Difficulty disconnecting plumbing

[RJJ]

Hi

Finding it hard to disconnect various hoses from seacocks and heads - although I was trying to do it on a cold day. No problem shifting the jubilee clips, but the tubes were very resistant to either twisting or sliding straight off.

Any suggestions? Would a hairdryer help?

Thanks

 

[Akestor]

are the hoses hard as rock? a hairdryer will help yes but a heat gun will release them at once...

 

[bikedaft]

pour boiling water over them and then grip with padded round moles or even a glove etc.

 

[duncan99210]

I’ve resorted to cutting the hoses off before now, using a Dremel with a cutting wheel. However, if you don’t want to get that brutal then a heat gun is the fastest way to loosen the hoses. A hairdryer will not produce a high enough temperature and hot water is messy and often doesn’t get the hose hot enough to break the bond.

 

[Plum]

Hi

Finding it hard to disconnect various hoses from seacocks and heads - although I was trying to do it on a cold day. No problem shifting the jubilee clips, but the tubes were very resistant to either twisting or sliding straight off.

Any suggestions? Would a hairdryer help?

Thanks

Heat usually does not work, for me, I cut them off and if there is 50mm of slack can usually refit without renewing the whole hose. Dipping the end of the hose in hot water makes fitting easier. I occasionally swap my sea heads for a porta-potti chemical toilet if going into inland waterways and to make removal easy, for the large waste hose, I have a joining sleeve with a short length of silicone hose that is really easy to pull off the seacock hose tail.

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk

 

[ghostlymoron]

If using hot water, it helps to wrap a towel round the pipe to retain the heat long enough to do its stuff.

 

[Poignard]

If using hot water, it helps to wrap a towel round the pipe to retain the heat long enough to do its stuff.

Good tip.

 

[prv]

Do make sure, when you’re turning the hose to try to release it, that you’re turning in the direction that opens up the reinforcing spiral rather than tightening it.

Pete

 

[Poignard]

Do make sure, when you’re turning the hose to try to release it, that you’re turning in the direction that opens up the reinforcing spiral rather than tightening it.

Pete

Another good tip.

 

[maby]

If the boat is in the water, take a careful look at the skin fitting before applying too much force. Some years ago we went to look at a very nice yacht on sale in a boatyard in the Medway at a very reasonable price. There was a panel that was a bit loose and I took a look behind - and found mud! I raised this with the broker who explained that the boat had been refurbished following a period of a couple of weeks on the bottom of the Medway. The previous owner had decided to remove a hose from a seacock, pulled hard and the (de-zincified) seacock had shattered.

 

[RJJ]

Thanks, going for full seacock replacement anyway (and she is already out). This is just to drain the pipes for the winter

 

[James_Calvert]

Shouldn't need to get the hoses off to drain the system, surely?

Opening the inlet and outlet seacocks ought to to drain that end of those hoses. Anything else should drain back into the bowl. There may be a drain in the bottom of the u bend to drain that. Otherwise just sponge it out.

That's all assuming you don't have a holding tank which is beyond my experience...