Domestic water leak

[keithc]

I`ve owned a SO32.2 (2002) for the past couple of years, sailing out of Brixham, Devon, England. Last month on a return from the Channel Islands the wind completley dropped and we had to motor the majority of the way (10 hours). This was the longest amount of time that our Volvo MD2020 engine had operated non-stop(which it coped with superbly). On our return to port I noticed a considerable amount of fresh water in the bilge. I could`nt see an obvious leak, but due to the excessive amount of "primary" heat provided to the hot water cylinder (10 hours of engine running) might this effect the temperature of the "secondary" hot water within the cylinder and hence increase pressure, resulting in a large discharge of water into the bilge?
Has anyone else had this problem?

[notorious7004]

Are you 100% certain that it was fresh water? I would tend to think that after that long time running the engine you might have some water coming in from the stuffing box. Of course that would be salt water. Other than that or a leak, I can´t think of any other reason to accumulate that much water in the bilge. Fair Winds!

[MalcolmP]

Keith

The pressure relief valve on the calorifier can get stuck due to scale build up . Others have advised regularly turning the valve to avoid this.

Also the engine might be running hotter due to possible weed growth or fouling on the prop this late in the season so that might have also contributed to a slight overheat situation

Malcolm

[MartyB]

It could also be a combo of stuffing box leakage, some of which is normal. And if the engine overheated, some fresh water from the radiator etc. would be expected also.

Marty

[ubuysa]

IMO this is normal. I certainly get the same thing on my SO45.1. When you heat the water in the hot water cyclinder the the pressure in the cylinder increases (Boyles Law). To avoid blowing up the cylinder (messy) the pressure release valve opens (at 3bar on my SO) and dumps water into the bilge. Normal stuff I reckon.