Calcification of waste pipes causes?

[Seven Spades]

What causes calcification in waste pipes. I think that prevention is better than cure given the difficulty in removing the pipes that are in situ. Does it come from urine not fully fluched out and sitting in the pipes or does it come from sea water itself?

 

[plumbob]

An old friend, sadly no longer with us wrote a paper on the calcification of heads pipeworks for the Moody Owners magazine. Having spent many a "happy" hour thrashing the pipework on various keysides round the Med I can say #$6&+(?! bloody stuff sticks like wasname to an Army blanket. I believe it is the reaction of uric acid to sea water that's the issue.
Moody 425 Tudor Rose. Late 90s

 

[sailorbenji]

What causes calcification in waste pipes. I think that prevention is better than cure given the difficulty in removing the pipes that are in situ. Does it come from urine not fully fluched out and sitting in the pipes or does it come from sea water itself?

My understanding also is that it is some sort of reaction between urea and seawater, so yes basically it comes from urine not being fully flushed through/out of the pipework.

 

[VicS]

What causes calcification in waste pipes. I think that prevention is better than cure given the difficulty in removing the pipes that are in situ. Does it come from urine not fully fluched out and sitting in the pipes or does it come from sea water itself?

Basically caused by not flushing adequately combined with the high "hardness" of sea water.

Bacteria in the seawater or the "waste" act upon nitrogen compounds in the urine to produce ammonia . The ammonia raises the pH and results in bicarbonates in the water being deposited as insoluble calcium carbonate.

.

 

[MontyMariner]

I'm

What causes calcification in waste pipes.

PEE !

 

[thinwater]

Uric acid and calcium in the seawater. Seawater is VERY hard, basically saturated with calcium, and calcium urate is about (temperature dependent) 100 times less soluble than calcium hydroxide.

 

[srm]

Never had a calcium build up in any of my boats over 50 years of yacht ownership. Probably because I never liked the idea of human sewage sitting around in the pipe work after experiencing a blockage while a paying guest on a charter boat. Always flushed everything out after every use. More recently learnt that the calcium problem is caused by leaving urine in the pipes to react with sea water.
Part of the calcium build up being so common is probably due to the Jabsco and similar toilets with fiddly little pumps where most people stop pumping when its out of sight but still in the pipe. I ran a skippered charter boat with a Lavac that uses a sensible sized robust pump and has a standard instruction notice giving the number of strokes to pump. No problems over nine seasons as the pipework was always cleared after use.

 

[thinwater]

Never had a calcium build up in any of my boats over 50 years of yacht ownership. Probably because I never liked the idea of human sewage sitting around in the pipe work after experiencing a blockage while a paying guest on a charter boat. Always flushed everything out after every use. More recently learnt that the calcium problem is caused by leaving urine in the pipes to react with sea water.
Part of the calcium build up being so common is probably due to the Jabsco and similar toilets with fiddly little pumps where most people stop pumping when its out of sight but still in the pipe. I ran a skippered charter boat with a Lavac that uses a sensible sized robust pump and has a standard instruction notice giving the number of strokes to pump. No problems over nine seasons as the pipework was always cleared after use.

Exactly. You pump the number of strokes required to move the waste all the way to the tank.

Another reason people under-pump is to avoid filling the tank too quickly. Short term gain, long term loss. On the other hand, some builders fit tragically small tanks for boats that are sailed in rivers, lakes, and estuaries.

 

[Birdseye]

Thinwater - we dont have the tank issue here! Its a matter of social conscience in the UK whether anyone fits a holding tank, and I guess that cost is a more relevant issue for most sailors.

I would have thought that a good flush with "brick acid" would help get rid of the carbonates

 

[vyv_cox]

Exactly. You pump the number of strokes required to move the waste all the way to the tank.

Another reason people under-pump is to avoid filling the tank too quickly. Short term gain, long term loss. On the other hand, some builders fit tragically small tanks for boats that are sailed in rivers, lakes, and estuaries.

Precisely the problem with the Jabsco Lite, whose promotional text extols the 'virtue' of the very small volume of water consumed in flushing, for the reasons you state. After years of regular HCl flushing, countless joker valve cleaning or replacement we dumped it for a manual Jabsco. This has remained faultless for two years (fingers crossed!).

 

[Graham_Wright]

A land based observation.
The urinal in my factory drained very, very slowly until eventually it didn't.
Dismantling it, I found a hole around 3mm in diameter through the accretion.
I hadn't noticed the auto flush had stopped.
No sea water involved.

 

[thinwater]

A land based observation.
The urinal in my factory drained very, very slowly until eventually it didn't.
Dismantling it, I found a hole around 3mm in diameter through the accretion.
I hadn't noticed the auto flush had stopped.
No sea water involved.

True. I would still wager that hard water was a factor.

 

[Seven Spades]

I have an electric toilet and I am convinced that it does not use enough water. I have the option to flush with fresh water but obviously that means I will have to fill the tanks more often.

 

[harvey38]

We have two electric toilets with a 220l holding tank, fresh water flush.

The aft toilet gets six long flushes and the fwd three just before we leave the boat to come home, difference due to aft being furthest from the holding tank.

 

[Porthandbuoy]

When I bought Sheolin she had sufficient scale build up in the heads discharge pipework that pumping out was difficult. A gallon of non-brewed condiment, ie, vinegar, left in the pipework for a week made a huge difference. When eventually pumped out there was a noise like gravel passing through and a cloud of white particles alongside. I also tip a basinful of washing up water down the head every now and again (first ensuring all the cutlery has all been removed).
Problem I'm having this year is the intake pipework. Need to clear out the mussels that have made their home in there.