Bleeding the hot water heater

T

tparrent

New member
Look at me using all those plumberly words like "bleeding" :)

I ripped out all of my winterization bypass work that I spent a month installing a few months ago because I had a pesky leak once I filled the main water tank and turned on the pressure. I spent the better part of a day trying to fix but the gods were angry and stayed that way.

In restoring the system to its original configuration, I did have a little leak but I was able to tighten it away. Dang, just looked and there's still a couple drops after being dry for ten minutes.

Anyway, let's assume I figure out how to stop the leak. How do I fill the hot water tank? With the water pump on, I opened the hot tap and got nothing but air, spray and a maniacally screaming pump. I shut it down.

Do I have to bleed it somehow, maybe with that dangerous looking weird valve on the side of the tank? No idea what that's for but it seems to be a pressure relief thingamabob.

My next boat is going to be a canoe. 1/32 scale. Sitting on the fireplace mantel.
 
The valve you describe is the pressure relief valve--you might be able to pull the handle and bleed air out...

Some of the boats had the pump installed after the water heater, instead of before it.. Not the best arrangement--just because of the issue you are having. Check your plumbing to see if the water pump is between the water tank and the water heater. If it is, then you will just have to let it pump more air until it pulls water from the tank. The tanks in the TC 255 are below the water pump, so they have to pull a prime. Many of the tother C Dory, the tank is above or at least the bottom of the tank is equal to the level of the pump.

It is possible that your pump has a leaking valve/and is not pulling the prime.

Which pump do you have?

If all else fails, you can open the drain at the bottom of the water heater, and put a double female hose, to a water mains sour, then turn on the water and open the hot faucet with pump off. That should fill the tank, and then vent the air. ( We use the double female hose to prime our irrigation pumps at the house after they are drained for the winter.
 
The tank eventually filled aaaand... the fittings leaked.

Setting up that winterization bypass is certainly one of the dumbest things I've done on a boat. Cost at least a week of cruising and unknown money as I now need to bring in someone who knows what they are doing. Should have just let it be and filled it with five gallons of antifreeze.

I pulled out everything I had put in, hooked it all up the way it was originally, taped and tightened everything all to no avail. My mechanical ineptness knows no bounds.
 
One trick, I recently had to use on a recalcitrant drip where a hose went onto a nylon fitting, was to coat both the inside of the hose, and the outside of the nylon barbed fitting with a thin coat of Permatex Form-a-gasket #2 (soft--non hardening). Don't get it on your hands! This has worked a number of times where you just cannot seem to get the hose clamp 'too tight" (which is often the problem--hose clamp distorts the house)
 
The hissing and spitting is normal when filling the tank; the pump runs at full blast because it is filling the tank, and you have to have a hot water faucet open to facilitate that. One thing that concerned me was you saying you "taped" everything. Assuming you are talking about Teflon tape, you do not need that on plastic fittings. See where the leak is actually coming from and then go to work on JUST that fitting. Plastic fittings can be over-tightened... to the point where they leak. Try loosening a fitting if you went beyond hand tight on the plastic. Also, turn the pump off (you should only have it on when you're running water) and put a container under the leak to see how much is accumulating. If any leak is coming from a fitting that had a rubber o-ring in it, you may need to let that expand... like waiting overnight... with no water pressure on... and see if your leak has slowed or stopped.

The other thing to check for is: be certain you have the same male and female fittings. The C-Dory factory had a sense of humor about some of the plastic fittings they used. My boat came from the factory with mis-matched connections on the shower, a leaky water heater, and white goop of unknown origin slathered on 72% of the fittings. You can do this, Tom, as it really doesn't take a journeyman's license in plumbing. The water system on these boats is actually pretty simple... a tank, a pump, some lines, a feed into and out of a water heater. No pipe welding or power tools required.

On the other hand, you can hire a plumber - and they will tell you they don't work on boats. And you will tell them it is just the connections to your water heater. Then, they will tell you, "Oh, yeah we can do that." And will charge you for a service call, mileage, and one hour minimum.

You have a great boat. Don't let the systems that WILL make your life more comfortable when you use the boat frustrate you. We've known each other on these forums long enough - I wouldn't suggest it if I didn't know you can do it. If you're going to cruise this boat, you need to be able to do some of this kind of stuff so you don't suffer from trip interruptus when you push away from the dock. This isn't "tough love" - this is me being a cheerleader and offering another bit of free advice. I wouldn't suggest you change out spark plugs or an impeller without Timm, Charlie, or me being there to guide you - but this you can do. Since you posted here, I assume you want the advice; if not, I'll back off. But, really, you can do this.
 
Maybe this has been discussed, but be sure that you used nylon fittings not the cheaper plastic fittings. I did a bunch of rework on my fresh water system (including the hot water heater). I did get some leaks that were all fixed by tightening the hose clamps. I don't know this for a fact, but I assume one can tighten against the nylon fitting more effectively than against the plastic ones.
 
I threw a Hail Mary pass and texted a guy in the area who had done some emergency repair work for me on a sailboat 15 years ago. He called back today and said, with perhaps a bit of fear in his voice, that he remembered me. Said he was out of town until Monday and had two boats ahead of me. Would Monday afternoon be soon enough?

:shock:

I gave him my entire punch list of things I had planned on fixing (breaking) and told him where to find the keys.

This week's repair cost me three days of boating (out of 5 planned). Installing the bypass in the first place cost me ALL of my cruising plans in the first month I owned the boat.

No more do it myself for me. A man's got to know his limitations.

In other news, my boat transport guy sent me a note with the good news that he found a a delivery to make when returning from dropping my boat off in Burlington next month. Cut my cost in half. You didn't think I was going to tow the myself, did you?
 
When refilling the hot water tank, you're on the right track by opening the hot tap to allow the water to flow. However, if you're getting only air, spray, and a noisy pump, there may be still air trapped in the system.

The valve on the side of the hot water tank that you mentioned is likely a pressure relief valve. While it's not typically used for bleeding air from the system, it's crucial for safety, and you should avoid tampering with it unless needed for its intended purpose.

To bleed the air from your hot water tank, try the following steps:

Turn off the water pump.
Open the pressure relief valve.
Close the pressure relief valve.
Turn on the water pump again.
Open a hot water tap.
Wait for the air to escape: You might hear sputtering initially, but once a steady stream of water flows, you can close the tap. i usually contact with emergency boiler repair for professional tips.
 
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