Descale toilet

Thank you. It’s mainly the pump and pipes that needs to be descaled so I’ll be pushing most of it into there. Appreciate the safety advice though, it wouldn’t have occurred to me to do that.
 
I don't know the condition of your system but would start with small amount, neat. Work up by adding a little more, pumping and waiting a while. You want to avoid sudden evolution of gas either blowing back or building enough pressure to damage something. Risk is actually quite low but I've seen what happens with very badly choked systems. You need to get free acid around the pipework anyway. Rule of thumb is 7 strokes for every metre of pipe when flushing for Jabsco, no idea about your Lavac.
 
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Brick cleaner as sold in UK is pretty strong stuff. for use on bricks it is meant to be diluted 1:10 or 1:15. Diluting it to then put in to the toilet has some hazards. However if you pour a small amount into the bowl that has water in, then you are diluting it. Remember always the add acid to the water and not the other way round. Wear eye protection in case it splashes. Gloves too. Open the holding tank so that the gas can escape.

In Europe such as Greece and Croatia, the hydrochloric acid that is sold in supermarkets is much more dilute than brick cleaner. I pour about 1/4L into the toilet. Give it a flush to get it into the pipework and then wait at least 1/2 hour. Repeat as necessary!

TS
 
Although I regularly descale my sea toilet with hydrochloric acid I find that this has little effect on hoses. It is quite difficult to fill the upward riser of the loop with acid and it takes a great deal of acid to remove a heavy coating. Removal of the hose and either whacking it against a wall or replacement is far more effective.
 
About 5 years ago when my heads eventually refused to work, was going to replace pipe completely.
Due to location of toilet and valve,actually only about 3 feet apart, the pipe took a circuitous path of around 3/4 metres via various bilges and bulkheads.
After PIA removal, the pipe which should have had an 35mm ID, had due to stinky chalky accretion , about 5mm for entire length of pipe..
No amount of descaling would have shifted it.
Basically gently broke up internal muck with rubber mallet, flushed out debris with fresh water and reinstalled.
At least one bucketful of crusty crud came out.
Being working OK ever since,
Expensive replacement pipe is still hanging up in shed.
 
Mine blocked completely several years ago. The outlet pipe wanders all over the boat including a couple of diverter valves for a normally unused black tank. With difficulty, I managed to get through the blockage with one of these rotating snake things from Aldi/Lidl. Generous doses of B&Q Brick Cleaner cleaned out the rest of the stuff. Since that time, we now use at least 40 pump strokes, and everything has been fine. Jabsco recommend at least seven pump strokes per metre of pipe, and that works for me.
 
As others have said: neat.

If used regularly (we do it twice a year) and follow the extensive flushing rules, you may achieve a clean, scale-less hose similar to that on Tigger
 
vyv_cox said:
Although I regularly descale my sea toilet with hydrochloric acid I find that this has little effect on hoses. It is quite difficult to fill the upward riser of the loop with acid and it takes a great deal of acid to remove a heavy coating. Removal of the hose and either whacking it against a wall or replacement is far more effective.
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I did work out the amount of acid required but it was a few years ago. I seem to remember it was reasonable for a few mm in the pipe but many litres for a virtually blocked pipe. I can't remember exactly but is was a few litres for a few mm, increasing to >20 litres (probably well over) when the pipe had a very thick coating. I would have worked with concentration available in nearby shops so probably in region of 6%. All from memory but I'd agree that physical removal is probably more efficient for badly blocked pipes.

I have used acid to clear a very badly blocked system for a very elderly chap many years ago. It was holiday weekend, he was really stuck and I had about 5 litres of acid available. It worked well enough until he could buy a lot more several days later. His boat had a 6-7m pipe run and he only pumped 1-2 times after use. He'd had all the pipes replaced a few months earlier but no surprise it was blocked again.

I've never had a problem on my own boat but do use some "agua fuerte" every 6 weeks or so to remove any trace amount of build-up. It's been fine since 2009 but I do use about 8-10 strokes per metre of pipe after using the forward head or aft. head when at sea. I use minimal flushing at anchor or on a quay to avoid filling the holding tank. We are both careful to visit the forward head to pee if using the aft. holding tank. The aft. head still seems fine after 10+years of this treatment. Perhaps being anal is a good thing wrt this equipment. :D
 
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Mistroma said:
I don't know the condition of your system but would start with small amount, neat. Work up by adding a little more, pumping and waiting a while. You want to avoid sudden evolution of gas either blowing back or building enough pressure to damage something. Risk is actually quite low but I've seen what happens with very badly choked systems. You need to get free acid around the pipework anyway. Rule of thumb is 7 strokes for every metre of pipe when flushing for Jabsco, no idea about your Lavac.
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The Lavac moves way more liquid than a Jabsco. One pump of the handle will empty the bowl. It's far easier to keep a clean system simply because far fewer strokes are needed. Over 11 years of intense use on our last boat we only needed to do a clean of the pipework once. We have just converted from Jabsco to Lavac for both loos on the current boat. I was sick of being a sanitation engineer with the crappy (?) Jabsco loos. They don't stand up to intensive use in my experience
 
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