or deck fill to faucets

Thalassa

Member II
Sometimes after topping off the water tanks, both faucets (galley and head) would stop delivering water as if the tanks were dry. Then after being back from cruising for several hours, the interruption seemed to fix itself. I'm puzzled. Was there an air pocket that worked its way out with the motion of the ocean perhaps? I was wondering if anyone else encountered something similar? And is there a way to fix this?
 

Frank Langer

1984 Ericson 30+, Nanaimo, BC
Hi,
I can think of two possibilities. Firstly, the water tank should have a vent hose from the tank to outside - - often looks like a one inch round fitting below the rubrail somewhere. If it is plugged, your manual or electric pump will not work properly. You can test it by placing a small hose on the hole in the vent and blowing into it to ensure its clear, not plugged.
The second possibility is an air pocket in the lines, which you can bleed out by opening all the taps running the pump until the sputtering stops and you get good water flow.
I have no idea why the problem would fix itself while you're sailing, unless your boat is just encouraging you to get out sailing more often. :)
Frank
 

footrope

Contributing Partner
Blogs Author
Yes, check the vent lines for both tanks. I have had that problem in the past. Some water tank vent configurations across the Ericson fleet are prone to get water in them, especially if you let the water run into the tanks until the vents let the water out when the tanks is full. As Frank says, if you trace the vent hoses to the outlet, you can blow them out with a little compressed air.

If you are letting your tanks run dry before filling them, then some problems may occur when you try to get the lines to the pump and faucets to fill. Pumps sometimes don't get the air out very quickly and lines vary in routing and their ability feed the pump. If you have a small pressure tank in the system that fills and shuts off your pump, it can sometimes trap air for awhile before the motion of the boat burps it out. Mine usually will pump some water, but the pump gets loud when it pumps air, and takes longer to shut off.

Years ago I fixed the vent from my settee tank (22 gal) by removing 20 feet of horizontal vent line and plumbing it into one of the nearby filler hoses. Several others have done similar fixes. A quick search of the site will come up with several water tank vent alternatives.
 

Baslin

Member III
Thalassa what model Ericson do you have?.....We have an 83 E38 and Our water tank vents are shared between the bow and stbd setee tank. They drain into the head sink through a spicket.......If we run our tanks dry, it helps to prime the system with the galley fresh water manual foot pump. Im not sure if you have foot pumps. Also like mentioned above, the vent could be clogged, kinked or somehow not allowing a good water flow back to the fresh water pump.

Cheers,

Blake
 

Thalassa

Member II
Blake, we have a 1985 Ericson 32 Mark III. And yes the overfill spills through a picket in the head sink. Also we have two foot pumps in the galley, one for salt water and one for fresh water. I'll try to prime the electric pump with the latter next time. Thank you for your insight.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Yes, the foot pumps dry out and admit air. Common issue, almost universal. You can also put a finger over the overflow spout at the sink, which has a similar effect of creating prime.

Some of us have spent hours troubleshooting fresh water lines in inaccessible places only to realize...oh, the forum had the answer all along.
 

Mr. Scarlett

Member III
Would the pump run but not move any water? My pressure water stopped working as well but I can't hear the pump trying to work.
Switched the line over to the foot pump and added another item to the winter list.
 

Thalassa

Member II
Indeed, the electric pump was running without delivering water (from a full tank). Remedy: stop the e-pump, start using the foot pump till water appears, then re-engage the e-pump = problem solved. And I'll also try Christian's solution of covering the overflow spout.

Peter Haenebalcke
 

Rocinante33

Contributing Partner
BTW, Defender has these foot pumps on sale now. I'm not sure if they have the same footprint or bolt pattern as our original pumps, but it might be worth a look.

 

nquigley

Sustaining Member
I replaced my original pumps with these Mk3 ones a few months ago because one of the old ones had a significant leak, and the repair kit isn't available. Plus, new is nice anyway ;-)
The holes on my aluminum mounting plates didn't line up with the holes on the new pumps - I reused one of the 4 holes and drilled 3 new ones to match the new pump's footprint. It's a bit awkward unbolting the old pumps and bolting in the new ones (it was hard to get fingers and washers/nuts in under the mounting plates on my boat, but not too bad.) The really really good thing was that this task led to a very good 'while I'm in there' sub-project: replacing all of the OEM water hoses associated with those pumps - they were nasty!
 

Chschaus

"Voila"
Question, I'm having problems with my port tank on my E35 III.
Starboard tank works fine, pump pressures up and shuts off. Port tank spits and the pump never shuts down. If I open both tanks together the system works fine! I thought it was the line between the port tank and the splitter valve but when both are open there is no problem. After reading this post I think it could be the vent on the port tank? I'm prepared to replace all the lines ( Really don't want to ) but would love some input first.
 

cruis-n

Member II
Question, I'm having problems with my port tank on my E35 III.
Starboard tank works fine, pump pressures up and shuts off. Port tank spits and the pump never shuts down. If I open both tanks together the system works fine! I thought it was the line between the port tank and the splitter valve but when both are open there is no problem. After reading this post I think it could be the vent on the port tank? I'm prepared to replace all the lines ( Really don't want to ) but would love some input first.
Sounds like an air leak in the line from the port tank to the splitter valve. When the starboard tank is open in parallel it's pulling mostly from the starboard tank. With both open, the port tank will eventually try to equalize to the level with the starboard tank.

I had a split in the line from the splitter to the pump, so it's not unheard of to have those grey water supply lines leak. I replaced it with 1/2" O.D. PEX. Problem solved.

IMO, it's not an issue with the vents.
 

peaman

Sustaining Member
BTW, Defender has these foot pumps on sale now. I'm not sure if they have the same footprint or bolt pattern as our original pumps, but it might be worth a look.
I replaced one just 2 or 3 months ago on my 1987 boat and it was an exact replacement.
 

Chschaus

"Voila"
Sounds like an air leak in the line from the port tank to the splitter valve. When the starboard tank is open in parallel it's pulling mostly from the starboard tank. With both open, the port tank will eventually try to equalize to the level with the starboard tank.

I had a split in the line from the splitter to the pump, so it's not unheard of to have those grey water supply lines leak. I replaced it with 1/2" O.D. PEX. Problem solved.

IMO, it's not an issue with the vents.
I replaced the old grey line with 3/8 PEX also replaced the fittings on the line. after all that the pump still never shuts off! It pressurizes, starts to shut down then continues to hum. since it only happens on the port tank there is no other place to check, I'm really stumped.
 

peaman

Sustaining Member
I had a split in the line from the splitter to the pump, so it's not unheard of to have those grey water supply lines leak. I replaced it with 1/2" O.D. PEX. Problem solved.
Another place to look for an air leak is in the tank selection valves. If the (original?) plastic valve is over-tightened, it can split, especially with tapered pipe threads. A very small crack may be difficult to see without removing the valve.
 
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