Trojan Boat Forum

Well....I was down at the boat today and my fresh water tank ran dry. After filling it up I notice the cold water had a slight brownish tint to it but the hot water did not. There's 1 pump pumping from one tank, the hot water takes a much longer path to the faucet, back through the water heater in the engine room then back to the galley. I'm stumped as to why cold would have this brownish tint and hot does not???? Any ideas??? Thanks......John

How long did you run the hot water for? The water in the HW tank would have been the old clear water prior to refilling. It would have to run for a while before the "new" water displaced enough of the old water in the HW tank to make a difference at the tank. Was it coming out brown at the source (marina)?

strange indeed...

did the water sit in the line for an extended period of time?
maybe a compromised cold water line perhaps recent activity near the water line may have damaged it. if it's only one faucet perhaps rusting/rotting faucet.

How long did you let the hot water run -- enough to completely purge the "old" water in the tank and the long plumbing run? If you did not, you could have introduced dirty water into the system, or stirred-up gunk that had otherwise been happily sitting on the bottom of the tank that was disturbed by the complete emptying and refilling of the tank, and cycled that through the cold side, but not (yet) through the hot side. I suggest that you completely empty the freshwater tank, refill the tank (paying attention to the color of the water that you're putting in by diverting some to a clear glass every 5 gallons or so for inspection), run the contents of the tank dry again, then refill again and check to see what's coming out of your tap once you know that clear water was put in.

If you can get ice into the tank through the fill line or an inspection port (where you could see -- if you dare -- what's coating the inside of your tank), fill the tank about one-quarter full, and take the boat for a spin to stir things up a bit between fill-ups, you could use it to mechanically scrub the inside of the tank. If it an aluminum tank, your pump inlet filter will get a work-out.

I recently added a water-level sensor to my 1985-vintage aluminum water tank. Well, I tried to anyway. I figured that if I was adding a fitting for the threaded sensor (by welding it to a plate and bolting to the top of the tank over a "new" opening in the tank, that I might as well make the plate large enough to serve as an inspection port. I didn't like what I saw. The baffle plate was broken-off and flopping around in the tank and there were a million pits nearly all the way through the tank wall. And the thing was full of aluminum oxide or aluminum chloride chunks. I was going to sandblast and then coat the tank with food-grade epoxy (I have one quart now for sale!), but later discovered that the water outlet nipple was a ring of aluminum dust. When I saw that, I took Striperman's advice and ordered a new tank. I did and the good news is that it has more capacity in the same space (really!). Please let us know after you solve your mystery.

Thanks guys....I probably didn't run the hot long enough to go through 6 gallons....makes sense that I stirred up some sludge in the bottom of the tank. I normally don't run it dry. The tank is poly and has been replaced. I bet it will settle out. We have lousy well water at the marina and we don't drink it, just for dishes........guess I didn't think this one through...........thanks again..........John