Bilge freshener?

ranger42c said:

Just building on this... Agree, mostly.

Happens our 5 forward bilge compartments are directly "air-connected" to the interior of the boat. The 6th (engine room) isn't as closely connected, but clean and dry helps the interior anyway.

Fresh air movement is good. Especially in hot months, we keep our AC blowers running 100% of the time, augmented by portable fans in every "room" of the boat also running almost 100% of the time.

-Chris

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Speaking of moving air, I have two Eva-dry 1100 dehumidifiers I run when not on the boat, but my boat has a bit of a "rubbery" smell when I first walk in. Those two humidifiers hardly move any air at all. I need some air circulation.

What type of fans do you use, and feel comfortable with running 24/7 when not on the boat?

Years ago I bought an expensive ozone machine.

Ozone does what it is claimed to do.....

The trick is to get it in concentrations long enough, in the right spots, and yet not in quantities to damage things.

After a decade of playing around with it, the 2 wire grid generators finally died and I never had enough success with figuring out all the combinations to replace it.

And yes I read every tidbit on them I could find and talked to every other owner I met.

HeadMistress said:

Then we found Fresh Wave https://www.freshwaveworks.com/store...sh-pod-c27.htm
it comes in stick-ups. I think it is very close to the same formula as Pure Ayre...it has an odd smell at first ( not unpleasant, a little herbal). But it worked wonderfully.

So you traded in a true odor eliminator for air fresheners that are nothing like PureAyre...That's all any stick up is. You can prove that to yourself: remove all the stickups for a week.

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I actually think Fresh Wave is the same formula as Pure Ayre, but be that as it may the pod has been gone for almost two months ( no air freshener etc on the boat now either) and the residual diesel/oil smell is gone too.

[FONT=&quot]"they can't deliver enough ozone to destroy the sources of any odors."

[FONT=&quot]Esp if the source is 600G of diesel slowly going into the bilge , a drop at a time.[/FONT]
[/FONT]

Greetings,
On a related topic, a hint (which I've mentioned several times before but worth repeating, IMO, for the newbies). If you're using a wet-vac for clean up put it on the dock/ground OUTSIDE the boat. Much easier to maneuver when the need to empty arises. You aren't lugging a container full of ??? through your boat with the possibility of spillage INSIDE your vessel.

Buy a sump pump hose (usually in lengths of 20'-25') and slip fit it onto the vacuum hose thus extending the factory hose by 20+ feet. Any "oopsies" should occur off board.

Shop ProPlumber Plastic Hose at Lowes.com

Also, rig an extension cord so you can easily plug and unplug from on board so you aren't getting on and off to turn the vacuum on/off.

menzies said:

I have these!

Doing my best to help close the hole in the sky!

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I don't believe they make those anymore do they? Nor can you buy parts.

Donna said:

Here I go again!! . Cleaned out the bildge area with a wet/dry vac. There is a smell associated with it. Is there something I can keep in that area to keep it smelling better?

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Once you get the bilge clean and if there is going to be standing water in it, keep a bromine tablet in it to keep the odors away.

Capt.Bill11 said:

I don't believe they make those anymore do they? Nor can you buy parts.

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No idea. The boat has two boxes of manuals for everything on board (even the iron and ironing board!). I am clearing out a lot of inventory today (Maptech charts from all over the place included) and will have a look at the manual to see what parts need maintenance if any.

Frankly I haven't had the need to turn it on. And I live in FL!

menzies said:

I have these!

Doing my best to help close the hole in the sky!

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I had one, it worked great but then the little generator (?) burned out. Went to replace it and found that the company has gone out of business.

Hmm, good question about how old the head plumbing is. I know the aft head is relatively new, but have plans on replacing the forward head as that seems quite old on visual inspection by me.

I'm pretty good with house plumbing. My understanding on boat plumbing is a different animal. That I will need to research.

After I got my bilge clean and dry there was still some smell. I put some bilge cleaner in and flooded the bilge so it could get underneath and into all the hidden spaces. After some sloshing and drying all smells were gone.


