Older Lectrasan - How Much Extra-Added Salt Is Needed ?

[HopCar]

That's looking pretty good. How about a cat litter bucket for your brine tank? If you know someone who owns cats, the buckets are free. They have nice flat sides that you could install a thru-hull fitting in for your outlet. They have lids that fit pretty tight to prevent sloshing. I probably shouldn't say this since I sell some pretty fancy buckets, but I use a cat litter bucket as my wash down bucket. My ShurHold brush fits it better than a round bucket.

[sdowney717]

cat litter bucket idea could be ok.
drill a small air hole on top for a vent.
does that plastic crack if it gets hit?

[HopCar]

I don't think it would crack on you. I use them for all sorts of things and don't have a problem. On some of the buckets the lid doesn't come all the way off, it hinges in the middle. That type might be better than the ones that come all the way off. We currently have three cats at the our store so I collect a lot of litter buckets! Too bad you're not in Miami, I'd be glad to give you a bucket to experiment with.

[sdowney717]

We put in a cat door in the side of the house. Cat steps threw cat door from floor onto a rear deck at the same height.
Onetime a strange cat chased ours into the house, ran around the living room and realized he was in our house and dashed back outside, back threw the cat door. That was funny and happened at night.

So we dont have any liter needs any more.

I will just use the old igloo cooler for now. Already has a sealed spigot plumbed in the side.

[HopCar]

That is funny! I can just see the look on that cats face when he realized where he was. The Igloo should work fine.

[peghall]

Cat little mfrs are quickly switching from those wonderful buckets to cardboard boxes, so grab those buckets while you can. I found out in time to hang onto 3 of 'em before the brand I use discontinued 'em.

[HopCar]

Oh Peggy! Say it ain't so! I love my cat litter buckets.

[wsvoboda]

So what you have done is connected a 1/4 brine wate system hose to your existing feed hose that flows through your existing sea water intake hose and by installing a control valve that alows so much brine at a time. OK got it. So you could install a one way ball valve with a hose off the top of the brine tank to properly vent as you flush and then there will be no spillage while sailing. My electascan gives me problems and I end up buying a new electra plate every 18 months. So I just wondered?

[sdowney717]

the hose is 3/8 just cause I had it laying around.
I do like the 3/8 hose nylon barb versus the 1/4 more robust.

I was wondering about putting some die in the brine tank to see it mix in the head, like a visible indication that it is receiving the brine.
Or this, my wife told me you can buy those chlorine tablets that go in a home toilet tank
Amazon.com: Clorox Automatic Toilet Bowl Cleaner, Bleach 3.5 oz (100 g): Health & Personal Care

I wonder if you put that in a brine tank would it be useful as in keeping the organic life in seawater flush water from rotting so it wont stink or would it damage the impeller in the jabsco motor. Might even be colored so you would get the die and the chlorine.

In the past, the head would stink when you flushed it due to the sea life dieing, rottiing, then the gases come out when the water moves.

[sdowney717]

you definitely could put a vent valve on top of a sealed brine tank
You could take a 5 gallon bucket like you get with paint or dry wall mud and use that for a brine tank. For the hose barb, drill a hole and use goop to seal. Or just drill hole slightly smaller than the hose, force the hose through hole and seal with goop or a polyurethane caulk.

My electascan gives me problems and I end up buying a new electra plate every 18 months.

My lectrasan is the older one with manual timer
I replaced the electrode pack which had the older 5 plates versus the newer one which has 3 plates. It just stopped working and I had the boat for 5 yrs and the prior owner did not replace so it was likely pretty old maybe original.

I took it apart to see what was the matter.
I discovered that a copper wire runs from the studs to the plates.
the Titanium flat plates are stamped with cut outs so a wire can pass through along the plate center. There is no weld, solder or any other physical attachment.
My copper wire for one of the titanium plate circuits was damaged, eaten up with corrosion, likely because the hard rubber sealant had failed letting in salt water.
When the electrode pack is getting current, heat is generated so eventually the seal must fail. If they had used a titanium wire to attach to titanium plates then I think these electrode packs would last forever. The plates were perfect, no corrosion.
I think If I wanted, I might be able to repair the old plate with a new copper wire and some PL premium polyurethane construction adhesive.
Anyone have a source for titanium wire?

here is 1/8 titanium bar which is about the right size.
http://www.amazon.com/Titanium-Round...d_sbs_indust_3

problem with titanium is you cant solder or weld. You have to make a physical connection. You might be able to use this and for the top threaded stud take a bronze bolt, drill out the center and then crimp under pressure the bronze bolt to the titanium rod.
Someone who has lots of time and expertise could likely make that work.

[peghall]

Don't even THINK of adding chlorine--or any other chemical--to the brine...chemicals of any kind, but especially bleach/chlorine, will destroy the electrode pack. So will any of the head intake chemical cartridges. The instruction manual clearly warns against using ANY chemical bowl cleaners or any chemicals at all in LectraSan/ElectroScan.

