Clear 15mm pipe

[RLWP]

Has it happened, must be terrible drying everything out afterwards...

Drying the carpet tiles in the front cabin is a bugger. Pumping water out of the bilge is a pain and takes ages. But the worst was when some friends we lent the boat to forgot about the rubber tank and filled the boat through the hole in the front deck. This surrounded the bag with water which then entered the boat through the old rusted off fittings. Baling the water out from around the rubber bag was probably the worst, worst thing I have had to do on the boat.

 

Richard

[soldthehouse]

Drying the carpet tiles in the front cabin is a bugger. Pumping water out of the bilge is a pain and takes ages. But the worst was when some friends we lent the boat to forgot about the rubber tank and filled the boat through the hole in the front deck. This surrounded the bag with water which then entered the boat through the old rusted off fittings. Baling the water out from around the rubber bag was probably the worst, worst thing I have had to do on the boat.

 

Richard

Funnily enough I hate water, water that is where it shouldnt be that is and am seeking to make plenty of air gap in the bilges when I get to it. I have one garage where the floor is constantly wet as the garage is below ground on two sides and it is depressing, so if your boat interior is damp it must be a minefield for mould and mildew...

 

 

Don't joke it's not funny when it happens nine hours before the Surveyor is due to take your boat apart for survey .....

 

Well, it is, in hindsight!

 

I recommend nappies, harirdryer, Vactan and hairdryer in that order. If you time it right, the surveyor gets a face full of hot air when he pulls up the inspection hatch ......

Hello Jill I wasnt joking I wouldnt wish it on anyone..

[wrigglefingers]

Funnily enough I hate water, water that is where it shouldnt be that is and am seeking to make plenty of air gap in the bilges when I get to it. I have one garage where the floor is constantly wet as the garage is below ground on two sides and it is depressing, so if your boat interior is damp it must be a minefield for mould and mildew...

 

 

 

Hello Jill I wasnt joking I wouldnt wish it on anyone..

 

Well, Stuart, my PhD in advanced swearing skills was well utilised and it's six hours of my life I'll never get back so you might as well laugh really! Surveyor said my boat was very maintained (and then he winked at me ... ). Thought I'd pulled but then realised, even surveyors do irony occasionally (I think.)

[Bob the welder]

Well, Stuart, my PhD in advanced swearing skills was well utilised and it's six hours of my life I'll never get back so you might as well laugh really! Surveyor said my boat was very maintained (and then he winked at me ... ). Thought I'd pulled but then realised, even surveyors do irony occasionally (I think.)

why do you bend metal ??.bob.

[wrigglefingers]

why do you bend metal ??.bob.

 

Because it's a useful skill to have.

 

More usefully, the water pipe on Cobbett will be clear, reinforced PVC pipe in places. I'll ask Dave tomorrow where he's planning to use it and how in terms of connectors if that's any help, Mike.

Edited January 24, 2010 by wrigglefingers

[blackrose]

Just in case it does freeze, or you smash it with a stray boot, or accidentally pull it off the wall, I would put one of those little in-line ball valves in the pipe from the tee to the water gauge. Then you can shut it off before the contents of your water tank empty into your bilge*.

 

Richard

Yes, the gauge will be downstream of the main stopcock.

 

hi .we did the same with 10 mm pipe all was fine untill the tank was 1/2 way down then the pump sucks a lot of air. you need a separate feed frome the tank.bob

 

Other people on the forum have installed the gauge and it worked. Perhaps yours was too close to the water pump?

[Bob the welder]

Yes, the gauge will be downstream of the main stopcock.

 

 

 

Other people on the forum have installed the gauge and it worked. Perhaps yours was too close to the water pump?

yep it was.bob

[wonderdust]

Ok, will do. I'm just going to T in the pipe vertically just after the main stopcock. As long as the top of the pipe is higher than the tank filler then it should be fine.

 

I'm trying to think of something I can use to cap the top of the pipe without sealing it. Obviously air has to escape and be drawn in as the water level rises and falls.

 

What about something like this.

[blackrose]

What about something like this.

