Your solutions to sea water odors in toilet intake?

Have any of you installed a separate water tank to supply fresh water to flush a sea water toilet? Do you add any "deodorizing" or other products to the tank...if so, what? Can you provide a photograph of the installation that includes the plumbing?

Have any of you cobbled up a "one off" reservoir (NOT the Raritan Crown Head reservoir or Flush Water Kit) installed in the flush water supply line on a sea water toilet that you fill with some type of deodorizing or mineral dissolving product ? If so, can you provide a list of the materials you used, your "instructions" for use, and the chemical used...and a photograph?

If you've installed either, or can send me to someone who has, I will be very grateful!

I have a very specific need for examples of ONLY these two types of installations...so please do NOT try to educate me about toilets designed to use pressurized fresh water, the dangers of connecting sea water toilets to fresh water plumbing (or how it can allegedly sometimes be done safely), chemical recommendations, or try to make a case for composters....nor ANY opinions.

Thanks!

Hi Peggie, Good to see you! Sounds like you're working in a new edition of your book.

HeadMistress said:

I have a very specific need for examples of ONLY these two types of installations...so please do NOT try to educate me about toilets designed to use pressurized fresh water, the dangers of connecting sea water toilets to fresh water plumbing (or how it can allegedly sometimes be done safely), chemical recommendations, or try to make a case for composters....nor ANY opinions.

Thanks!

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As I lovingly say to my wife, YES DEAR. Good to see you back.

Sound like research for a new article or book...what's wrong with "alleged" info...sometimes it's correct.

..


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Hendo78 said:

Bit snarly for someone wanting something IMO


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Naw, Matt. Peggie has been a great resource around here. It sounds to me like she is up against a publishing deadline. She has saved our "butts" literally many times.

Moonstruck said:

Naw, Matt. Peggie has been a great resource around here. It sounds to me like she is up against a publishing deadline. She has saved our "butts" literally many times.

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Oh ok. I respectfully retract my statement



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Does it count that I spray Febreze air freshener into the bowl (not the tank) before the first flush of the trip?

Hendo78 said:

Oh ok. I respectfully retract my statement
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I've just spent enough years here to know how to prevent the excruciating technical detail that some cannot resist posting and also how to make sure I won't become the next tree watered by this bunch of leg lifters.

(See the first two posts in the thread "why not women" for context)

Lol!!

I have done exactly that! Took a piece of pvc pipe thats used for drain pipes in houses ( comes in different siczes). About 100mm dia and 400mm high.Plugged the ends and mounted a filling valve from a household toilet then I hade a siple tank a outlet to toilet in the bottom and a drain/ overflow connection! Every flush takes about 0,6 ltrs and the tank holds about 1,5 ltrs!Connected it all to the fresh water sytem, works perfect in my opinion!

Mike1973 said:

I have done exactly that! Took a piece of pvc pipe thats used for drain pipes in houses ( comes in different siczes). About 100mm dia and 400mm high.Plugged the ends and mounted a filling valve from a household toilet then I hade a siple tank a outlet to toilet in the bottom and a drain/ overflow connection! Every flush takes about 0,6 ltrs and the tank holds about 1,5 ltrs!Connected it all to the fresh water sytem, works perfect in my opinion!

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So what you've essentially done is create the same flush water tank that's used by household toilets. That makes it just as safe to connect to the boat's potable water supply as it is to the pressurized water pipe in a building because it doesn't connect to the toilet bowl. Someone on cruisersforum.com did pretty much the same thing, but also added a y-valve that lets him switch to sea water. Here's a link to the thread...scroll down to "freedom45's" post:
Your solutions to sea water odors in toilet intake? - Cruisers & Sailing Forums

However, what I'm looking for are solutions that continue to use raw water. But I'm hanging on to your post and his for possible future use...so do you have any drawings and/or photos you can send me?

Yes you could say its a buffer tank thats not pressurised! If your interested of some pics I can arrange it when I'm getting home from work in about 2 weeks!

psneeld said:

Sound like research for a new article or book...what's wrong with "alleged" info...sometimes it's correct.

