Holding tank

[Ron Hill]

Guys : Reversing the wires on the masserator pump to clear a blockage has been written up in the old Mainsheet tech notes!!
Good stuff in the tech note CD or on line!!!  Read them and DESCOVER information! 

[Stu Jackson]

From the Nov. 1998 Tech Notes (http://www.c34.org/mainsheet/pdf/1998_no4.pdf)

I picked this up easily from the Knowledgebase (http://c34.org/bbs/index.php?topic=3362.0) by a Ctrl-F search on macerator in the Excel spreadsheet.

Stuck Macerator: Before tearing everything apart and cleaning/replacing the "impeller," try reversing the wires. With the through hull closed, reverse the
wires and make the pump run backwards. Then open the through hull for a
short period. This may clear the stoppage. Don't let the motor run backward
too long with the through hull open or you soon overflow the holding tank.
Then try some holding tank additive, maybe add a little more water, wait for
the residue to soften up, and try it again (wired back properly).

[Jeff_McKinney]

Guess I've been lucky so far. I've used nothing but the OdorLos granular product for 2+ seasons and have not encountered the "vile stench" issue. All I do is add a packet after each pumpout, a bit of fresh water to wash it down the line and even the admiral is happy.   

I don't pump sea water into the tank either. Too many mysterious compounds (organic and otherwise) to intermingle with the contents, ferment and...

[Jack Hutteball]

We don't have a problem with odors out of holding tank since we learned to manage it the first year.  We use fresh water to flush when only the two of us on on beard.  This is accomplished by a connection to the head sink waste line.  We just run some fresh water into the sink and flush with the water you are washing your hands with.  If we have guests aboard I switch over to salt water flush so as not to confuse them and also to save water.  We always pump out at the end of the trip and then I run some freshwater through the lines and toilet into the holding tank.  Result no odor!

Jack

[John Langford]

Hi Jack,
I'd  like to know more about how you plumb the boat to use sink water while still maintaining your salt water intake option. At first glance, if you T into both the sink drain and the head salt water intake line, it would seem that you would lose your prime when trying to pump salt water into the head.

[Ted Pounds]

As long as the T is below the waterline should be no problem.   

[Jack Hutteball]

John, the "T" comes right off the bottom of the drain just before the thru hull and there is no problem loosing prime.  You can hear the water gurgling in the sink, but it flushes well.  I have the thru hull for the original head intake complete disconnected and closed off.
To flush with fresh water I just close the sink drain thru hull and fill the sink with fresh water.  With just the two of us aboard I leave the sink thru hull closed all the time and drain all fresh water thru the head.

Jack

[Roc]

John,
I plumbed my head intake this way too, off a "T" in the sink drain.  To flush with salt water, put the strainer in the sink drain, as a stopper (like if you wanted to fill the sink with water and not letting it go down the drain).  That cuts off that hole, and the water will come from the open seacock.  For a fresh water flush, close the seacock, fill the sink with some fresh water, then pump the head.

[BillG]

Jack, if you were able to completely disconnect  and close off your head intake, where do you plumb your shower sump pump? 

[Jack Hutteball]

Bill, on my Mark ll The shower sump goes to a pump located under the galley sink and shares the same pump as the refer drain by simply turning a Y valve.  It came from Catalina that way.  We seldom ever use the refer drain as we generally don't put ice in there, only run the refer, so I keep it open for a drain from the shower.  There is also a separate thru hull under the galley sink next to the sink thru hull for this pump.

Jack

[Mike and Joanne Stimmler]

I know this is an old post but I just wanted to let everyone know the fnal resolution of my problem.

In the procces of reversing the wiring on the macerator to make it run backwards as Stu and Ron suggested, I also found a loose connection at the crimp connction right at the maceraror. After re-wiring with quick connects and running the pump backwards for a minute, everything is working great again. So, it was either the loose wire or the clog being cleared by the reversing or a combination of the two.

Another problem solved!

Thanks for everyone's input on this, especially Ron and Stu. As usual, you were right on.

[Jim Brener]

I purchased the expensive filter from West Marine 2 years ago, only use fresh water in the head, pump lots of air into it and have had no odor in 2 years.