Rebuilding Sewage System

[twistedtree]

The trash pump I installed has no maintenance parts to replace. I plumbed a permanent supply of water to the pump for priming and rinsing after pump out. Works great.

I saw that fresh water line in your picture. Good idea. Did you do anything special to prevent back contamination into your water, or do you just rely on proper operation? I'll bet that trash pump empties the tank quickly

 

[Delfin]

I saw that fresh water line in your picture. Good idea. Did you do anything special to prevent back contamination into your water, or do you just rely on proper operation? I'll bet that trash pump empties the tank quickly

I rely on proper operation, always flushing the pump once the tank is empty. If I ever sell her, I'd put double check valves on the fresh water supply.

And yes, at 30-40 gpm it's a fast empty. Speed comes in handy because I plumbed this so I can empty the black water, then pump the gray water into the black water tank, then empty it again. Probably pointless, but it makes me feel better.

 

[Xsbank]

Feeling better is important when discussing poop...just saying

 

[RT Firefly]

TMI !!!!

 

[FOG]

Check and see what the max runtime is for a macerator pump. It might not be long enough to empty the tank.

Good point. Did some research and it looks like it won't be an issue for my 45 gallon holding tank.

Any other reasons for not using a macerator pump to empty a holding tank that has a macerator pump on the toilet?

 

[Delfin]

Good point. Did some research and it looks like it won't be an issue for my 45 gallon holding tank.

Any other reasons for not using a macerator pump to empty a holding tank that has a macerator pump on the toilet?

I can't think of one. They are noisy. I installed one on our sailboat to act as a garbage disposal but also to empty the sink, whose bottom was just below the water line when the boat was heavily laden. Worked for years.

 

[Larry M]

Curious as to why you don't want to use a macerator pump as a pump out for your holding tank. I'm installing a new holding tank on my Prairie 36 and plan to use a macerator type as the pump out...

I have changed more than my share of macerator pumps on heads used for pump outs. Most can’t run dry and are prone to clogs. My classic was when we had our 34 Mainship, the pump wouldn’t pump out the holding tank. We had guests and she wore braces. Those little rubber bands. I killed 2 pumps in a week.

If you’re installing a new tank, take a look at the T Series Sealand/Dometic pumps. For less than $300, it can run dry, self priming and will pretty much pump anything that has already made it to the tank.

 

[Delfin]

I have changed more than my share of macerator pumps on heads used for pump outs. Most can’t run dry and are prone to clogs. My classic was when we had our 34 Mainship, the pump wouldn’t pump out the holding tank. We had guests and she wore braces. Those little rubber bands. I killed 2 pumps in a week.

If you’re installing a new tank, take a look at the T Series Sealand/Dometic pumps. For less than $300, it can run dry, self priming and will pretty much pump anything that has already made it to the tank.

That's nothing. My granddaughter, at around age 5 had a little accident. Solution? Flush her panties down the Tecma.

 

[foggysail]

I am another fan of Sealand! Once I forgot turning mine off and it ran continuously for over a week. And as for operating life, I installed mine almost ten years ago and never ever had a problem with it. GREAT PUMP!

Final comment (I hope) is I am a strong believer of schedule 40 PVC never stink pipe. Enough said on that because there are strong opinions here by those that prefer hose.

 

[FF]

"Every 3-5 years you will need to replace the duckbill valves"

The hassle with duck bill valves is even a tiny hunk of waste can keep it from sealing.

No seal, no lift , no pumping , unless the pump is already primed with waste it must be able to lift.

An RV gated waste valve makes R&R a pump a minor effort , tho a pail under is still required.

The only hope for diaphram pumps is to flush them a few times after each discharge , so the duck bill is hospital clean if allowed to dry out.

 

[Maerin]

Macerator pumps are notoriously maintenance intensive. Run it dry and you'll be repairing it. Run it normally, you'll be repairing it. They're noisey, slow, unreliable, and there's really not much need for a macerator to pump out a holding tank. I'm among the SeaLand pump fans, mine has been in service for almost 10 yrs, full time cruising, it was used when I installed it. Duckbills were new when I installed it. It simply works.

 

[Xsbank]

I have discovered that there is a silver lining to my poop tank cloud - the opening that the tank lives in is smaller than the compartment so the tank is limited in size. It seems that I can support the tank on a platform and use gravity to dump it, no pump! Don't need dip tubes, no sewage standing in pipes, can have it slightly tilted so very little will be left standing in the tank but it won't be tipped enough to limit capacity. The pump-out will be a tee before the through-hull, which is reachable and operable. I can't think of a downside to this system as long as I install a valve at the outlet of the tank. I am also never going to use a y-valve again, they get stiff to operate after a while and permeate if soaked. Two shut-offs to direct the "discharge" overboard or to the tank. The toilet has no difficulty flushing up hill now so to the tank will be slightly higher than the through-hull.

 

[Duvie]

Pvc

Xbank, I just went through my system. Replace the 17 year old hose with a lot of PVC. I bought hose adapters from Sealand and used short sections of hose to land on the tanks , pumps and such.

