Unclogging a Toilet Discharge Hose

Disconnect discharge hose at the toilet.
Wrap the end of a 5/8 garden hose with pieces of bicycle tire inner tube until it fits snugly inside the discharge hose, double clamp the hose, slowly apply water pressure. The power of hydraulics, job done, good luck all...

Savvy

There are hose blasters at the big box stores, look like outboard squeeze bulbs but inflate in pipes and the water stream through them blasts the clog after they expand and seal the pipe.

No personal experience but they seem popular.

The old time plumbers used to call them "blow bags". Be careful; the hose pressure can rupture fittings/hoses/tanks if over pressurized and the vent is clogged. Easy does it.

Greetings,
Mr. 53. Power boaters call them "blow bags" as well...wait, what? Oops, different topic...

Personally I would be much more comfortable applying vacuum to a system rather than pressurizing for the reasons you suggest. "Effluent" can just as readily be spread by pressure as by the proverbial rotating air circulation device...

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Mr. 53. Power boaters call them "blow bags" as well...wait, what? Oops, different topic...

Personally I would be much more comfortable applying vacuum to a system rather than pressurizing for the reasons you suggest. "Effluent" can just as readily be spread by pressure as by the proverbial rotating air circulation device...

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RT, please come up with an applicable video cut.....

But as you know, while vacuum in some situations is great...sometimes warmth and pressure can do amazing things...even on a boat.

I am sure WifeyB has an opinion on warm, pressure and how successful it can be...but it could have certain dangers in the wrong hands....

I've found from experience that toilet hose clogs up and block because when people have a P they don't flush all the P from the toilet plumbing, this forms a urea(calcium) scale on the inside of the discharge hose that builds up over time and virtually closes the hose.
You have choices, pour in Hydrochloric acid to dissolve the scale, replace the discharge hose, as part of your weekly maintenance pour in high strength white vinegar every week to keep the system clear.
Teaching all the crew to flush the toilet really well each and every time will prevent the problem.

From another thread by the OP, I gather that he is pretty sure that the blockage is excess toilet paper. So his method of clearing the discharge hose should work. But just to point out (because I have been there and done that), the deadly combination of urine and salt water will also cause crystals to build up in the discharge hose to the point where it gets blocked, and putting pressure in there is not going to clear it. May even blow a weak point. Learned about all this at the Alligator River one time, when the First Mate announced that the discharge hose had burst and that it was my job to clean it up while she went outside as far as she could get on a 40' sailboat and had a glass of wine.

Edit: Just noticed that I fell in line behind another post by Irish Rambler which reinforces my point.


The Headmistress is really the one to consult on all this, of course, but she has not weighed in.

Geez folks....didn't know some clogged plumbing was all that difficult...it is hard to believe anyone here can figure out navigation.

Fwiw, if it's just an overload of poop or TP (as long as doesn't include any wet wipes), quite often all that's needed is the patience to give it a hour or three to dissolve.

Sea water mineral and urine crystal build up is another story. Like most things, prevention is a lot easier, and often cheaper than cure: A cupful of distilled white vinegar flushed ALL the way through the system, followed by a thorough FRESH water rinse after about 45 minutes, once a week.

Flushing wet wipes is a hanging offense!

psneeld said:

Geez folks....didn't know some clogged plumbing was all that difficult...it is hard to believe anyone here can figure out navigation.

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True. Very true, and a good point! Trouble is, some of the folks on here have never actually done any real cruising, and so give spurious advice without knowing what they are talking about. Thankfully, most of the TF people learn who to listen to and who to tune completely out.

Captain Savvy said:

Disconnect discharge hose at the toilet.
Wrap the end of a 5/8 garden hose with pieces of bicycle tire inner tube until it fits snugly inside the discharge hose, double clamp the hose, slowly apply water pressure. The power of hydraulics, job done, good luck all...

Click to expand...

Good suggestion! The traditional method of disassembly is not pleasant.

To help avoid mineral build-ups I switched to fresh water flushing and daily squirts of vinegar or toilet cleaner for hard water.

Sea water mineral and urine crystal build up is another story.

Oh how right you are on the crystals. In the middle of remodeling the head on our new to us trawler, and found a discharge hose completely blocked in multiple places with crystals Once completed I will post a summary of the project and the results.

In short - vinegar is your friend, much easier and a whole lot less gross than remodeling the head.

John

psneeld said:

Geez folks....didn't know some clogged plumbing was all that difficult...it is hard to believe anyone here can figure out navigation.

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Kinda like if you can fly airplanes you should know how to change the movie?

Capt Jack said:

Sea water mineral and urine crystal build up is another story.

Oh how right you are on the crystals. In the middle of remodeling the head on our new to us trawler, and found a discharge hose completely blocked in multiple places with crystals Once completed I will post a summary of the project and the results.

In short - vinegar is your friend, much easier and a whole lot less gross than remodeling the head.

John

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Actually a rubber or plastic head hammer is a better friend. If the can get swinging room long the hose.

dimer2 said:

Kinda like if you can fly airplanes you should know how to change the movie?

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Only if you own the plane!

psneeld said:

I am sure WifeyB has an opinion on warm, pressure and how successful it can be...but it could have certain dangers in the wrong hands....

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Me think its a trap........

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

Me think its a trap........

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worst part of minefields...once planted...everyone can be a victim.

I would add that whomever was the offending party to the clog should be a participant in the clean out. You generally only have to make an example of one clogger for word to spread to the others.

clynn said:

I would add that whomever was the offending party to the clog should be a participant in the clean out. You generally only have to make an example of one clogger for word to spread to the others.

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Yes, public shaming works everytime.

I hope you did not take that first hand. Please tell us you found it on the net or photo shopped it. That is the stuff nightmares are made from.

bilge53 said:

I hope you did not take that first hand. Please tell us you found it on the net or photo shopped it. That is the stuff nightmares are made from.

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Yes, I was the one behind the camera.

Oh sad just sad.........Funny though!

Gives new meaning to tight quarters.

...or bitter end.

Anybody ever fail to hold the pumpout vacuum hose firmly onto the deck fitting? Very bad to clutz the job! Moving poo has mass!

Don't inquire how I know...

Hired a guy to pump out our mess. He could only get out 20 or so gal. Thought it was a vent hose problem. WRONG!! Ended up replacing all hoses, new pump & cleaned the tanks. I found LARGE pieces of plastic in the hoses, pump & tank. Tried rebuilding the pump, no bueno. HAIR - LONG HAIR was in everything.

What I suspect is the PO'S sent the hair down the crapper along with some broken plastic. The plastic & hair jammed the pump bad. Back flushing didn't work. While the guy was here we tried running the pump in the overboard side. That's when we realized the system was FUBAR.

I wanted to take a hammer to something - they weren't around.

It's more likely that the hair and the plastic went into the toilet separately... the shower drain screen caught the hair, which went into the toilet instead of the trash can. The plastic pieces could have been an act of vandalism or stupidity on the part of a guest--possibly the same one who flushed the hair every time she showered or maybe a child--who broke something and flushed the evidence.

People--landlubber guests and even far too many boat owners--don't realize that although everything in a house is just an appliance, everything on a boat is a component in a system...and anything that's done to any one component impacts the whole system. So while flushing hair down a toilet on land isn't a big deal--it'll just go to the sewer, and even the plastic pieces too, if they're small enough--putting anything except quick-dissolve TP that hasn't passed through you (and sometimes even if it has!) into a marine toilet is a disaster in the making.

I would be careful pressurizing with a hose from inside out. The discharge into the water in a harbor may cause some offense to some people, especially our local Sheriff's department!