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Ditto.

Mike1973 said:

Yes you could say its a buffer tank thats not pressurised! If your interested of some pics I can arrange it when I'm getting home from work in about 2 weeks!

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Yes please...and thanks!

It appears that I've just about gotten everything useful that I can from y'all...and I do appreciate your help! Feel free to contact me directly any time I can be of help...I've given up spending several hours a day online, but I'm still glad to answer questions and try to find solutions to problems.

Be well and stay safe out there!

This may be of little help, but I'll post it anyway: My smallish boat carries not enough fresh water for flushing, too precious for that so I use sea water. Holding tank has a fitting tied to sea water wash down pump with a manual valve. When offshore, the washdown pump is started, valve opened, and macerator run to drain tank from bottom and pump overboard. Let system run like this for maybe 10 minutes (macerator can't run continuous) and it rinses the tank nearly clean. When back to dock, do a few flushes with maybe half cup of bleach into head, and that mix stays in tank, keeping bio activity down.

The tank rinse system really works. No odor problems on boat.

This may not be what you are looking for, but a couple years back I asked the question about flushing the sea water toilet with fresh gray water from my shower sump. The responses I got were all negative, but the only real reason ever given was the potential problem of hair clogging up the pump. Well long story short, I plumbed it that way anyway and I have been using it for the last two years with no problems and no oders! One of the best improvements I've done so far! I can give you more information and pic's if it's something you'd like.

MYMT said:

This may not be what you are looking for, but a couple years back I asked the question about flushing the sea water toilet with fresh gray water from my shower sump. The responses I got were all negative, but the only real reason ever given was the potential problem of hair clogging up the pump. Well long story short, I plumbed it that way anyway and I have been using it for the last two years with no problems and no oders! One of the best improvements I've done so far! I can give you more information and pic's if it's something you'd like.

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I'd like to see it if possible please!. I'm drawing up the plumbing for my boat build ATM. Would love to see pics and get ideas.




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fresh water flush..

Hendo78
Here are some pic's of the system I modified. Pic of head and sink. Plumbing shutoffs under the sink enable to empty sink overboard or down into the shower sump.
Plumbing under the head enables drawing seawater for flushing (main line without shutoff valve), or draw from the shower sump (hose with shutoff T'd into main line). When drawing seawater, sump line is closed, or drawing from sump, the thru hull for seawater is closed.
Pic of shower sump shows intake hose with one way check valve installed (home Depot about $12.00) This keeps water in the line right up to the head so water is instantly available reducing flush time to 2 to 3 seconds. My head is loud so this helps a lot!
Small hose peice on the other end of the check valve is cut on an angle so that it can use almost all available water in the sump, and has a screen filter to catch any remaining hair that the tub screen missed. I think most of what hair reaches the sump is pumped out while the shower is on because I have hardly ever had to clean the screen. In addition, if I do run out of flush water, simply letting the sink run a minute takes care of that.
Add a little blue once in a while and viola, sanatized and no odor.
Hope this helps whatever your trying to do. I'm glad I plumbed it like this, and after 2 years I've had no problems with it at all.

MYMT said:

Hendo78
Here are some pic's of the system I modified. Pic of head and sink. Plumbing shutoffs under the sink enable to empty sink overboard or down into the shower sump.
Plumbing under the head enables drawing seawater for flushing (main line without shutoff valve), or draw from the shower sump (hose with shutoff T'd into main line). When drawing seawater, sump line is closed, or drawing from sump, the thru hull for seawater is closed.
Pic of shower sump shows intake hose with one way check valve installed (home Depot about $12.00) This keeps water in the line right up to the head so water is instantly available reducing flush time to 2 to 3 seconds. My head is loud so this helps a lot!
Small hose peice on the other end of the check valve is cut on an angle so that it can use almost all available water in the sump, and has a screen filter to catch any remaining hair that the tub screen missed. I think most of what hair reaches the sump is pumped out while the shower is on because I have hardly ever had to clean the screen. In addition, if I do run out of flush water, simply letting the sink run a minute takes care of that.
Add a little blue once in a while and viola, sanatized and no odor.
Hope this helps whatever your trying to do. I'm glad I plumbed it like this, and after 2 years I've had no problems with it at all.

