Help! Need someone to diagnose and fix interior bilge flooding - Calcutt area

[MtB]

9 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Well.........

 

My boat too! 

 

(Except its a Morco)

[magnetman]

24 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

It is very unlikely for there to be both a Paloma AND a cauliflower. 

 

 

One of my narrow boats had a paloma and a calorifier. When I first bought the boat I didn't know about the obvious boiling water issue. 

 

 

50 minutes ago, Lady C said:

I certainly remember hire boats with airing cupboards.  However, I think the water was probably heated by an Alde not by the engine.  

Alde are boilers so need a calorifier to store the water. 

One of my Boats is ex hire and has engine and Alde heated water from a twin coil horizontal calorifier under the bed. Also has a bilge pump in the cabin bilge. Only time I have used the bilge pump in 14 yars of owning the Boat is when it was broken into and the scum nicked everything including the Shurflo water pump = water tank contents in cabin bilge. 

Edited May 19, 2023 by magnetman
Edit to remove racist sex references

[rusty69]

8 minutes ago, magnetman said:

One of my narrow boats had a paloma and a calorifier. When I first bought the boat I didn't know about the obvious boiling water issue. 

 

 

Alde are boilers so need a calorifier to store the water. 

One of my Boats is ex hire and has engine and Alde heated water from a twin coil horizontal calorifier under the bed. Also has a bilge pump in the cabin bilge. Only time I have used the bilge pump in 14 yars if owning the Boat is when the it was broken into and the scum nicked everything including the Shurflo water pump = water tank contents in cabin bilge. 

 

Wait! What is the obvious boiling water issue?

 

Its not obvious. Not to me, at least.

[ditchcrawler]

1 minute ago, rusty69 said:

 

Wait! What is the obvious boiling water issue?

 

Its not obvious. Not to me, at least.

Feeding hot water into a Paloma and then heating it up a bit more with gas

 

[rusty69]

Just now, ditchcrawler said:

Feeding hot water into a Paloma and then heating it up a bit more with gas

 

Oh, right. Who would do that though? That is stupid.

[magnetman]

1 minute ago, rusty69 said:

 

Wait! What is the obvious boiling water issue?

 

Its not obvious. Not to me, at least.

Calorifiers raise the water TO a fixed temperature. 

 

Palomas raise the water BY a fixed temperature. 

 

If X is the temperature of the water produced by engine heat and Y is the amount the Paloma raises the temperature then you have problems if X is 60 degrees and Y is 40 degrees. 

 

Ouch!

 

 

Just now, rusty69 said:

Oh, right. Who would do that though? That is stupid.

Someone who didn't know the engine was already heating the water. 

 

 

 

Does your system allow this? 

 

A lot of them are plumbed to prevent this happening. 

 

 

[Canal Cuttings]

The Paloma was drained during the winter; the drain plug was completely removed.  Don't ask me how I can be so sure.... 

[rusty69]

12 minutes ago, magnetman said:

Does your system allow this? 

 

A lot of them are plumbed to prevent this happening. 

 

Our boat only had a paloma when we bought it. I later added a calorifier to use the engine hot water, and I wanted to mess around with a solar hot water panel.

 

They are two seperate systems, which can be selected individually by using an 'L' type valve at the paloma.

 

It didn't even occur to me to feed the hot calorifier into the paloma.

Edited May 19, 2023 by rusty69

[Tony Brooks]

1 hour ago, Lady C said:

I certainly remember hire boats with airing cupboards.  However, I think the water was probably heated by an Alde not by the engine.  

Or an Ellis boiler like my 1991 boat.

[Richard T]

It is possible that the water tank itself has split. We have just have to have the stainless steel one on our boar replaced because of this problem. It was an eyewatering number of pounds to do this. The cockpit deck had to be cut out and the old tank cut up in situ to get it out a new one fitted and the deck welded back in place. What surprised me was that the tank was made of only 2mm stainless and because it flexed the welds eventually failed. The OP could do worse than start to fill the tank and listen to see if they can hear water coming out of the tank.

[blackrose]

I haven't read the whole thread but in case nobody's mentioned it, check the shower waste, especially if you never/seldom hear the domestic water pump cycling for no reason.

[magnetman]

8 minutes ago, Richard T said:

It is possible that the water tank itself has split. 

I had a split water tank once from one of the old Chubb fire hose supplies on the Thames. Nice idea to shift water fast but if the tank vent is not big enough... They have since reduced the flow rate and removed the fire hoses. 

 

In this particular case the OP did mention that the leak is not between the tank and the pump. 

"The bilge does not fill with an empty water tank.  When the tank is filled, the water pump runs constantly, suggesting water is exiting even though every tap and outlet has been checked.  The bilge noticeably fills over a period of 10-20 minutes. With the pump off, we still think the bilge is filling slowly, "

 

If it was a split tank it would make no difference if the pump was on. 

 

It is interesting. Maybe a split tank AND a failed pipework union?