98 Formula 34PC hot water issues

[arob]

Hey all, i am new to the PC world (just upgraded from a 280ss). I am having issues getting hot water anywhere in the boat. it seems that there's water in the water heater because if i open the drain on the tank, water comes out. but when i open any of the hot water valves both in the galley and the head, i get no water. i've been looking for a valve shutoff for the hot water tank, and/or a bypass like in rv's, but can't seem to find anything. even if there was a bypass, i would think there would still be water in the hot water lines, it just wouldn't be hot. does anybody have any insight where the water valving is on these boats?

 

[Mikeopsycho]

I've got a dumb question......does the cold water work? Is the pump turned on?

 

[tpenfield]

I have the same question . . . are you getting water from the 'cold' side of the plumbing? On my 330SS, there is not any specific shut off for the cold nor hot supply lines. So, it the water pump is working, then it should pressurize both hot and cold.

 

[arob]

yes the cold water works fine. it does the same both on shore (pressurized) water, as well as with the water pump. i can trace the hot water lines from the tank until they disappear up under the deck and can find no shutoff. im totally stumped...

 

[tpenfield]

You could try posting the question over on the formulaboatsforum.com or send an email to the tech assistance group (TAG) at Formula.

 

[shrew]

If the pressure water pump doesn't turn on when you drain the tank directly, then the inlet is blocked or shut off. There is commonly a check valve on the cold water IN side of the hotwater tank. Make sure someone didn't install the check valve backwards.

Marine plumbing is universal, this is not a Formula problem, I wouldn't restrict your audience to that subgroup for this problem.

 

[arob]

i ended up figuring this out, but can't really explain what was wrong. i ended up switching the hot and cold water water lines and seeing if i could back flush the tank and maybe see if something was blocked. after doing this, i was getting a little water coming out of the cold-in. after a couple switches of hot/cold, it popped, and water started flowing freely. i didn't see any check valve in the cold or hot side, and even stuck a screw driver in the holes just to make sure they were clear. i don't really know what the problem was, but backflushing the tank seemed to have fixed it. maybe it was some sort of hydrolock situation or something. one thing to note, is i forgot to bleed my transom shower line, so maybe that had something to do with it.