That's nice and simple and I think I've even got a spare one somewhere in my bag of plumbing bits, left over from when I installed the stove's backboiler heating system.

 

Thanks

[Evo]

We have 2 Stainless water tanks ....one up front in the bow above the floor and one in the middle of the boat below the floor. The front tank fills the middle one by gravity, water is drawn from the middle tank.

 

I used a piece of that reinforced clear plastic flexible pipe and put a bead in it. It connects between top of middle tank and a skin fitting. It is situated at the back of a wardrobe. It only tells me when the bigger front tank is empty. The middle tank is then the reserve for the odd occasion we forget/cant fill up. The bead will not pass the fitting into thank or fire out into the cut

 

Its very robust, costs very little, is easily replaceable, and works a treat.

[RLWP]

We have 2 Stainless water tanks ....one up front in the bow above the floor and one in the middle of the boat below the floor. The front tank fills the middle one by gravity, water is drawn from the middle tank.

 

I used a piece of that reinforced clear plastic flexible pipe and put a bead in it. It connects between top of middle tank and a skin fitting. It is situated at the back of a wardrobe. It only tells me when the bigger front tank is empty. The middle tank is then the reserve for the odd occasion we forget/cant fill up. The bead will not pass the fitting into thank or fire out into the cut

 

Its very robust, costs very little, is easily replaceable, and works a treat.

 

How can you manage to empty the front tank and leave the middle full if one feeds the other by gravity? Surely the water levels out between the tanks.

 

Richard

 

Water famously doesn't run uphill

[Nine of Hearts]

We have 2 Stainless water tanks ....one up front in the bow above the floor and one in the middle of the boat below the floor. The front tank fills the middle one by gravity, water is drawn from the middle tank.

How can you manage to empty the front tank and leave the middle full if one feeds the other by gravity? Surely the water levels out between the tanks.

Answer's in the question, my old mucker. Whoops.

 

Water famously doesn't run uphill

No, it walks, like everyone else.

[Evo]

How can you manage to empty the front tank and leave the middle full if one feeds the other by gravity? Surely the water levels out between the tanks.

 

Richard

 

Water famously doesn't run uphill

 

 

We have 2 Stainless water tanks ....one up front in the bow above the floor and one in the middle of the boat below the floor. The front tank fills the middle one by gravity, water is drawn from the middle tank.

 

Edit..beat me to it..top man

Edited January 25, 2010 by Evo

[RLWP]

Edit..beat me to it..top man

 

Ahh. Got it. Thank you.

 

Richard

[Nine of Hearts]

Putting myself in doofus mode.

 

Am I right in thinking that the idea is to put this pipe in vertically between the tank cock and the water pump? Purely intuitively I would assume in that case that the pump would be liable or prone to suck air through said pipe, it being nearer to the pump and at a higher pressure. Also it would have less inertia containing a smaller volume of water. Is this mitigated by having a restricted air flow to the top of view pipe, or does this just not happen in reality?

 

I am amazed. I would never have thought that would have worked, although from the content of previous posts this is a tried and tested modification.

[blackrose]

Putting myself in doofus mode.

 

Am I right in thinking that the idea is to put this pipe in vertically between the tank cock and the water pump? Purely intuitively I would assume in that case that the pump would be liable or prone to suck air through said pipe, it being nearer to the pump and at a higher pressure. Also it would have less inertia containing a smaller volume of water. Is this mitigated by having a restricted air flow to the top of view pipe, or does this just not happen in reality?

 

I am amazed. I would never have thought that would have worked, although from the content of previous posts this is a tried and tested modification.

 

Why would it be at a higher pressure? Isn't all the water on the non-pressurised side of the system (prior to the pump) at the same (atmospheric) pressure?

 

You're basically saying the pump will suck the water out of the gauge pipe before it sucks it out the tank? I'm not sure, that doesn't sound right to me but I'll report back as soon as I get my pieice of pipe.

Edited January 25, 2010 by blackrose

[Nine of Hearts]

Why would it be at a higher pressure? Isn't all the water on the non-pressurised side of the system (prior to the pump) at the same (atmospheric) pressure?