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Yeah look I really love this idea! Thanks so much for taking the time to explain the process and provide pictures. I have a little bit of tweaking to do around the sump side of things (cistern/overflow/saltwater primary, galley integration etc) to suit my requirements but essentially this is what I'll be doing in AXE.

Again, thank you so much

Regards
Matt






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A sea water flush does not stink , the sea water standing in the bowl as creatures die stinks.

We flush as normal , and when the bowl is dry squirt a shot of fresh into the bowl from the sink shower sprayer.(if leaving the boat for a few days).

No smell.Not much water used.1 Cup perhaps.

I have had very good results on a cruising sailboat that was used in the Sea of Cortez for 4 seasons. I am going to install the same system on both of the heads of my trawler. This is a small in line tank that installs in the sea water intake line. It is designed to take a deodorizing tablet that slowly dissolves with each flush. It is a double walled PVC tank and it would not be easy to duplicate. The tablets are very expensive, so I just cut a Tidy Bowl type of tablet in half and it drops into the tank. These are the type of tablets that you drop into the tank of household toilets and it turns the water blue. I believe that it is a deodorizer with some bleach but it never seemed to hurt the head valves or the hoses. The idea of adding the deodorizer with each flush seems to work. The name of the manufacture of the tank is Head-O-Matic Tankette.

FF said:

A sea water flush does not stink , the sea water standing in the bowl as creatures die stinks.

We flush as normal , and when the bowl is dry squirt a shot of fresh into the bowl from the sink shower sprayer.(if leaving the boat for a few days).

No smell.Not much water used.1 Cup perhaps.

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FF is "dead" right. Sea water doesn't stink, our boats are floating in it. Unhealthy systems stink. Lack of ventilation ie: pathetic little vent hoses is the main cause in the holding tank. Don't put chemicals in the bowl, when flushed it will kill the little buggers getting rid of the stink. A bit of fresh water in the bowl if it's going to be there long.

Yep, I agree with FF & Daddyo on this.

Very simple, no plumbing and it works.

So2 (rotten egg gas) is your problem - solution is to flush the toilet half a dozen times when you first get on the boat to clear the stale sea water from the line. If you flush the toilet once you leave the smelly water in the bowl to stink the boat out with.
I guess your problem happens when you first get on board but you never clear it out so the whole boat stinks.

When I leave the boat I usually put a kettle of water in it pumping it through. No stink.
Forget = stink.

Fresh water in the bowl is the solution, but that assumes that the bowl holds water over time. For Joker valve equipped heads, the only permanent solution to keeping water in the bowl is a vented loop in the discharge line. The water level can be set (at the time of installation) by adjusting the height of the loop. I set the ones in our boat to maintain water level about an inch above the sump.

Peggy

By the way thanks for your book my wife bought it online and it has helped me develop a bilge cleaning process that has done amazing things

FF said:

A sea water flush does not stink , the sea water standing in the bowl as creatures die stinks.

.

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I find that a lot of the time the smell is coming from the organic matter that gets caught in and under the bowl rim and rots there. If you take the bowl off and flush those passages out with high pressure water and then bleach while adding an inline strainer to the raw water flush line, your head will stay smelling fresh from then on. Other than when you let raw water stand in it to long. Or that first flush of stale water you get after you have been away for a while.

Capt.Bill11 said:

I find that a lot of the time the smell is coming from the organic matter that gets caught in and under the bowl rim and rots there. If you take the bowl off and flush those passages out with high pressure water and then bleach while adding an inline strainer to the raw water flush line, your head will stay smelling fresh from then on. Other than when you let raw water stand in it to long. Or that first flush of stale water you get after you have been away for a while.

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Another really good reason to use a fresh water head. Virtually eliminates odors from the rim of the bowl up to and including the holding tank. Keep the chemistry correct in the holding tank and you'll reduce those nasty head odors.
Bill