Grey water

[A&K]

Nick, this may be an obvious suggestion but have you also got the hair strainers / filters at the shower end? Cheap plug in at the drain. Avoids the need to filter at the pump end and I've not found a sump pump able to deal with hair adequately...

 

[alt]

slightly off topic (not much though!)

you guys have all grey water going into these boxes?

V.

I have shower only, everything else goes out the side

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

mike, you cannot possibly have 6showers, so heads' sink output goes there and then is pumped out, right?

We've got 2 shower sumps on board. The one in the pic serves the 2 forward heads and yes, there are 6 pipes from 2 heads, 2 from the sinks, 2 from the showers and 2 from the bidets Ferretti seem to be the only production boatbuilder who always fit bidets in their heads. I've no idea why but they're useful for washing underpants in

 

[Nick_H]

Nick, this may be an obvious suggestion but have you also got the hair strainers / filters at the shower end? Cheap plug in at the drain. Avoids the need to filter at the pump end and I've not found a sump pump able to deal with hair adequately...

I'll get a couple, but will probably fit a simple strainer in the grey water box as well.

 

[Bandit]

On my boat Aquastar 48 all the sinks go straight over the side by gravity.

Showers have to pump up from tray and so originally drained into a little tupperware box about the size of a biscuit tin with a plactic lid held down by four screws, In said box was a plastic coarse filter like a toilet roll but in plastic mesh an open flip up float switch and a 500gph highspeed ITT pump.

This whole contraption gets coated in a soap and hair slime so is a joy to work on.

Very occasionally the system once cleaned worked for a day or two.

1/ Normally either the float switch jammed down , pump would not come on and box would overflow into the bilge, coat bilge in hair soap slime and get pumped out by the bilge pump.

2/ Or the float switch would stay on after water level dropped and have to be turned off at switch board.

3/ Or the float switch would occasionally work perfectly and the pump would be rendered inoperable by one pubic hair or a grain of sand.

4/Tried replacing pump, then float switch , then whole box.

Eventually did away with the float switch and fitted an in line switch in the shower area so that when you you had a shower you turned on the pump when you had a shower and turned off the pump when you got out, worked tolerably better but still problem number 3 occurred and the pump would be rendered inoperable by one pubic hair or a grain of sand.

Firstly the little red Jabsco, 500 GPH is a misnomer it might pump 500gpg down hill but anything upwards and it dropped off steeply to a fraction of that, see the performance curve that comes with the pump, then think constrictions like a small hose, one way valves bends etc.


As the shower only didnt work when you needed to use it when staying on the boat and it required me rolling back the heavy carpet, removing the deck hatch and leaning down 2ft into the bilge and passing up buckets of dirty water to an unhappy assistant to dispose of wrapped in a towel with shampoo in her hair, after the first 10 or 20 times of doing this the novelty wears off.

This season I chucked plastic box and contents into skip, I havent felt so much satisfaction at ditching a piece of equipment since I skipped my Simpson and Lawrence SL 400 toilet after dismantling it one holiday four times in two weeks ( That stopped me biting my finger nails for a while).

I have replaced said box with a Whale Gulper I think its the 220.

http://www.whalepumps.com/marine/pr...ID=10021&FriendlyID=Electric-grey-waste-pumps

This is in line from shower drain to over the side discharge so a continual hose from shower to pump to one way valve to over the side discharge just above the waterline.

It works a treat it can run dry, still switched on and off from the shower compartment and keeps the shower tray dry, I have not had a problem since fitting in May, various weekends and two weeks holiday with four people using the same shower appears to handle everything it gets including the occasional short and curly.

The only problem is it sounds like you have a large frog in sthe shower when it works, I suppose thats why they call it a gulper, you cant hear it from outside boat, so a small price to pay for domestic harmony.

It works a treat, very happy and appears to be job done.

 

[Hurricane]

Our float switch failed in the first season
The hi/lo differential is too small IMO
So I replaced the switch only with a Wema top entry switch
This means that the tank holds more before the pump discharges.
All the wiring is external and the switch is in the lid of the tank.
Dead easy to fit
The pump doesn't run so often so might last longer.
I also fitted an external "bell push style" biased switch in a cupboard that manually trips the hi/lo switch and forces a discharge. This switch also completely empties the tank when we leave the boat.
All been working for a couple of years with no problems ------ yet anyway!