IMO it is the hidden spaces that continue to smell after what you see is clean.

So there is no study on a small ozone maker placed in a small space such as a bilge.

You can conduct a very reliable study yourself: Turn it off--not just for a long weekend, leave it off--and see how long it takes for odor return. If the concentration of ozone was high enough to destroy the source(s) of the odor, it won't. However, if it was high enough to do that, it was also high enough in that small a space to damage rubber.

I actually think Fresh Wave is the same formula as Pure Ayre,

If you'd read the MSDS for both products (information readily available on the net), you'd know it isn't. Active ingredients in PureAyre are proprietary food grade yeast byproducts, pure essential oils, purified water and potassium sorbate.PureAyre is also rated for use around food (which means you can use it in fish boxes and to get rid of the odor in your fridge left by meat that spoiled when the power failed). No mention to keep out of the reach of children.
PureAyre MSDS

Fresh Wave is just a "proprietary blend (Trade Secret) of plant extracts (essential oils), surfactant and water." No mention of whether it's rated for use around food, but does warn to "Keep out the reach of children, All individual ingredients of this material have a known acute toxicity" which I suspect would rule out using it anywhere it could come in contact with food. Fresh Wave pods MSDS The key difference in PureAyre is food grade yeast by-products--enzymes--that destroy the source(s) of odors. Plant extracts don't produce any enzymes.

Donna said:

Hmm, good question about how old the head plumbing is. I know the aft head is relatively new, but have plans on replacing the forward head as that seems quite old on visual inspection by me.

I'm pretty good with house plumbing. My understanding on boat plumbing is a different animal. That I will need to research.

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It's very different animal. I'll be glad to help you with all of this.

cardude01 said:

Speaking of moving air, I have two Eva-dry 1100 dehumidifiers I run when not on the boat, but my boat has a bit of a "rubbery" smell when I first walk in. Those two humidifiers hardly move any air at all. I need some air circulation.

What type of fans do you use, and feel comfortable with running 24/7 when not on the boat?

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Nothing special, for the portable fans. Honeywell table models from K-Mart or somewhere. Experimenting with an O2Cool, too, although haven't run that one 24/7 yet.

Our AC blowers can run whether the AC cooling/heating is on or not... so we leave them running 24/7 too.

-Chris

For some reason I have a fear, probably irrational, of a fan catching on fire from running too long. I don't get to the boat but every week, sometimes two weeks, so that worries me but maybe it shouldn't.

HeadMistress said:

So there is no study on a small ozone maker placed in a small space such as a bilge.

You can conduct a very reliable study yourself: Turn it off--not just for a long weekend, leave it off--and see how long it takes for odor return. If the concentration of ozone was high enough to destroy the source(s) of the odor, it won't. However, if it was high enough to do that, it was also high enough in that small a space to damage rubber.

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Nope, I can't. See post #30 above.

And why would anyone want to turn it off if it is working for them?

And here is the bottom line, they are not mutually exclusive. Doing one does not preclude having the other.

Sure find the source, clean etc.

That does not stop you from having something else working for you as well. Especially if you have long periods away from the boat.

cardude01 said:

For some reason I have a fear, probably irrational, of a fan catching on fire from running too long. I don't get to the boat but every week, sometimes two weeks, so that worries me but maybe it shouldn't.

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I see from your avatar you are in a covered slip, but if you get enough sun on some portion of the boat how about a solar fan?NICRO VENTILATION Day/Night Plus Solar Vents | West Marine
There are a few styles that might work.

Aquafarm said:

I see from your avatar you are in a covered slip, but if you get enough sun on some portion of the boat how about a solar fan?NICRO VENTILATION Day/Night Plus Solar Vents | West Marine

There are a few styles that might work.

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So you have to cut a big hole to mount those? Can you cut a hole in a hatch ?

How would this affect humidity inside the boat? Will it suck in and circulate more humid air? We are in a very humid area.

