Blocked Holding Tank

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Scallywag

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I have a blocked holding tank on a Bavaria 39. The tank is filled to the top.

Do anyone know the best way to syphon off, without a pump, the waste water from the deck fitting?
 
Scallywag said:
I have a blocked holding tank on a Bavaria 39. The tank is filled to the top.

Do anyone know the best way to syphon off, without a pump, the waste water from the deck fitting?
Click to expand...

You might be able to pump out from the deck fitting by making a tight fitting press in hose connection and using a portably mounted bilge pump.

Might be a bit stinky !!!!! The suction hose will need to be reinforced to prevent collapsing. Some marinas do have equipent for
emptying holding tanks though mostly on inland waterways :o
 
Scallywag said:
Do anyone know the best way to syphon off, without a pump, the waste water from the deck fitting?
Click to expand...

The *best* way would be to take it to a shore-side pumpout :)

If you let us know where you are, perhaps someone can suggest your nearest one. I know there's one on the Harbourmaster's jetty at Warsash, for instance.

Pete
 
davidpbo said:
have a probe around around with a in the unidentified, manifestly blocked, through hull fitting whilst standing underneath. He only did it once.
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Yow!

I've narrowly avoided being hosed down by a skin fitting before now, but that was only someone turning on a bilge pump.

Pete
 
prv said:
Yow!

I've narrowly avoided being hosed down by a skin fitting before now, but that was only someone turning on a bilge pump.

Pete
Click to expand...

Or try doing it at sea - one person with goggles on poking a wire up the through-hull swimming in sh** , one person clearing the holding tank by bucket, and passing it to the third person who hopes nobody realises that they had cleaned the heads from top to bottom with a roll of kitchen paper and flushed it all into the holding tank a week before. Took 3 hours.
 
While the chances of success may not be great, I would definitely try pouring in half a bottle of holding tank fluid and letting it stand for a day or two - will not do any harm and might just help avoid a horrible job!
 
prv said:
The *best* way would be to take it to a shore-side pumpout :)

If you let us know where you are, perhaps someone can suggest your nearest one. I know there's one on the Harbourmaster's jetty at Warsash, for instance.

Pete
Click to expand...

He might have a problem there.....Especially if his french is not good! :) :)
 
Where is the blockage, in the dump pipe? How long and twisty is the dump pipe - I assume its a gravity dump normally?
Would a rubber toilet plunger over the deck fitting stand a chance of shifting it? A plunger over the through-hull aperture would almost certainly work but the water's a bit cold for that. Rodding it from outside if you can reach?
I wonder if a syphon would work though, you'd need a big dia pipe and a lot of suction to get it started, plus probably more drop than you've got at the exit end of the syphon pipe - and you'd probably want to brush your teeth afterwards...Anyway, that might empty the tank but it won't clear the blockage.

I'd try the old fashioned plunger first.
 
Failing all that your gonna have to go in with a snorkel and mask and clear it manually.
 
Another method is to disconnect the vent pipe from the vent fitting. Block the end of the pipe with wooden bung and hose clips. Put the cap back in the deck pump out fitting and screw it in tight.
Now pump the toilet hard. The extra pressure should blow it through. Just check that seacock is open first!
 
try a set of cable mousing rods :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LARGE-10-...ls_Supplies_Electrical_ET&hash=item56399c7297

They are quite flexible and it should be possible to feed them down via the deck pump-out through the exit of the tank and round the drain pipe. Don't fit the hook on the end - that will almost certainly get caught on something. You shoulf be able to buy them in any big electricians supply outlet.
 
Another method favoured by some....
Put the deck fitting cap back on and screw up tight.
Disconnect the vent pipe from the holding tank.
Attach dinghy pump to the holding tank where you just removed the vent pipe from.
Now pump.
In addition to making sure the seacock is open also check the dinghy pump tube is connected to blow, not suction!

(The dinghy pump tube is usually long enough to operate on deck through the heads hatch.)
 
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Out flotilla boat had the same problem when we picked it up last year (what kind of s$%t would return a boat in that condition without saying something). Once we were out at sea, lead skipper and engineer came alongside in dinghy and blew it out with the dinghy pump. They did neeed a good swim afterwards.
 
Rodding worked for us, but the vent pipe is immediately above the outlet. Used the end of the guardrail wire which has a rigging screw on it so stiff.
 
davidej said:
When we got a blockage, I inserted a big cork (champagne actually) into the vent and vigorously pumped the heads. A popping noise and -voila - a stream of brown out of the sacock.
Click to expand...

Mate of mine kept doing that with his Bavaria - until the last time when the tank cracked, took around 3 months before the smell went away:(
 
I keep a drain clearing 'snake' on board. It goes down through the filler cap and manages to get all the way through to the seacock. Because it has a screw head on the end of a flexible cable it seems to get round corners and the like without a problem. Tanks especially gravity emptying tanks can block with solid waste matter (**** to you and me) alone as it sinks to the bottom of the tank. I'd be careful about trying to blow it out for fear of rupturing the tank.
There's an example of one here:

http://www.mkmonline.co.uk/shop/pro...t-snake.aspx?gclid=CKqSmYGF57YCFcXItAodGkUAKw

that attaches to a drill but mine has a hand crank on the end and cost less than a fiver. Google 'drain clearing snake' for lots of examples. Flexible so after it's done it's work it rolls up small and lives in a bucket.

Good luck

Chas
 
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