Blocked Heads - ugh!

[robmurray]

One of my crew has managed to block a heads. Ive done the usual strip down and serviced the pump. The blockage must be in the out pipe - possibly by the sea cock. I cannot get the pipe off the sea cock - it seems ridiculously tight and is very inaccesible. The boat is afloat - any suggestions fo how i might clear this?

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[Lofty]

Try wrapping some rag around the pipe where it sits on the seacock and pouring boiling water onto the rag. If you heat it up for a few minutes like this you should find it will come off quite easily.

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[boatless]

If repeated opening and closing of the cock hasn't dislodged it.

This worked for me...

Person on the inside tentatively pumps to raise pressure in the out pipe. Person on the outside in dinghy jabs bilge pump handle up the secock underwater. Person on the inside (me) will a) see the pipe heave a sigh of relief, and b) quite clearly hear the expletive from person outside through even quite thick glassfibre.

<hr width=100% size=1>my opinion is complete rubbish, probably.

 

[MartinGPerry]

Same thing happened to me this weekend.
See if you can disconnect pipe at heads end, then get hold of a drain unblocker - basically a long flexible wire with screw type hook claw on the end. You pull the wire out of the holder and push the wire up the pipe till it hits the blockage, then turn the handle on the holder to rotate the wire and clear the blockage
You can get these for a few pounds from plumbers merchants. The wire is several meters long and should easily reach the seacock, if all else fails you can beach the boat and do it from the seacock end
Martin

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[Talon]

We used a hot air gun on ours, they get one hell of a hold.



<hr width=100% size=1>Alex

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.mad-als.com>http://www.mad-als.com</A>

 

[HeadMistress]

Unless someone has flushed a tampon, paper towel, or something else that won't dissolve for years, quite often if you can put some water down the toilet and wait a while, the water will dissolve the clog. It may take a day or two, but it's worth trying. It's even more effective if you can add some enzymes or a holding tank product that claims to have "tissue digesters" in it.

Before doing anything, I suggest you query your crew as to what the clog may be. You're more likely to get an honest answer if you promise not to inflict any bodily harm upon them if they'll tell you they've flushed something they shouldn't have.

If you find that you have no choice but to remove hoses, warm the hose with a blow dryer a bit (use a heat gun ONLY if you're skilled with one...you don't want to risk damaging the hose) and it should slip off fairly easily. Be patient with the blow dryer.

To put the hose back on...warm it again, smear some dishwashing liquid on the inside of the hose and on the fitting.

<hr width=100% size=1>Peggie Hall
Specializing in marine sanitation since 1987

 

[maxi]

Don't do it!!! If the blockage is at the seacock and you have pressurised the pipe - when you do get it off the fitting a fragrant sewage shower plus a locker full of s...t is what you have to look forward to. Probe from the outside, but don't stand below the skinfitting whilst you do it.

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[Mirelle]

Good advice

From Maxi, Martin Perry and Peggie Hall.

As Peggie says, give it a week and it will probably sort itself out. The blockage is probably at the point where the seacock spigot enters the hose. If at the end of the week it is still stuck try either Maxi's method or Martin's.

<hr width=100% size=1>Que scais-je?

 

[peterb]

Re: Good advice

If you're going to take the pipe off then leave it for at least a couple of days (but the longer the better) after the last pumping to allow the pressure to drop.

You may find that the pipe is blocked by a white crystalline deposit. This results from urine being left in the outlet pipe due to insufficient pumping. We reckon on a minimum of 14 strokes to clear the pipe, but obviously it will depend on the pump capacity and the volume of the outlet pipe.

I know of one boat whose loo blocked up (due to that deposit) in the middle of a Biscay crossing. Someone tried to clear it with a straightened wire coat hanger, but only succeeded in putting a hole in the pipe, allowing sea water to come in. So they tried to close the seacock, but not having been properly exercised it was jammed. They decided to put an extension tube onto the operating lever, to see if that would shift it. It did. The whole seacock rotated, having sheared off its fixing screws, leaving a hole in the bottom of the boat. Rapid use of tapered wood plugs dealt with the problem temporarily, but for the rest of the trip it was 'bucket and chuck it'. And no, I wasn't on board.

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