I only have one glued connection at a "Y" fitting. All the other PVC I bent using a heat gun and a 140 pound garage door spring. The garage door spring slides right inside the pipe and supports it for the bend. I set up a mock up of the boat hull in the shop so I could bend everything in the shop. I used "Click-It" fasteners for mounts.

 

[Brooksie]

The best pump is no pump. I put a scoop over my thruhull so that the motion of the boat pulls the sewage out of the tank when at sea. A "Y" shaped valve can be modified by removing its stops so that any two ports can be linked. Head and thruhull, head and tank, tank and thruhull. Depending on speed of boat, tank will empty even if below waterline.

 

[OldDan1943]

Xbank, I just went through my system. Replace the 17 year old hose with a lot of PVC. I bought hose adapters from Sealand and used short sections of hose to land on the tanks , pumps and such.

I only have one glued connection at a "Y" fitting. All the other PVC I bent using a heat gun and a 140 pound garage door spring. The garage door spring slides right inside the pipe and supports it for the bend. I set up a mock up of the boat hull in the shop so I could bend everything in the shop. I used "Click-It" fasteners for mounts.

Looks like a clean installation.

 

[foggysail]

Xbank, I just went through my system. Replace the 17 year old hose with a lot of PVC. I bought hose adapters from Sealand and used short sections of hose to land on the tanks , pumps and such.

I only have one glued connection at a "Y" fitting. All the other PVC I bent using a heat gun and a 140 pound garage door spring. The garage door spring slides right inside the pipe and supports it for the bend. I set up a mock up of the boat hull in the shop so I could bend everything in the shop. I used "Click-It" fasteners for mounts.

EXCELLENT!! Also suggest that you consider a couple of clean outs in your new system.

 

[Xsbank]

Yes, very nice! Clever idea with the garage spring. I may steal that idea for the vents. I didn’t use any clean outs as my system will allow fresh water to be poured into the pump-out circuit to flush clean. Fortunately everything in my system is very compact, tank toilet and through-hull are very close together. I have been using glue but there will be no hose at all except possibly the vents, which are also going to be 11/2. I did use pvc valves and threaded schedule 40 couplers so I could flush, undo the couplers and remove the entire octopus intact if I ever need to. I am also not using a u-valve, they also permeate so just the pvc valves. Never again! Thank you for all the ideas and the feedback!

 

[Xsbank]

The old:

 

[Xsbank]

The new in progress:

 

[Duvie]

Xsbank, your new install looks much cleaner! Installing PVC and mounting it correctly really opened up space next to my starboard engine too.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Messrs. D & X. BOTH very impressive!

 

[FF]

"Oberdorfer doesn't appear to make diaphragm pumps any more"

A diaphragm is not a requirement for a waste system.

See what the local pump boats or dock pump outs use.

 

[cardude01]

I have some leaking Y valves that look like this:



Also have permeated hoses causing some odor. Is there a better Y valve that won’t leak? These valves and hoses are about 12 years old.

 

[Xsbank]

If you look at my picture it shows the PVC valves that I am using instead of a y-valve. One extra step but no more overpriced “marine” crap that can’t resist crap. I’m tired of being a victim of the crappy plastic crap and 10-plus dollar a foot crap hose that people say is “non-permeable” when they really mean “non-permeable until you install it.” I’m not using a pump this time either, gravity will suffice. Has anyone looked at the cost of spare parts for these things? Thievery.

Rant Switch..........OFF

 

[foggysail]

If you look at my picture it shows the PVC valves that I am using instead of a y-valve. One extra step but no more overpriced “marine” crap that can’t resist crap. I’m tired of being a victim of the crappy plastic crap and 10-plus dollar a foot crap hose that people say is “non-permeable” when they really mean “non-permeable until you install it.” I’m not using a pump this time either, gravity will suffice. Has anyone looked at the cost of spare parts for these things? Thievery.

Rant Switch..........OFF

Yes, I am in your camp although I remember heated discussions here in the forum about so called benefits of HOSE! Earlier I thought I was the PVC minority of one. No need for me to get into carbon filters in vent lines that take care of stink.

 

[cardude01]

If you look at my picture it shows the PVC valves that I am using instead of a y-valve. One extra step but no more overpriced “marine” crap that can’t resist crap. I’m tired of being a victim of the crappy plastic crap and 10-plus dollar a foot crap hose that people say is “non-permeable” when they really mean “non-permeable until you install it.” I’m not using a pump this time either, gravity will suffice. Has anyone looked at the cost of spare parts for these things? Thievery.

Rant Switch..........OFF

Oh yeah I see the regular PVC valves now. That’s a nice simple setup. I don’t know if I have room to do that but gonna look.

I though we had to have a valve that could be locked so the overboard setting was locked out?

 

[Xsbank]

You guys need something like a lock on it but you could just drill a hole in the handle and chain it to something with a padlock instead of buying that overpriced "stuff" they sell for boats.

 

[cardude01]

Good idea. Thanks.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

I though we had to have a valve that could be locked so the overboard setting was locked out?

Nope. Locked only if you are operating your boat within a U.S. federal NDZ. But this is a different thread.

 

[FF]

For folks with the bucks that want a better installation Hayward makes "true union" valves for industry.

These are robust and can be replaced easily.

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