Bad odour comming out of toilet at first flush!

Re: Bad odour coming out of toilet at first flush!

Your questions valid.

It's a mistake to equate marine toilets, hoses etc with household systems, hot tubs etc..'cuz not all rubber is created equal...some is formulated to be more resistant to chlorine and other chemicals than others. Neither are hoses--as many people have learned after choosing to save money by re-plumbing with hot tub hose instead of sanitation hose. The rubber in toilets is not the same as rubber in hot tubs...hot tub pumps don't subject rubber parts to the friction that marine toilets do...plus, I think if you do a bit of research, you'll find that rubber parts that are exposed to chlorine and hot tub chemicals actually require considerably more service than you think. The difference when it comes to marine toilets is one of expectation...household toilets require -0- maintenance, so most owners today expect marine toilets to need none either.

You're quite right that a bucket would be a much simpler system, much easier to maintain...but it's not what people want these days...they want everything on a boat to be "just like the one at home." No one wants a BOAT any more...they want a floating condo!

As for how to clean your toilet to protect from e-coli and other nasties...they don't climb OUT of toilets, so I think you're safe from all of 'em if you don't drink from the bowl. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif But if you really MUST "disinfect" it (Don't tell me that our national obsession with eliminating every "germ"--good AND bad--on the planet has also infected the UK!)--which, btw, only lasts till the first new flush...by all means, do so..just don't flush the disinfectant.

To clean my own boat toilets... I kept a couple of sponges and pair of rubber gloves in a plastic bag just for the that purpose. All I did--or thought I needed--was to wipe out the bowl with powdered cleanser when the bowl began to show signs of needing cleaning. The small amount of residue left in the bowl isn't enough to make any difference when flushed to rinse.
 
Re: Bad odour coming out of toilet at first flush!

Peggie,

Rubber seals used in Marine toilets come in a lot of cases from the same manuf. as the hot tub manuf.

Peggie, times change, products change and lots of seals are chlorine resistant since a few years now just because of problems the manuf. had before with the most used desinfectant in the world: chlorine. Even seals used in the engine filters are chlorine resistant ... (i can tell you!!!)
 
Quote "HEAD CLEANING SYSTEM - "
Muckypup, I've had one of those fitted for over a year now. Completely useless! It doesn't keep anything clean, it doesn't reduce limescale build up. All it seems to do is make the water a pretty blue colour.
 
Re: Bad odour coming out of toilet at first flush!

[ QUOTE ]
Peggie,

Rubber seals used in Marine toilets come in a lot of cases from the same manuf. as the hot tub manuf.

Peggie, times change, products change and lots of seals are chlorine resistant since a few years now just because of problems the manuf. had before with the most used desinfectant in the world: chlorine. Even seals used in the engine filters are chlorine resistant ... (i can tell you!!!)

[/ QUOTE ]

Compie, it's your boat, and up to you to put anything down the toilet on it you want to. But as long as all the toilet mfrs continue to warn against the use of chlorine, household chemical toilet bowl cleaners, pine oil cleaners and any petroleum based products, I'll continue to warn against their use too.
 
Re: Bad odour coming out of toilet at first flush!

Peggie,
Never asked yourself why they do that?
Answer is simple: to put off their responsability versus the costumer in case something happens!
But i know that the seals on most of the marine toilets can handle chlorine!
Then you know very well what a Lectra/San does
"Generates its own natural disinfectant from salt water"
now what can that be? chlorine !
how?

by electrolytically converting salt, in the seawater, into chlorine as it passes over electrode plates.

now if this is done controlled and the amount of chlorine made is so small(like in well water), just enough to kill the buggs so you wont have the smell anymore and wont kill the joints on your toilet! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Re: Bad odour coming out of toilet at first flush!

Yes, a Lectra/San does produce hypochlorous acid (one form of chlorine) by
charging the ions in salt water with electrical current. But it's a very unstable solution...it reverts to salt water again when the stimulus (current) is removed. Which means that chlorine doesn't sit in the system...nor does it pass through the toilet or even any hoses because a Lectra/San is installed downstream of the toilet and discharges directly overboard, but not during the treatment cycle. And if any chlorine--or any other chemical--goes INTO a Lectra/San, it will damage the electrode pack. I think you need to learn a bit more about how the system is installed and how it works.

If I were to give advice that contradicts what all the equipment mfrs recommend (and what 20 years of experience has taught me that they do for good reason), I wouldn't have nearly the credibility in the industry that I do. Of course they warn against using anything that can damage equipment...warranty repairs and replacements are expensive, and also damaging to the reputation of the equipment even when needed beyond the warranty period...because people who ignore their instructions invariably blame the equipment, never their own actions.

You might also keep in mind that some "cures" actually help to create the problems they're used to solve...the more of the "cure" that's used, the more of it is needed.

Once again...I'm gonna continue to give what I know to be sound advice. But it's YOUR boat, and YOUR choice to put anything through YOUR toilet you want to. And the same is true for anyone else who chooses to follow your advice instead of mine.
 
Re: Bad odour coming out of toilet at first flush!

i was not referring about its installation only about its capability of making hypochlorous acid from sea(salt)water.

"Yes, a Lectra/San does produce hypochlorous acid (one form of chlorine) by
charging the ions in salt water with electrical current. But it's a very unstable solution...it reverts to salt water again when the stimulus (current) is removed. Which means that chlorine doesn't sit in the system..."

if we look closer to this it means that if we can produce hypochlorous acid before the cycle and stop it (by ending the process) before it goes into the toilet system then there is no damage to the sytem joints because it just becomes seawater again as it was in the beginning of the cycle but the buggs in the tube can't rot so no smell!

Peggy, i respect you 100% in what you do and are but we have discussed this with a few chemists whom said yes there could be an option in finding a solution on this problem.

Not that i am going to test it directly on my boat but maybe the industry havent being thinking of something simple like that (maybe...)
regards

Tom VC
 
Re: Bad odour coming out of toilet at first flush!

What CAN be done, and what can be done practically and sold for price anyone would pay, are two different things...and equipment mfrs don't invest R&D funds in something just to prove it can be done--they leave that to the tinkerers for whom time is not an overhead expense...they put it into new products for which there is a market.

Why would a sanitation equipment company invest in developing a product to solve a problem for which there are already several solutions including a number of new toilets designed to flush using onboard pressurized flush water, several of which are VERY affordable?

Why would a boat owner pay more for a device such as you suggest than the price of existing solutions?
 
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