 

[Nick_H]

So I replaced the switch only with a Wema top entry switch

Mike, is this the one, part # PBK-24s?

http://www.wemausa.com/switches/index.html#SAB

 

[Hurricane]

Mike, is this the one, part # PBK-24s?

http://www.wemausa.com/switches/index.html#SAB

No, Nick
I can't find on that website the one we got
I got ours from the UK agent
He was really helpful and designed a bespoke switch from dimensions that I gave him.
Try contacting him from this website
http://www.wema.co.uk/pg_fuel_and_water.htm
Ours is more like the W2 part
He provided me with a boss that simply bolted into the Perspex top of the tank.
IIRC he also provided a little interface box with a relay or something to latch the pump on until the lower switch was enabled
The switch I put in my cupboard is an MK Uk style "press" switch

If you are interested, I really recommend giving this guy a call
I remember that his office is in Honiton - the address in the above link.
You will have to measure your tank carefully and decide how high you want the high level to be

I'm on the boat at the moment if you would like a pic of my solution.

Mike

 

[Nick_H]

I'm on the boat at the moment if you would like a pic of my solution.

Mike

Great if you could post a pic Mike, it's never easy to visualise from a written decription. Don't put yourself out though, as i'm sure i'll manage to sort it out.

 

[Portofino]

http://www.uship.fr/bateaux,uship-c...ge,articles,mod,contenu,voilerie,3748.gb.html

Here is a pic ( top left) of a sump box .Water has to pass through a nylon mesh hair filter just visible . Page 254 after download

 

[Hurricane]

Great if you could post a pic Mike, it's never easy to visualise from a written decription. Don't put yourself out though, as i'm sure i'll manage to sort it out.

Here you are, Nick

The tank - perspex top with float switch - note the boss that WEMA provided to fix the float switch to the lid.

And this is the little control box that WEMA provided to make it all work.
I mounted it onto a 4 inch juncton box. The press switch is an addition of mine and simply parallels one of the WEMA switches.

BTW
It's important to wash the grey water box regularly to avoid smells etc.
We generally wash it out before we leave the boat - note in the above pic, we've been on the boat for a couple of weeks - we leave next Tuesday and I will probably flush the tank before we leave.
I simply flush it thoroughly with a hose using one of those multi sprinkler attachments - Princess supplied the tank with clip down buckles so it's easy to open the top to flush it.

Hope that helps
Mike

 

[GSL]

These look good; haven't tried; might give them a go. You can't quickly test these as you inspect your boat however, unless a wet sponge does the trick - I dunno. Maybe the answer is to fit these in parallel to the ordinary float switches, in both grey sumps and bilges, to hedge your bets[/QUOTE]

I have bought a Water Witch recently, and will travel to the boat and fit it at the end of this month. My only concern, which the manufacturers assure me is no problem, the the soapy scummy water may affect operation.

Rule switches just seem totally unreliable, and are never in any easy to get at location, so replacement is always a pain in the back.

Graham

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Nice installation, Hurricane. Did you label the incoming pipes or was that Princess?

 

[vas]

I have bought a Water Witch recently, and will travel to the boat and fit it at the end of this month. My only concern, which the manufacturers assure me is no problem, the the soapy scummy water may affect operation.

Rule switches just seem totally unreliable, and are never in any easy to get at location, so replacement is always a pain in the back.

Graham

care to explain HOW you bought the waterwitch? the website refered to is absolutely useless!
Just one page, all links/images point to nowhere???

cheers

v.

 

[GSL]

I bought it from someone who had them listed on Ebay I think.

I will try and find out where and will repost details

Graham

 

[Hurricane]

Nice installation, Hurricane. Did you label the incoming pipes or was that Princess?

No just the standard Princess fit out

 

[GSL]

I bought it from someone who had them listed on Ebay I think.

I will try and find out where and will repost details

Graham

Type Water Witch into ebay search and they come up there.

Graham

 

[vas]

Type Water Witch into ebay search and they come up there.

Graham

thanks, tried it yesterday, only the 12V ver comes up. Not sure 12V makes anydifference tbh, I doubt it, as I only want them as triggers for my system so may get a couple to test

cheers

V.

 

[Nick_H]

Here you are, Nick

The tank - perspex top with float switch - note the boss that WEMA provided to fix the float switch to the lid.

And this is the little control box that WEMA provided to make it all work.
I mounted it onto a 4 inch juncton box. The press switch is an addition of
BTW
It's important to wash the grey water box regularly to avoid smells etc.
We generally wash it out before we leave the boat - note in the above pic, we've been on the boat for a couple of weeks - we leave next Tuesday and I will probably flush the tank before we leave.
I simply flush it thoroughly with a hose using one of those multi sprinkler attachments - Princess supplied the tank with clip down buckles so it's easy to open the top to flush it.

Hope that helps
Mike

Thanks Mike