Pressurized water: a blessing or a curse?

[Mithril Bham]

Only time noise ever bothers me is when pump cycles at night. Turn it off before hitting the sack.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by svrodeorm

KISS contrarian I presume?

I've found foot pumps and pressure systems to be about equally reliable.

You really don't need a back-up for either. Just bail water out of the tank. Very reliable.

long showers have never been a problem, even with teenage girls. I simply explain how much water we have and that if we run out, they will have soap in their hair. That does it.

[SailFastTri]

Originally Posted by magellanyachts

Only time noise ever bothers me is when pump cycles at night. Turn it off before hitting the sack.

Likely you have a leak or a drip which is causing it to cycle, unless your pressure switch is not operating properly.

[TrentePieds]

Nah - the nocturnal nuisance stems from a shipmate having to have a drink. Can't prohibit that. Any more than you can prohibit your shipmates' having a whizz and making noise flushing the loo.

But the galley tap? A coupla mouthfuls of water can be draw with a nice quiet little foot pump without waking anybody up. So can six cups of water for the coffee pot :-)

TP

[SailFastTri]

That kind of noise is just a "normal sound" and doesn't bother me.

[zeehag]

pump noise is a byproduct of having pumps on board.
i am changing my electrickery dependent water access to foot pump access.
screw this wasting electrickery and having to repair electrickery to access my water.....too many fails to keep. having experienced foot pump systems and hand pump systems and electrickery driven systems, i choose to ditch the electrickery.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

Nah - the nocturnal nuisance stems from a shipmate having to have a drink. Can't prohibit that.

never heard of water bottles with screw on caps??????

[TrentePieds]

Quote: "never heard of water bottles with screw on caps??????"

Oh, Dear! That sort of thing requires foresight. Most of us sail with amatoors - coming on like the navy tends to meet with resistance ;-0)!

TP

[NevisDog]

Originally Posted by thinwater

... You really don't need a back-up for either. Just bail water out of the tank. Very reliable. ...

Am I missing something? Seems impossible to "bail" water from tanks. One way or t'other, I have to suck it out. Do you really have a method?

[SecondBase]

Originally Posted by NevisDog

Am I missing something? Seems impossible to "bail" water from tanks. One way or t'other, I have to suck it out. Do you really have a method?

Many tanks have a lid. Of course once you open that lid it won't thread to close and then you'll have a new issue. Ask me how I know.

[Jim Cate]

You really don't need a back-up for either. Just bail water out of the tank. Very reliable.

thinwater, I usually find your advice to be useful, but this, if offered seriously, is not so. Few yachts have readily accessible ports through which you might bail water. And if they did, and the vessel was at sea, slop would waste considerable water as you struggled to fill your transfer container. Not so reliable IMO!

One consideration: most vessels of the size usually represented here on CF would rely upon a single powered domestic water pump. If it fails, then no access to water. On yachts which have manual pumps, there is usually one fitted at each sink, and so if one should fail, there is another available as backup, possibly more than one.

And FWIW, we too have relied upon foot pumps for sink supply... by choice. We have an electric pump devoted to the showers, one in the head, one on the sugar scoop. We could easily change to pressure water everywhere, but prefer to keep to the foot pumps for reasons of reliability and water economy. And as to reliability, the foot pump in the galley needed replacement of some o-rings at age 24 years (full time live aboard cruising all the while), and the one in the head is original and (touch wood) going strong. Pretty hard to beat...

Jim

[JPA Cate]

Just a minor addition here. On a boat that we did have pressure water on, Jim used the dinghy air pump on the vent line to pressurize the tank to get water out when the pump failed. So there ought not to be a need for dipping the water out of the tank, if you can access the vent line.

Ann

[NevisDog]

Plus not every tank has an access hatch for cleaning, and if there is one, it can be mounted on the inboard face instead of the top (depending on hatch/deck location). Think I'd prefer to overhaul the pump or follow Ann's advice (plus re-seating that cover - as SecondBase pointed out ).

[SecondBase]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Just a minor addition here. On a boat that we did have pressure water on, Jim used the dinghy air pump on the vent line to pressurize the tank to get water out when the pump failed. So there ought not to be a need for dipping the water out of the tank, if you can access the vent line.

Ann

WOW! Ingenious.

Almost worth fitting a screw on air pump valve of some type to the air vent to give a ready to go, non-electric backup.

[TrentePieds]

Shraeder valve (aka "tank valve"), four buxatoss from plumbing suppliers. And a bicycle pump.

Every cruiser should have one :-)

TP