Funky water in bilge

The condensation from our air conditioners is creating a funky smell in our bilge. How would anyone suggest we eliminate this problem. Thanks much.

Heat and Ventilation. Condensation is not good for our engine rooms.

Or plumb the a/c condensate to an overboard or shower sump.

We have ours running into the shower sump, no water in the bilge.

yes add a shower sump hard to believe Gb left that out.

Also add bromine tablets used for hot tubs.


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NightCrawler said:

The condensation from our air conditioners is creating a funky smell in our bilge. How would anyone suggest we eliminate this problem. Thanks much.

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Heat and ventilation first. I keep one of those WM airdry units in the ER.

I have also known folks to put a small bilge pump in with a water sensor and small pickup tube. The idea is that it can pump out the small amount of water that your regular bilge pump leaves behind.

Kanberra Gel also works really well to keep down any mildew that can create odors. I have known sailors who have mixed their own tea tree oil with isopropol alcohol and sprayed it around the bilge. Works great if you don't mind the smell of tea tree oil.

Any chance that you can run the condensate into a sink drain above the water line?

Finally, on my sailboat (sailboats always have some water in the bilge) I would about 2x a year quickly scrub the bilge with a soap, rinse it with fresh water, then spray the bilge with a 10% bleach soln That will kill anything that might be growing in the condensate.

gonesailing13 said:

We have ours running into the shower sump, no water in the bilge.

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For the shower sump, I find that a squirt of Raritan CP in the sump after showers are done helps dissolve hair etc... and keep the sump from smelling nasty.

Don't let shower or sink water in the bilge. It causes all kinds of problems. Especially wood boats.

Mermaid Condensator

You could try one of these. Doesn't solve your smelly water immediate problem but may be a reasonable preventive measure for the future. I am interested to hear if anyone on the forum has experience with them.

NightCrawler said:

The condensation from our air conditioners is creating a funky smell in our bilge. How would anyone suggest we eliminate this problem. Thanks much.

Click to expand...

I had our three a/c units plumbed to the shower sump (and from there into the blackwater tank). No more moisture in the forward bilge after that, and the nasty smell pretty much thereafter vanished as well. H.

NightCrawler said:

The condensation from our air conditioners is creating a funky smell in our bilge. How would anyone suggest we eliminate this problem. Thanks much.

Click to expand...

Reroute the condensate drain line to a sump or directly overboard. Mine drained into the bilge...had a new thru-hull installed about 3' above the waterline and sent the condensate overboard.

And then clean the bilge...actually CLEAN it and rinse all the funky water out instead of just dumping some bilge cleaner into it and calling it done.