Smelly fresh water

[tfleonard]

Hello,
I am the owner of a 350 MKII #487. This is my first season with the boat and have a problem that has me stumped. My fresh water smells terrible from both hot and cold but mainly the hot. Also the hot water in the galley seems to be carbonated. The hot water seems to tack about an hour with the engine running to get hot. I am on a mooring so no shore power is available. The tanke were empty over the winter and the water seemed fine for the first 3 or 4 weeks before this problem surfaced. People have asked me if the smell is like rotten eggs. It is not. It smells acidy. Any ideas?
Tom

[KenKrawford]

Tom, I suspect that you have some sort of bacterial or mold contamination in your water system. Even though you drained your tanks last year, there was probably still some water in the water lines.
The protocol I have seen for marine water systems involves:

1. Prepare a chlorine solution using one gallon of water and 1/2 cup (4 oz) Clorox or Purex household bleach (5% sodium Hypochlorite solution ). With tank empty, pour chlorine solution into tank. Use one gallon of solution for each 5 gallons of tank capacity.
2. Complete filling of tank with fresh water. Open each faucet and drain cock until air has been released and the entire system is filled. Do not turn off the pump; it must remain on to keep the system pressurized and the solution in the lines
3. Allow to stand for at least three hours, but no longer than 24 hours. 4. Drain through every faucet on the boat (and if you haven't done this in a while, it's a good idea to remove any diffusion screens from the faucets, because what's likely to come out will clog them). Fill the tank again with fresh water only, drain again through every faucet on the boat.
5. To remove excess chlorine taste or odor which might remain, prepare a solution of one quart white vinegar to five gallons water and allow this solution to agitate in tank for several days by vehicle motion.
6. Drain tank again through every faucet, and flush the lines again by fill the tank 1/4-1/2 full and again flushing with potable water.



I hope this help. Let us know how it worked.

[TBOT422]

Ken,

Is there any need to let the fresh water pump 'rest' when draining the tanks through the faucets? I've always been concerned about letting the pump run for the length of time it takes to drain almost 90 gallons of water out of the 3 tanks. I would suspect the pump motor is designed for intermittent duty and continuous running for long periods may not be good for it, but I don't know and haven't asked Shurflo.

Is there an easier way to completely drain all the tanks?

Thanks

[KenKrawford]

I don't think there would be a problem running the pump continuously. Most motors like these have thermal overload protection so if the pump got too hot, I suspect it would shut off. I guess if you wanted to give it a break you could turn the faucet off, open up one of the drains on the manifold in the bilge and let the bilge pump work for a while.

[leigh weiss]

Tom,
Just one more potential spot to check for contamination of the water system. My water pump has a filter/screen that needs to be cleaned once a year. I have an older 350 #155 so you may not have the same pump and filter.

Leigh Weiss
Brisa #155

[TBOT422]

Ken,

I posed my question to ShurFlo about running the fresh water pump continuously to drain the tanks.

One other question that came up regarding that pump (2088-723-244). It is used to pressurize the fresh water system on our sail boat. When winterizing or refreshing the water in our tanks, the tanks need to be completely drained. They have about a 89 gallon capacity. Is there any likelihood of damaging the pump when running it long enough to completely drain the water tanks due to overheating or should the tanks be drained in several segments to allow the pump to cool down slightly?

The pump should handle that amount of water without any problem.

Thanks for vcountign with our support!
Melesio Arámbula
Fluid Motion Technologies (SHURflo/Sherwood/Pentair) Customer Service
3545 Harbor Gateway South #103
Costa Mesa CA 92626-1457

So I guess I should not be concerned.