I doubt it would cause a problem with humidity since it is exhausting out.
There are other styles that can be used on existing windows or hatches, like those car solar fans. You might even be able to rig something up with a small solar panel outside to run an interior fan.
Another idea might be to set an electric fan on a timer, so it's not running none stop ( a thing that would worry me too) and have it go on an hour or so a few times a day.

I like that timer idea. Thanks.

The OP original question was for a Bilge Freshener the best off the shelf product I have used is fabric conditioner for $3 its worth a try

Cardude: The nicro solar vent has a reversible blade. You can make it IN or OUT flowing.

Regarding the smells. If it is determined that the sanitation. System hoses are fine; Both salt water (mud flats at low tide) and fresh water (rotten eggs) have different (and obnoxious) smells to them. It helps if you find which the water is coming from. Make sure your bulge pump pumps ALL the water out in a cycle. Adjust the location/depth of the pump suction. Whale makes a skinny, fairly low capacity pump which fits way down in a crevice to pump the bilge dry.

Personally I am always making sure there is NO leakage coming in from the sea. Rain water is not so important since rain stops (eventually). But underwater leaks sink a boat.

Salt water grows slime in the bilge that is alive with growth. Fresh water just stinks. Vinegar cleans bilges pretty well. Small amounts of dish soap. And cleaning with a long brush. (Look at HD for refrigerator /radiator cleaning brushes. Long flexible and cheap. Scrub off and loosen the black slime.

I have used a capful of bleach, scrub, Then pumping out the bilge dry and then dumping 5 or 10 gallons water in and re emptying the bilge works too.

Donna said:

Hmm, good question about how old the head plumbing is. I know the aft head is relatively new, but have plans on replacing the forward head as that seems quite old on visual inspection by me.

I'm pretty good with house plumbing. My understanding on boat plumbing is a different animal. That I will need to research.

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Not the head, but the hoses from the head to the holding tank. Old hoses can get permeated with waste and start the small. At that point the only answer is to replace the hoses.

In my experience two things help.

1. Clean the bilge. Soap, water, and a brush. Rinse well. I usually follow it with some bleach. I mix up a 10% solution of household bleach in a spray bottle and spray down the bilge after cleaning and rinsing, let it sit for a while and them rinse it again. Keep in mind that bleach is corrosive.

2. Keep it dry. You can't get rid of all the water in a bilge on many boats, but you can keep the air dry. I use a dehumidifier running 24/7 when we are not on the boat. Have some way to get air to circulate through the boat be it open hatches or small fans. The air just need to move a little, you don't need big fans.

This assumes that you have found and fixed any fuel leaks and that your sanitation hoses are in good shape.

But get Peggy's book and read it. You will find facts there instead of our conjecture.

Congrats Donna, you are now a veteran!

As mentioned by HeadMistress keep an tupperware bowl of white vinegar half full in each of your bilge areas. Three reasons. First it's cheap. Second it is the best smell remover there is and third it stops and eliminates mold growth of any kind.

Wasn't my idea...I've never recommended air fresheners (which tubs of vinegar would be) instead of eliminating the need for any by eliminating the source(s) of the odor(s) and molds. A clean bilge doesn't generate either one.

Donna said:

Hmm, good question about how old the head plumbing is. I know the aft head is relatively new, but have plans on replacing the forward head as that seems quite old on visual inspection by me.

I'm pretty good with house plumbing. My understanding on boat plumbing is a different animal. That I will need to research.

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You really should determine what the odor is and where it's coming from. If your bilge smells like sewage, your head hoses would be suspect. If it smells like diesel, replacing the head hoses won't make a difference.

There are three rules to plumbing regardless of residential, commercial or boat:

1) Hot on the left
2) Cold on the right
3) **** don't flow uphill

WesK said:

You really should determine what the odor is and where it's coming from. If your bilge smells like sewage, your head hoses would be suspect. If it smells like diesel, replacing the head hoses won't make a difference.

There are three rules to plumbing regardless of residential. commercial or boat:

30 **** don't flow uphill.

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Say that to the fuel dock hands who undo a waste cap where the vent is blocked.

This has worked for me: