Hi, I would appreciate any possible solutions to my fresh water tank not filling up on my Parker 325. There appears to be an air lock or even an obstruction about 12" down from the deck fitting/pipe. Water from the hose simply overflows up the pipe. Nothing is going into the tank. I have bled the system and run the tank dry both to no avail. Any ideas of what is wrong and how to fix this problem please. Simon Quantrill Kerenza

If you keep your boat in a Marina or where others can get at it, I would suggest checking that someone with mischief in mind, hasn't put a ping pong ball or similar down your filler. Can you poke a stiff piece of wire down the filler, say an unwound metal coat hanger? If it was working before, it certainly should not suddenly get an airlock and the length of the run plus the diameter of pipe and the fall are most unlikely to cause any airlock. Have you disturbed the pipe run in any way? It may be kinked if it is made of the unreinforced type of hose. The final solution is to remove the pipe and check it throughout its length which I believe would not be that long. I moved my water tank from beneath the quarter berth to the forward locker under the quarter berth about three years back on my P27, with a new deck filler up forward, nonetheless, the pipe run is now about five feet with a ‘flat’ run below the port quarter berth before dropping into the tank. I have never had any issues with filling.

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Hi Martin, many thanks. I will explore further if there is a blockage. It is proving to be a challenge to find the fault!

If you keep your boat in a Marina or where others can get at it, I would suggest checking that someone with mischief in mind, hasn't put a ping pong ball or similar down your filler. Can you poke a stiff piece of wire down the filler, say an unwound metal coat hanger? If it was working before, it certainly should not suddenly get an airlock and the length of the run plus the diameter of pipe and the fall are most unlikely to cause any airlock. Have you disturbed the pipe run in any way? It may be kinked if it is made of the unreinforced type of hose. The final solution is to remove the pipe and check it throughout its length which I believe would not be that long. I moved my water tank from beneath the quarter berth to the forward locker under the quarter berth about three years back on my P27, with a new deck filler up forward, nonetheless, the pipe run is now about five feet with a ‘flat’ run below the port quarter berth before dropping into the tank. I have never had any issues with filling.

Hi Martin, I may have to remove/replace my pipe. How did you gain access to your pipe to replace/move it? I assume I will have to gain access from the deck and from the inside. Any photos or suggestions from you or a P325 would be great please.

Hi Simon

Another idea is to use the type of flexible wire drain clearing tool which has a spiral at the end to pick up hair etc. If you can get this down the obstruction you can at least work out if its a hard object or not. I have one, if you want to borrow it?

Bruce

Hi Bruce, thanks for the suggestion which I will try out tomorrow with my flexible drain rod. I will let you know what happens. BW Simon.