 

That thinking comes from the experience of nothing ever happening in the real world like it does on paper ["light inextensible strings", anyone?] and although it should all be at the same pressure, you get pressure losses in pipes. Especially round bends. Although I never finished it, I paid [just] enough attention doing fluid dynamics to hear that bit.

 

Love to hear how this operates, my scepticism is based on half-understood physics and years of plumbing disappointment. I am a caveman wondering where the sun goes to on this one.

[RLWP]

That thinking comes from the experience of nothing ever happening in the real world like it does on paper ["light inextensible strings", anyone?] and although it should all be at the same pressure, you get pressure losses in pipes. Especially round bends. Although I never finished it, I paid [just] enough attention doing fluid dynamics to hear that bit.

 

Love to hear how this operates, my scepticism is based on half-understood physics and years of plumbing disappointment. I am a caveman wondering where the sun goes to on this one.

 

Well, as your CSE physics will remind you, when there is no flow the hydrostatic pressure in the tee piece where the tank and gauge connect to the pump will be identical. I suppose that the level in the gauge may drop when the pump is working, but I'd be surprised if it dropped enough to suck the tube dry.

 

However, I would connect the gauge between the stop cock and the water filter rather than between the water filter and the pump, just in case the filter got really clogged.

 

Richard

 

Where does the sun go then?

[Bob the welder]

Why would it be at a higher pressure? Isn't all the water on the non-pressurised side of the system (prior to the pump) at the same (atmospheric) pressure?

 

You're basically saying the pump will suck the water out of the gauge pipe before it sucks it out the tank? I'm not sure, that doesn't sound right to me but I'll report back as soon as I get my pieice of pipe.

as i said in my post mine sucks air when 1/2 way down the tank .bob

[blackrose]

as i said in my post mine sucks air when 1/2 way down the tank .bob

 

And as I said in my reply, you probably put your gauge pipe too close to the pump. If proximity to the pump means that suction in the pipe is greater than atmospheric pressure exerted on the head of water in the tank, then the pipe would get emptied.

[soldthehouse]

And as I said in my reply, you probably put your gauge pipe too close to the pump. If proximity to the pump means that suction in the pipe is greater than atmospheric pressure exerted on the head of water in the tank, then the pipe would get emptied.

The pressure on the surface area of the main tank as opposed to the small surface area of the sight tube will mean that the contents of the main tank will always have a greater tendency to find their way along any supply route and i wouldnt even place a small wager on the sighttube level ever dropping.. but what do I know....

[Nine of Hearts]

The pressure on the surface area of the main tank as opposed to the small surface area of the sight tube will mean that the contents of the main tank will always have a greater tendency to find their way along any supply route and i wouldnt even place a small wager on the sighttube level ever dropping.. but what do I know....

 

But I'm pretty sure that if you set up a test system with tank - sight tube - tap and just opened the tap, this would hold true. But when you add a suction force instead of just opening a tap, I bet you get different results. Also, what about a venturi effect draining your sight tube as the contents of the main tank whizz past its opening?

[soldthehouse]

But I'm pretty sure that if you set up a test system with tank - sight tube - tap and just opened the tap, this would hold true. But when you add a suction force instead of just opening a tap, I bet you get different results. Also, what about a venturi effect draining your sight tube as the contents of the main tank whizz past its opening?

Like I said what do I know.... You must be referring to the path of least resistance principal, but dont get me started on that one...

[WotEver]

Where does the sun go then?

If you stand on an island and listen carefully you'll hear it sizzle as it dips into the water. Ra then rescues it with his boat and all through the night he shines it up just in time to push it back into the sky at dawn.

 

I thought everyone knew that...

 

Tony

Edited January 25, 2010 by WotEver

[soldthehouse]

If you stand on an island and listen carefully you'll hear it sizzle as it dips into the water. Ra then rescues it with his boat and all through the night he shines it up just in time to push it back into the sky at dawn.

 

I thought everyone knew that...

 

Tony

What are you smoking....