The following are all no-nos in ALL marine toilets: Bleach/chlorine or any product that contains bleach, household chemical bowl cleaners, pine oil cleaners, Lysol, any petroleum based product...they're all highly destructive to rubber and break down hose resistance to odor permeation and some are corrosive too.

In the past, the head would stink when you flushed it due to the sea life dieing, rottiing, then the gases come out when the water moves.

That's actually due to sea life dying and decaying in the head intake. There's a very simple and inexpensive cure for the that: Tee the head intake line into the head sink drain line. That provides a safe source of clean fresh water to rinse the sea water out of the system--the WHOLE system--intake line, pump, channel in the rim of the bowl AND the discharge line. We've had quite a bit of discussion about doing this in the last couple of months, so you should be able to find all the details if you search a bit.

As for the rest of your one-off brine tank ideas...I'd run all of 'em by Vic. He's been there nearly 40 years and knows everything there is to know about everything Raritan has ever made.

[sdowney717]

yeah, teeing and flushing some fresh water will also help preserve the macerator in the head.
I tore the head motor apart once and noted it was made of bronze and plastic and had quite a bit of green corrosion heavy scale built up on the metal bits.

Thinking you tee the sink drain and have two valves in the sink drain line, one prevents flow to outside boat, other sends fresh water to head. And then you have to close the head seacock. I noticed the head rotten smell only showed up after a few days of stagnant water sitting in the lines.

How about a Y valve right after the head seacock, then another Y valve at the sink
Can you get small affordable Y valves? The only cheap ones I know of are the plastic garden hose variety to keep it all in one package.

[peghall]

You're WAAAY over-complicating it...Rube Goldberg would be proud!

You don't need any valves at all...you're gonna eliminate one hole in the boat altogether--or repurpose it for a washdown pump or heat/ac pump--by relocating the head intake line to tee it into the head sink drain line, below the waterline.

When closing up the boat, after you've closed the seacock, fill up the sink with clean fresh water water...flush the toilet. Because the seacock's closed, the toilet will pull the water out of the sink.

If you have an electric macerating toilet, just be VERY careful not to keep flushing after the water in the sink is gone...you don't want to fry the intake impeller.

This also gives you a very handy way to add antifreeze to winterize and also to run some white vinegar through the whole system to prevent mineral buildup.

No need to use fresh water any other time unless you find yourself in a particularly skanky marina or anchorage. And no need for any valves...just maybe a plug in the sink if the toilet doesn't want to prime.

Btw...if your sink and head are on opposite sides of the keel, this won't work...in which case, you DO need a y-valve (the plastic garden hose variety work just fine), a bucket and a few feet of hose that you can tee one end of into the head intake line and put the other end into the bucket full of water. Fill the bucket, turn the y-valve...stick the hose into the bucket, flush the toilet.

[sdowney717]

Interesting idea.
My boat the sink drains overboard slightly above the waterline

Could I abandon that drain and simply tee into the head supply line to drain the sink?
If it is connected like that, when you flush the head, would it pull air in through
the sink drain, so do you have to close the stopper when flushing?

On the outside of the boat there is a bronzed screen over the thru hull, so if anything went down the sink, it will likely stay in the area and then when the toilet flushes be pulled into the pump. I could I suppose put a strainer in the line.

I kind of like this idea, but wonder if it will draw air. See someone will come along use the head and forget to stopper the sink. And then the thing wont flush and it will be embarrassing or need a lot of explaining.

I can certainly give this a try and see how it works.

Would be nice to have electric valves that open and shut when the head flushes to be totally automatic.

[David M]

Originally Posted by peghall

Don't even THINK of adding chlorine--or any other chemical--to the brine...chemicals of any kind, but especially bleach/chlorine, will destroy the electrode pack. So will any of the head intake chemical cartridges. The instruction manual clearly warns against using ANY chemical bowl cleaners or any chemicals at all in LectraSan/ElectroScan.

The following are all no-nos in ALL marine toilets: Bleach/chlorine or any product that contains bleach, household chemical bowl cleaners, pine oil cleaners, Lysol, any petroleum based product...they're all highly destructive to rubber and break down hose resistance to odor permeation and some are corrosive too.

In the past, the head would stink when you flushed it due to the sea life dieing, rottiing, then the gases come out when the water moves.

That's actually due to sea life dying and decaying in the head intake. There's a very simple and inexpensive cure for the that: Tee the head intake line into the head sink drain line. That provides a safe source of clean fresh water to rinse the sea water out of the system--the WHOLE system--intake line, pump, channel in the rim of the bowl AND the discharge line. We've had quite a bit of discussion about doing this in the last couple of months, so you should be able to find all the details if you search a bit.

As for the rest of your one-off brine tank ideas...I'd run all of 'em by Vic. He's been there nearly 40 years and knows everything there is to know about everything Raritan has ever made.

On larger inspected vessels you never connect the potable water systems to the sanitation system in any way. I think the safer thing to do would to provide your Lectra-San unit with its own dedicated fresh water tank. You would then definitely have to add a brine tank for it to work.