Water tank full but not full

[tree monkey]

6 minutes ago, Porcupine said:

If the reason is obvious please tell me? 

Ignore that and let us know if you have worked out what the issue is

[system 4-50]

How long have you had the boat?  Are you sure that it is the water tank filler that you are putting the water in?

[Porcupine]

28 minutes ago, system 4-50 said:

How long have you had the boat?  Are you sure that it is the water tank filler that you are putting the water in?

I am definitely putting it in the water tank. The water seems to be stuck in the filler pipe - thinking it might be an airlock. 

[Tony Brooks]

Just now, Porcupine said:

I am definitely putting it in the water tank. The water seems to be stuck in the filler pipe - thinking it might be an airlock. 

 

That is what people have been trying to tell you. Either a missing or blocked tank breather, a very odd pipe run to the tank, or a physical blockage in the filler.

[Porcupine]

28 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

That is what people have been trying to tell you. Either a missing or blocked tank breather, a very odd pipe run to the tank, or a physical blockage in the filler.

I have been assembling all the tools and am ticking off the possible causes. Thanks. 

 

Also - as you are aware , and seem to enjoy telling me, a lot,  I am not very practically minded, but this doesn’t diminish who I am as a person, far from it - maybe something to bear in mind, Tony. 

 

 

[Arthur Marshall]

38 minutes ago, Porcupine said:

I am definitely putting it in the water tank. The water seems to be stuck in the filler pipe - thinking it might be an airlock. 

Surely an airlock in a water tank filler tube would clear itself pretty quickly, they're usually wide pipes not a thin tube. Trying to fill  with jerry cans is a bit odd, too - would take hours and about a hundred to even quarter fill mine.

Is this a narrowboat or a cruiser, how much does the tank usually hold, and are you absolutely certain it's empty? If you're not getting water to the taps, the tank may be full and you've got problems elsewhere.

And finally, shove something flexible all the way down the filler pipe, though I can't believe you haven't done that already. If it won't go down, pipe's blocked. If it goes all the way down and water still sits at the top of the filler tube, your tank's full.

Edited March 16 by Arthur Marshall

[Porcupine]

Thanks, done all those suggestions. 

[MtB]

4 minutes ago, Porcupine said:

Thanks, done all those suggestions. 

 

People here do get frustrated when the questions they ask are ignored. 

 

I'll repeat David Mack's question. How do you know your tank is not already full? 

 

[Porcupine]

Because of a red board, I can’t fill up with a hose as normal / hence, I am using  Jerry cans, hence I am not able to fill the tank. 

[MtB]

2 minutes ago, Porcupine said:

Because of a red board, I can’t fill up with a hose as normal / hence, I am using  Jerry cans, hence I am not able to fill the tank. 

 

So you have succeeded in filling with a jerry can previously? 

 

How do you know the tank is not already full? If it is already full this would fully explain why more water won't go in. 

 

 

[Arthur Marshall]

4 minutes ago, Porcupine said:

Thanks, done all those suggestions. 

If it's still doing it, I think we're out of suggestion unless we get more data. You could post a photo of your filler point so we can see if there's a problem with that. We need to know the type of boat and the nature of the tank (integral steel or plastic). We need to know if this is a new boat to you, so you've never tried to fill the tank before, so we know if this is a new problem that's never happened before or not. And we need to know why you think the tank is empty. At least we now know you're on a river.

I can't see how it can be an airlock as air can escape as easily up the filler as elsewhere. You've used a wire so you know there isn't a blockage in the pipe (sorry, I missed that before) . If it were me, which it aint, I'd think the tank is full and water isn't coming through for some other reason. If that's why you think it's empty.

Does your water pump run when you turn the taps on?

[MtB]

On many boats one can loosely judge how full the tank is by looking at the waterline at the bow.

 

 

[Porcupine]

4 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

If it's still doing it, I think we're out of suggestion unless we get more data. You could post a photo of your filler point so we can see if there's a problem with that. We need to know the type of boat and the nature of the tank (integral steel or plastic). We need to know if this is a new boat to you, so you've never tried to fill the tank before, so we know if this is a new problem that's never happened before or not. And we need to know why you think the tank is empty. At least we now know you're on a river.

I can't see how it can be an airlock as air can escape as easily up the filler as elsewhere. You've used a wire so you know there isn't a blockage in the pipe (sorry, I missed that before) . If it were me, which it aint, I'd think the tank is full and water isn't coming through for some other reason. If that's why you think it's empty.

Does your water pump run when you turn the taps on?

Thanks so much for all the suggestions.
I am going to investigate further and let you know the results. 

7 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

People here do get frustrated when the questions they ask are ignored. 

 

I'll repeat David Mack's question. How do you know your tank is not already full? 

 

 

Thanks every one for all your help, I am listening and taking your advice. I am going to carry on investigating.  Thanks again. 

[Mike Hurley]

1 hour ago, system 4-50 said:

How long have you had the boat?  Are you sure that it is the water tank filler that you are putting the water in?

I was thinking that, maybe filling up the pump out tank.

[Tony Brooks]

47 minutes ago, Porcupine said:

I have been assembling all the tools and am ticking off the possible causes. Thanks. 

 

Also - as you are aware , and seem to enjoy telling me, a lot,  I am not very practically minded, but this doesn’t diminish who I am as a person, far from it - maybe something to bear in mind, Tony. 

 

 

 

That is exactly what I said in response to a post about the mods asking people not to go suggest spamming or bots.

 

I note that you still have not told us why you think the tank can not be full, no water coming from the taps does not necessarily mean that the tank is empty, although that is the usual reason. I also don't recall you telling us what type of tank it is. If it is an integral tank (uses the hull and bulkhead as sides) then after the winter it might be full - full of river water via a perforation in the hull or even rain water via a bad seal on the usual inspection plate in the well deck. But in that case of a hull perforation, the water in the filler would gradually drop until the river level and filler level were equal. I am in no way trying to suggest that this is the case, but use it as an illustration as to why answering questions that you may think are pointless is vital if you want the help you asked for.

 

 

Edited March 16 by Tony Brooks

[Tracy D'arth]

Please don't get annoyed, wind your neck in a bit, folk are only trying to be helpful.

You  are having difficulties understanding why your tank will not take water and you are there.

We are on the end of the internet. cannot see your tank, don't know what it is, where it is, how big it is, or how you know you have a problem.

Being unpleasant is not going to help, its more frustrating for us than it is for you.

[David Mack]

2 hours ago, Porcupine said:

Thanks every one for all your help, I am listening and taking your advice. I am going to carry on investigating.

But you are not giving us any feedback on the results. So those of us online can't target our advice to address the things that may be happening, and avoid the red herrings.

The most likely explanation for water overflowing from the inlet is that the tank is full, but you still haven't told us why you think this isn't the case. Water level indicators can be faulty and a failure of water supply to the taps could be caused by a number of issues.

[LadyG]

8 hours ago, MtB said:

On many boats one can loosely judge how full the tank is by looking at the waterline at the bow.

 

 

I dont know about that, the  cruiser near me has so much clutter on his bow that it will never level out

. He's moored one hosepipe length from the waterpoint. 

[ditchcrawler]

On 14/03/2024 at 10:25, Porcupine said:

I just tried pouring a few Jerry cans of water into my water tank. Water started overflowing from the neck but I know the tank isn’t full. Could anyone tell me why the tank isn’t taking any more water despite being quite empty?

 

Thanks, 

Matt 

The answer could be in a thread that has just been posted 

 

[Tracy D'arth]

3 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

The answer could be in a thread that has just been posted 

 

Are Panya and Porcupine one and the same person? If so I feel conned.