anyone ever heard of this

[lanerboy]

Hi all

Does anyone know any body who has ever used a "ozone generator" to get rid of a nasty smell??????

I ask this because i have a strange smell in the bilges of my boat that i cannot get rid of, things i have done so far

1 flushed the holding tank out many times and left aqua blue in for 2 weeks then flushed again and again

2 cleaned all the toilet pipes through witn rydelyme

3 had a HUGE fan over the bilge hatches and blasted all the stale air out the bilges

4 left a dehumidifier on for 2 weeks constantly with bilge harches open

5 swilled out under the holding tank with water / bleach mix and cleaned out

All this and the smell just returns within an hr i have crawled all inside the bilges and found no leaks etc etc

These ozone generators apparently kill all bacteria in the room and steralise the area please have a look at ebay no 220809999296 to see what i mean

We are at the end of our tether with this and dont know where to go next ??????????

Thanks again

 

[sarabande]

the ozone generator will only deal with air that is in its vicinity (the symptoms), and does not prevent re-occurence. You need to work out the source of the pong (the cause).


It almost sounds (smells ?) as if you might have a dead rat or wrack of seaweed in a locker.


I've had an Elanra ioniser in the office for years. Bees knees. I wouldn't trust a relatively cheapie ebay one.


If the smell persists, try having a word with support on www.Oiltechnics.com. They have various clever biological/enzyme cleaners which 'eat' organic, smell-producing material.

 

[aquapower]

Hi all

Does anyone know any body who has ever used a "ozone generator" to get rid of a nasty smell??????

I ask this because i have a strange smell in the bilges of my boat that i cannot get rid of, things i have done so far

1 flushed the holding tank out many times and left aqua blue in for 2 weeks then flushed again and again

2 cleaned all the toilet pipes through witn rydelyme

3 had a HUGE fan over the bilge hatches and blasted all the stale air out the bilges

4 left a dehumidifier on for 2 weeks constantly with bilge harches open

5 swilled out under the holding tank with water / bleach mix and cleaned out

All this and the smell just returns within an hr i have crawled all inside the bilges and found no leaks etc etc

These ozone generators apparently kill all bacteria in the room and steralise the area please have a look at ebay no 220809999296 to see what i mean

We are at the end of our tether with this and dont know where to go next ??????????

Thanks again

Sounds to me like your toilet hoses need changing, have you the white pipe? As this lets odour through after a while and only cure is to renew, preferably with something better.

 

[petem]

Sounds to me like your toilet hoses need changing, have you the white pipe? As this lets odour through after a while and only cure is to renew, preferably with something better.

+1 wot he says. JFM knows the name of the pipes that won't smell.

 

[superheat6k]

Can you describe the smell. Is it at all acrid ? Have you checked your batteries aren't boiling, perhaps just one cell.

 

[Spi D]

Sounds to me like your toilet hoses need changing, have you the white pipe? As this lets odour through after a while and only cure is to renew, preferably with something better.

+1 Not too expensive and always nice to eliminate possible culprits. Apparently even the best have a limited life. Look for 'sanitation hose'.

 

[aquapower]

This pipe is the right stuff for the job http://www.asap-supplies.com/search/sanitation+hose

 

[lanerboy]

Thanks all
I have removed the pipes off the holding tank and had a sniff of them and they don't smell i have had my nose over the open holding tank and this does not smell either. VP said it may be the hoses that is why i checked them but after removing and smelling them i am not convinced.

As regards the smell it is a sweet musty smell and the closest thing i could relate it to would be the smell of canabis / weed that you can smell on people who smoke that craap

Swmbo has been reading on the net and we think it sounds like it could be some sort of mildew, when i cleaned around the holding tank i left some water and bleach mixed in there to try and kill any bacteria but i would say this has now made it worse which makes us think the mildew or mould is breading off the moisture that i left in there

Thanks for the replies

 

[RogerRat]

Thanks all

As regards the smell it is a sweet musty smell

Swmbo has been reading on the net and we think it sounds like it could be some sort of mildew,

I think it unlikely that it is a mould or mildew, generally de-humidification will sort these out.

I agree with former replies, a friend had a similar problem on a Targa 37. Because you've suffered the 'smellies', extra cleaning and sanitisation gets done to try end the problem, leaving a partially masked pong that smells sweetish. The smell doesn't come from the pipes, it's masked because it permeates through the side walls.

Changing the pipes worked in his case and the smell disappeared almost immediately.

It has to be worth a try...

Also, in the short term, I would suggest trying "Zo-Flora" as a disinfectant and nice smelling solution. Buy it in a chemist, small bottle about £1 and drop a small splash into your soapy cleaning bucket, wash round bilges and concealed areas that hoses run and this will help mask the smell too. Choice of fragrances too, one is called 'Flowershop'.

Guess what it smells like?

Don't ask me how I know this.

 

[lisilou]

Zo Flora's lovely. Cool linen (I think) is the nicest. Tesco sell it too. Sorry...that's the limit of my advice re this thread other than 'a sweet musty smell' sounds like rotting foodstuff to me rather than mildew or stinky hoses. You checked all the storage lockers?
L

 

[volvopaul]

The only way around this is to change all the toilet waste hoses , use the vetus type that is non smell, worth it in the long run but there not cheap.

