Your Solutions to Sea Water Odors in Toilet Intake?

[cwyckham]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

We have no problems with sea water odors at all provided toilets are flushed frequently and long.

Exactly. It only stinks if it hasn't been flushed in a while. Like at least a couple of days. So you give it a good long flush when you first get to the boat and then you're good to go.

[peghall]

[QUOTE=Freedom45;1524065][QUOTE=peghall;1523980]This is the type of thing I'm looking for...do you have a photograph? Please email me?

I can't get a very good photo, tank is stuffed under sink.QUOTE]

That's ok...that drawing is even better! If you'd be kind enough to attach it to an email to me, I'd really appreciate it. Address is my name with a dot between first and last at gmail.

Thanks!

[Hudson Force]

I stand with Dockhead and Cwyckham. I don't notice that seawater has a significant odor and what odor may be present is not obnoxious. I suspect that this "seawater" problem is not seawater at all!

[Freedom45]

Originally Posted by CaptForce

I stand with Dockhead and Cwyckham. I don't notice that seawater has a significant odor and what odor may be present is not obnoxious. I suspect that this "seawater" problem is not seawater at all!

Odor is only one reason, salt build-up in lines was why I switched to fresh water flush.

[Rick01541]

I T'd into a fresh water line from one tank, installed a check valve and Y-valve to this line and the seawater intake line. I have had no problems. It has worked wonderfully for about 10 years now. Is this what you are looking for?

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Freedom45

Odor is only one reason, salt build-up in lines was why I switched to fresh water flush.

In my experience, the really long flush solves salt build up, too. My observation is that practically no one flushes long enough to get clean water all the way through the anti-siphon loop. Not flushing enough leaves urine standing in the lines which causes mineral build up.

Since switching to all electric toilets and carefully explaining to all crew and guests the necessity of the really long flush, my lines remain clean as a whistle.

Another thing I do without fail is to flush out the lines with fresh water every time I leave the boat.

Another good thing to do is an occasional rinseing out of the lines with citric (not muriatic!!) acid.

[peghall]

Originally Posted by Rick01541

I T'd into a fresh water line from one tank, installed a check valve and Y-valve to this line and the seawater intake line. I have had no problems. It has worked wonderfully for about 10 years now. Is this what you are looking for?

Thanks, but not quite. I'm looking for either separate flush water tanks or systems that allow the user to continue using sea water.

Fwiw, though...what you've done is Russian roulette. You've just gotten away with it for 10 years. What "freedom45" has done IS safe, because what he's created is essentially the same thing as a household toilet tank...the water line is connected to it, not the toilet bowl. It's a great idea with an electric toilet, but I wouldn't recommend it with a manual toilet because the pressure from his flush water tank can knock seals, o-rings etc in the pump out of whack.

[HopCar]

"I stand with Dockhead and Cwyckham. I don't notice that seawater has a significant odor and what odor may be present is not obnoxious. I suspect that this "seawater" problem is not seawater at all!"

You're correct, seawater is rarely smelly. The odor comes from all of the critters and vegetation in the sea water.

If you flush your toilet often, you won't have an odor problem from sea water. If the toilet is flushed with sea water and allowed to sit for a day or two, the critters in the intake hose die and start to decompose. The next flush can be very smelly.

One way to avoid this is to at least flush with fresh water just before you leave the boat for an extended time. The trick is you have to get fresh water into the intake line, not just pour it into the bowl.

You also need a good strainer in the intake line. If some sea weed gets into the rim of the bowl, it's a bear to get out and it can stink for days.

I think Peggie is researching safe ways to flush manual marine toilets with fresh water to avoid the above problems.

[Terra Nova]

We become accustomed to the smell of our own sanitation systems such that we are unaware when it is offensive to guests.

The Blake Lavac head solves the odor problem by virtue of its seat and lid seals.

[Rick01541]

By the way, I tapped into the non-pressure side of my fresh water system. With the flip of the Y-valve I can switch back to the seawater intake. This is a spare tank that I rarely use other than for flushing the head. I may be taking chances but it has worked well so will leave it.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by peghall

Fwiw, though...what you've done is Russian roulette. You've just gotten away with it for 10 years. What "freedom45" has done IS safe, because what he's created is essentially the same thing as a household toilet tank...the water line is connected to it, not the toilet bowl. It's a great idea with an electric toilet, but I wouldn't recommend it with a manual toilet because the pressure from his flush water tank can knock seals, o-rings etc in the pump out of whack.

Peggy, I know who you are of course and know of your depth of knowledge in the subject, but I think you may need to look at a couple of things before you declare this safe.

First in the separate tank, the only thing separating the contaminated water from your drinking water is one valve, the float valve, and it's open anytime the water level is low in the tank. One way contamination can happen for example is to have the fresh water pump off or anything that can cause the fresh water pressure to drop to ambient and then the float valve can be open with either boat motion or a slightly low water condition that drops the level of the float, now you have a completely open circuit to your fresh water drinking tank.

Secondly the pressure form this flush tank to the toilet is just whatever head pressure exists from gravity, in other words Nil, so it's not likely that this pressure can knock seals or anything else out of wack on a manual flush toilet.

I suspicion that what keeps the household toilet tank in your house safe is that it's a gravity flush system, no pumps involved, so it would be very difficult indeed for water from the bowl to back up into the tank as that's uphill and therefore violates one of the three rules of plumbing , but on a boat, of course there is a pump and valves that can pump water back into the tank contaminating it.

While I do not have your depth of knowledge on the subject, it would seem the only completely fail-safe way is to have a separate water supply tank for flushing.

[malbert73]

My boat has what I consider a very easy system. My toilet sea water supply is teed off of my head sink drain at the seacock. We use sea water to flush during day, but every evening or two, or when we leave boat, I close the seacock, run some fresh water into my head sink, and flush the toilet which sucks this fresh water through the toilet. I also pour raritan head cleaner (CP) into the sink with fresh water and suck this through the entire head periodically. My wife claims our head is the best (least) smelling head she has experienced. (two requirements she makes of me: the boat doesn't sink and the head doesn't stink....)

[jannw]

Whilst it isn't installed in my yacht, I recall hearing about a clever system which had a reservoir under the hand basin with a Y fitting, one end to the outside, and another to the toilet inlet. That way your hand washing water could be saved and reused to flush or just rinse the loo. It'd be trivial to build in the reservoir with an overflow outside too.

On my boat I just give the bowl (lavac) a squirt from the handbasin shower hose once the pressure has released and the remaining salt water has been pumped through, and give it another few pumps.

[a64pilot]

I'm lazy, currently we flush by using the shower head as the water supply, I may just go to putting a 1 Gl jug of water in the head for flushing. I collect urine and dispose of it seperately, I use this Amazon.com: little john urinal I've used it for flying for years so it doesn't bother me, and I do it as I assume urine and salt water if eliminated will help with having a trouble free, odorless head?
( I have an aluminum black water tank and fear salt water in the aluminum tank, I will replace the aluminum with a 316SS tank when it dies)

[Pirate999]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

We have no problems with sea water odors at all provided toilets are flushed frequently and long.

Yes.. The odor comes from not using and flushing the toilet for longer durations. The water and associated organic material in the sea water sit in the intake and decompose. So when you do that first flush, it smells. Normal use of a head will not produce that smell. Many boats are left for days and weeks without use so this is common.

A simple alternative is to keep a large cup in the head and use it to flush with fresh water.