Water in bilge - coming from expansion tank?

[pipemma]

Hi everyone

This may be a duplicate of findhorn's thread but anyway....

We keep getting water in the bilge just in front of the companionway of our 44i. It's flummoxed us for a while now - it's not rainwater getting in the hatches because the saloon is bone dry, and it's not coming from underneath because it happened on the hard too.

We think we've traced it to a leak in the red expansion tank in the FW system - the gastket is wet and it's clearly been dripping down below as there's some rust. It was  just an imperceptible build-up, but we've been emptying a bucket and a half of water every 48 hours recently

Has anyone else had this? Is it an easy fix? Do we actually need the expansion tank even? Any and all thoughts v welcome!

(Pics to follow in next post so I can upload from phone)

[pipemma]

And here are the pics of the bulge and the expansion tank

[Charlie-Bravo]

I suppose with that quantity of water I would put a bath towel below the tank, wait 48 hours and then check that it is drenched, if so then that would seem to be the main problem area, ...... although something else might be adding to it of course.

You can bypass the tank, but the system gives a better , more instant flow from the taps with it, it works as a pressure reservoir via a diaphragm and a pocket of pressured air, giving you a little whoosh whilst the pump gets up to speed, fix the gasket would be a good move.

To replace the dripping gasket:
In your photo of the tank the little black thing on the top is a valve, like a car tyre valve complete with a plastic dust cap, Turn off the water pump, and tanks, remove the valve dust cap and push the valve centre pin, and the pressure inside will escape with a hiss if there is any in there, remove the tank ... it will leak so find the towel you have dried from the earlier test and get it wet again,  dismantle the tank base, just bolts or screws, make a new gasket using the old perhaps as a patten, or buy a new gasket, re assemble, re install.
Turn on tanks, then the pump until water flows from the taps, the system is now re filled,  now you need a bicycle pump with a gauge to re pressure the tank air pocket to the correct pressure via the valve on the top.
I can't tell you what the pressure should be on your system, probably about 24 psi,  either some body with the actual knowledge will appear here or you will just have to google it, there might even be some clues on your pump label stating at what pressure it switches off at.

All in all quite a doable project in a couple of hours ....... so give yourself a full afternoon / day ...... as these things always take a little longer than you think, then pop to a shop for a feather duster ...... so you can periodically dust your nice dry bilges, and enjoy the running water by washing those feet in the photo !

Hope it goes well
CB