 

[longjohnsilver]

Maybe worth spraying some pet odour remover around the smelly areas. Only a few pounds from a pet shop so nothing lost if it doesn't work, but still useful stuff to keep on board.

 

[RogerRat]

The only way around this is to change all the toilet waste hoses , use the vetus type that is non smell, worth it in the long run but there not cheap.

Some are pretty stiff and they're hard to remove from tight ducting or bulkhead holes too.

But I have to agree with VP

 

[Dog's dinner]

Had the same thing on my last boat.
Changed all the pipes and even the Jabsco Toilet in desperation even though the boat was only 4yrs old. Made no difference to the smell in the boat.
Then one day I noticed the carpet in the head was wet and on inspection found the gully in the corner of the floor with a grill over it was full of stinking sea water.
It transpired as we cruised along a small amount of sea spray was entering the shower outlet fitting on the side of the boat and travelling down to the shower pump box under the floor, where it festered.
Over the 4yrs and a rough trip across Lyme Bay it had finally filled up to the top of the tube / gully in the shower and soaked the carpet.
I had put carpet on the floor because I did not use the shower and the floor was cold on my feet.
Solved the problem by operating the shower pump and refilling the gully with fresh water until the smelly sea water was flushed out. I then fitted a non return valve to the pipe just inside the fitting in the hull.
No more smells.

Hope this helps.

 

[lanerboy]

Been busy today took carpets up and found the floor area comes up to reveal a large enough hole to extract the holding tank, so i set about it removed eveything attached to the holding tank and eventually after a lot of swearing at each other me and the wife got it out.

Proceeded to clean it all out on the pontoon with some very strange looks i have now left it on the pontoon full of bleach and water mixed over night. I will tomorrow empty and swill out a few times.

Anyway we closed the boat up and went for a pint came back an hr later and boat stinks

Going to leave the tank out and i am going back down on friday morning and i am going to replace EVERY toilet hose down there right up to where it fits onto the toilets and then refit the holding tank then hopefully the smell will be gone if this dont cure it i'm lost because the bilges are spotlessly clean not a spec of dirt anywhere and not a drop of moisture to be seen it looks like brand new down there.

Thanks again eveyone

 

[sarabande]

LB - are you totally certain that it's the loo system ? That is a closed loop (i.e. not open to air) and given all the work you and SWMBO have done, I'd be very surprised to blame the sanitation hose.

My guess is that there may be a vent pipe open to atmosphere within the hull, or some piece of fish or something stowed away in a locker.

How long have you had this boat, and has anyone e.g. electrician had access and let a cat on board ?


Loo systems have a distinctive whiff, and your description is a bit away from that pong.

 

[lanerboy]

LB - are you totally certain that it's the loo system ? That is a closed loop (i.e. not open to air) and given all the work you and SWMBO have done, I'd be very surprised to blame the sanitation hose.

My guess is that there may be a vent pipe open to atmosphere within the hull, or some piece of fish or something stowed away in a locker.

How long have you had this boat, and has anyone e.g. electrician had access and let a cat on board ?


Loo systems have a distinctive whiff, and your description is a bit away from that pong.

Nope we are not certain far from it really but i think from the expert advise from fellow members i think this is the next step. I have checked the bilges and they really are spotless even volvopaul mentioned how clean they were on the survey he did on the engines etc etc

There is no dead cat, rat, dog or deer in there but there is one hell of a pungent stink so change the pipes it is i think, the smell is not the smell of a dead animal its a sweet pungent smell a bit like canabis

 

[sarabande]

what about slipping the local Police Dog unit a few quid to bring down their sniffer dog ?

 

[P4Paul]

Nope we are not certain far from it really but i think from the expert advise from fellow members i think this is the next step. I have checked the bilges and they really are spotless even volvopaul mentioned how clean they were on the survey he did on the engines etc etc

There is no dead cat, rat, dog or deer in there but there is one hell if a pungent stink so change the pipes it is i think, the smell is not the smell of a dead animal its a sweet pungent smell a bit like canabis

Had the same problem with our previous boat, I spent weeks trying to find the source of the smell as it didn't smell right to be toilet related until finally I changed all the heads and holding tank pipes, put Milton's in the holding tank, left the lockers and floors open for 24 hours and bingo, the smell went..........

 

[lanerboy]

Had the same problem with our previous boat, I spent weeks trying to find the source of the smell as it didn't smell right to be toilet related until finally I changed all the heads and holding tank pipes, put Milton's in the holding tank, left the lockers and floors open for 24 hours and bingo, the smell went..........

That is very reassuring paul, was the smell you had a sweet pungent smell and like you say it does not really smell like sewage smells normally smell like, it is more of a musty sweet smell

I cannot believe that the smell comes through the pipes so much, the smell is only in the bilge areas where the pipes and holding tank are and every time we open a draw or cupboard in the front half of the boat if stinks