Where's the leak?

[jimking100]

Had a similar problem a few years back. Could not find a leak and gave up looking, accepting the leak as inevitable. One day, I climbed down into the bowels to lubricate the self steering gear and as Vasco noted, I discovered the leak at the hot water heater. Would have never found it under normal inspection. Tightened the fitting and all is well.

[zeehag]

accumulators also can leak....

[levm]

If you have water filter after the water pump it is possible that the filter is clogged, the pump builds pressure to the correct level against the clogged filter, then over time the water pressure drops as more water manage to pass through the clogged filter and the pump is reactivated.

[rtbates]

Originally Posted by zeehag

mine cycles occasionally so i leave it turned off until i need water then i turn it on again..isnt a big deal, and i save electricity. and water....

I agree 100%. Mine doesn't cycle when not drawing water, but I always turn the pump off except when actually needing water. Why wait until a leak results in all water drained and you're not there to notice? And it's has to be better for the pump and system, long term, to not be constantly holding pressure.

[Dreaming Yachtsman]

Had a very similar problem after our water maker was installed. The factory had failed to install a strainer before the inlet to the pump so plastic drill tailings from the water maker installation worked their way into the pump, causing the discharge check valves (main check + one for each cylinder) to leak. I swapped the pump with an identical pump in the sea water system then disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled the pump. I had to swap pumps several times before I was able to find the correct size strainer for the inlet to the pump.

We were instructed to leave our fresh water system pressurized so that the water maker can flush itself automatically every 5 days. This could obviously be managed by monitoring the flush time interval but it's much easier just to leave the system pressurized. Any unexpected pump operation causes us to search for leaks.

[HopCar]

Rwidman was first to say it. It's the valves in the pump. Replace the valves or buy a new pump.