Water leaks

[jssailem]

I have a mysterious water leak that has filled a small compartment that contains my 2 thru hull ball valves. At first I worried that one of the valves was leaking. Our recent time on the hard affirmed the thru hulls are leak free.

The water is coming in from some other source. Suspicion is now from the sink or a drain fitting.

Anyone know of a non staining dye product I could use to locate the leaks source.
Thanks for your ideas.

 

[rgranger]

Hmmmm

Not strictly non-staining but regular food coloring can be later treated with mild bleach and the stain would be removed.

All I got.

 

[jssailem]

Thanks @rgranger

 

[rgranger]

de nada

use red... it is already absorbing in the blue range and the bleach will remove the pi-bonds shifting the absorption into the UV. So you can't see it anymore. If you go with blue you have a chance of a yellow hue remaining.

 

[jssailem]

the bleach will remove the pi-bonds shifting the absorption into the UV. So you can't see it anymore

That is good info. Magic through science.

 

[dlochner]

Why not just use something like orange juice? No staining. Or some of that lousy US beer?

 

[AXEL]

Dry the entire area. Lay some newspaper all around the area where the leak is suspected. Come back at a later time and follow the wet spot on the paper to the source. I have used this method many successful times.

 

[SFS]

...
Magic through science.

We chemists prefer the terminology "better living through chemistry".

 

[LeslieTroyer]

Why not just use something like orange juice? No staining. Or some of that lousy US beer?

He already said it was leaking water. Beer would be redundant.

 

[JamesG161]

Magic through science.

How about Iodine!
More expensive but, disinfects and deodorizes [kinda].
Who cares about bilge stains
Jim...

PS: Here is some that at Udderly funny.
https://www.amazon.com/stearns-pack...&qid=1523570853&sr=8-6&keywords=dilute+iodine

 

[jssailem]

James... I could smell that one coming..

 

[jssailem]

Beer would be wasteful

 

[Ward H]

Beer would be wasteful

Unless it is filtered first. But then that might smell worst.

 

[dziedzicmj]

A trick someone came up with is to use a water soluble marker. Mark around the area and you would see from where the water is coming.

 

[jssailem]

Thank you @dziedzicmj

 

[LakeShark]

Best one I heard was using sidewalk Chalk. Color the bilge or compartment area and then use the sink. The chalk will disappear when it come in contact with water making tracking the leak easy to find.

 

[ToddS]

+1 for sidewalk chalk... I've done that... or (depending on the surface, and location) surrounding the area with strategically-laid out toilet paper also works... come back later and some of the TP will be wet, or semi-dissolved and point you in the right direction... T.P. isn't necessarily better than chalk (or markers), but it is more likely that you already have it on your boat.

 

[JamesG161]

In a very hard to see location, I put a white cloth "hand towel", then poured 3 gallons of colored water around the suspected leak areas.
The towel showed a small stain where the leak was.
Jim...

 

[tipsyravensailing]

old timer told me spray talc powder and look for the runs.

 

[Will Gilmore]

We chemists prefer the terminology "better living through chemistry".

Still trying to shed that alchemy stigma, huh? Here's a tip, stop trying to turn lead into gold.

- Will (Dragonfly)