Is bleach a good idea?

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nickfabbri

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I have a 2 year old boat and am getting fed up with the smell from the head after it has been left for a couple of days . I tried the flushing it through with fresh water and then portable toilet disinfectant but have reverted to putting a diluted bleach in the bowl, leaving it when i am away then flushing it all out when I return to the boat. My thinking is that h202 should not affect silicone piping or any of the metal in the outflow from the toilet. Thus if the diluted bleach sits in the toilet bowl, then passes through the waste outflow pipe, into the holding tank , then out again through the hull it will not damage or oxidise or vulcanise any of the pipe work. Also if I am using a 1:100 solution ( a capful with about a litre or two of water) then using litres of water to flush it out then the affect on the environment will be far less than emptying a holding tank with marine loo cleaner in it.

It also stops the smell.

Any thoughts?
 
A yacht surveyor told me that bleach does in the rubber seals. I use Dettol for the same purpose as you use bleach. I actually expect that modern seals are made of sterner stuff and will stand it.

It is a pain - no matter how clean I get it, my toilet stinks after the boat is unused for more than a few days.
 
im not sure what the seals and o rings are made of. I again think that they are silicone and thus not affected by hypochlorite. I just looked up the Jabsco service kit and you are meant to smear the seals in vaseline. This would be a no no if the seals were rubber as vaseline weakens rubber.
 
The only thing that I found to work was to fill the bowl up with fresh water and then flush through before leaving the boat. This leaves just fresh water in the system and the bugs didn't seem to like it (I'm not saying it cured it completely, but it was a distinct improvement)
 
From TekTanks website:

"Never put anything into a marine sanitation system that is not specifically marketed for that purpose. Do not use detergent, washing up liquid or other cleaners, especially cleaning products which contain pine oil, petroleum, or alcohol. Those substances will break down the seals, gaskets, and valves in the system, and will also break down the walls of the hose, causing it to be more susceptible to permeation. Above all, do not pour vegetable oil down the head to “lubricate” the parts. A layer of oil on the sewage will only seal the contents of the tank, keeping air out of it. Follow manufacturers’ recommendations for periodic maintenance and lubrication."

I have found that a fresh water rinse of the loo keeps most of the smells at bay. As the pong emanates from bugs brewing in the inlet pipe then this is strange - but if it works......
 
Granted, you possibly shouldnt use petroleum or oilbased products. However im still unsure about a small amount of diluted bleach.
Jabsco advocate pertoleum jelly for their seals, which i guess is a contradiction to the other websites advice.
 
I picked up a couple of litre bottles of non-foaming marine toilet cleaner a few years ago and it seems to work well, keeping the pipework unsmelly.
Since buying it at a military surplus shop I havn't seen it, but a google might turn something up.
 
My thinking is that h202 should not affect silicone piping or any of the metal in the outflow from the toilet
Click to expand...
H2O2?

You are using hydrogen peroxide rather than the more usual hypochlorite ( chlorine ) based bleaches?
 
Last edited:
Sorry my error ( we use h202 as an abreviation for sodium hypochlorite in work). I do intend to use sodium hypochlroite diluted at between 1:50 and 1:100.
 
Agree with the fresh water trick. Scale is one of the sources of nasty niffs especially (sensitive types look away now) if it is urine soaked. I have found that keeping scale at bay does reduce the niff factor. Lee Sanitation sell some stuff called Leescale which I have used successfully to keep our Lavac system clear. A couple of treatments a season seem to do the job. You just pour it in, pump it into the system and leave it for a while. Said to be kind to seals etc and so far this has been the case for us.
 
I have tried the fresh water thing and a couple of dedicated marine cleaners and disinfectants for the toilet bowl. However in hot weather , and when left for a week the heads still has "that odour". The bowl is free of scale and cleaned regularly. So, the only thing I have found that keeps everything free is a very diluted bleach solution left in the bowl when im not there.
Can anyone tell me specifically if diluted bleach will affect the pipework, seeing as there appear to be no rubber gaskets/o rings etc. and the bleach solution will only pass those very briefly as I flush out the system with copious fresh water on my return to the boat.

Many thanks
 
Warning.

Bleach and fibreglass do not mix well, prolonged exposure will soften all but epoxy resins.

If you must have any on board make sure the container is in another container so it can't get away on you.
 
As others have said, I flush through with fresh water, plus I then leave it full and shut off the seacocks. It doesn't completely cure it but definitely helps. The comment about the pipe liners is important. If anything attacks the insides of the pipes, it will hold the smell.
I bought a boat that had lived at Kemps Quay years ago. (Sitting in the mud every six hours). When I asked the surveyor what the unbelieveable smell was, he told me "Itchen mud - only way to get rid of it is to replace the pipes"! That worked but disposing of the old pipes was embarrassing!

Not sure if a mild solution of bleach will attack seals and pipes but that's the worry.
 
'Dehumidified' water

robp said:
As others have said, I flush through with fresh water, plus I then leave it full and shut off the seacocks. It doesn't completely cure it but definitely helps. The comment about the pipe liners is important. If anything attacks the insides of the pipes, it will hold the smell.
I bought a boat that had lived at Kemps Quay years ago. (Sitting in the mud every six hours). When I asked the surveyor what the unbelieveable smell was, he told me "Itchen mud - only way to get rid of it is to replace the pipes"! That worked but disposing of the old pipes was embarrassing!

Not sure if a mild solution of bleach will attack seals and pipes but that's the worry.
Click to expand...

Some time ago, I was advised to use the water from my dehumidifier in the bowl when leaving the boat. It certainly keeps the smells down but after a few days away from the boat the heads need to be flushed through for a few minutes to get rid of the 'egg' smell.
A previous thread suggests that this due to bacteria living in the inlet pipe so no amount of bleach or anything else will prevent this - just a good flush through. As soon as the smell goes it does not come back again until the boat is left for a couple of days.
 
Our formula:

1. Good quality non-permeable hoses.

2. Careful instruction to everyone on board about required volume of flushing.

3. Hydrochoric acid (Harpic toilet cleaner) left for a couple of hours in the pipes before leaving the boat.

3. Copious amounts of fresh water flushed through before closing the sea cocks upon leaving the boat.

4. Immediately upon coming back to the boat -- flush 30 times to get rid of the stale seawater in the intake side.

Works great for us. No smells.
 
OFG tells me that the smell in our bog is due to bacteria in the inlet pipe, therefore pouring stuff down it doesn't make a difference; but after a couple of flushes it goes away.
 
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