Is your toilet bowl supposed to have a bit of water in it?

PEJ

PEJ

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Having sorted out my toilet pong caused by build up of untreated nasty stuff in the holding tank giving an all round smell after flushing I find myself with another smell but this time hydrogen sulphide (rotten eggs) but only in the actual toilet room, not all round the boat.

I used to always have a bit of water in the bottom of my Jabsco electric fresh water flush toilet pan but lately the water drains away leaving it dry. On Returning to the boat after some days and on putting some water in I get the smell. I suspect bacteria on the pipes causing the smell and it has probably been doing it for a while but the water formed a gas seal. Now that it is gone the inflow of water disturbs the smelly gas and it comes up in to the room.

So my question is - has my joker valve packed in letting the water leak away and so should I replace it? Or should the bowl be dry anyway?
 
When we bought our first boat we found a slight smell from the loo . The smell was evident when returning to the boat after it had been left undisturbed during the week.
We closed the inlet sea cock and flushed with fresh water.
This solved the problem.

On that boat and on our present boat we leave some fresh water in the loo and there is remains. Jabsco toilets in both cases.
 
If you have seawater flush and leave the boat for a while, it's usual to have the rotten eggs smell from the flush water at first, as it goes off in the inlet pipe.
 
Nick_H said:
If you have seawater flush and leave the boat for a while, it's usual to have the rotten eggs smell from the flush water at first, as it goes off in the inlet pipe.
Click to expand...

Not any more we don't, Before leaving the boat I now just close the sea cock, undo the hose clips by the jabsco hand pump, drop a chlorine tablet into the pipe and pop it all back together. Takes about a minute and has eradicated the eggy smells.

I have tried the jabsco tablets but the chorine works lots better and lots cheaper...
 
I pump the toilet dry. Then add 2 litters of vinegar. Pump dry and close through hull.

No pong and pipes get cleaned while away...
 
When I had a manual Jabsco there was always a bit of water left in the bowl say a cupful, the toilet was seawater flushed.

When you came back to the boat after a week or two there was no smell in the boat or toilet compartment until ....................... you pulled in more seawater and this was black and smelt of hydrogen sulphide, but only for the first flush.

This was caused by the plankton and bacteria dying in the static water inlet, this can be improved by using new toilet hose that is treated with a bacteriacide that stops the fermentation of the dead ones.

Alternatively make sure you are first on board and flush the toilets before the rest of the family arrive.

If the smell is on every use of the toilet I would suspect foul water staying in the discharge line or siphoning back to the bowl from the holding tank.
 
I used to have a seawater flush on my old boat and I soon learnt that the smell was from the inlet pipe so I was pleased that my current boat has a freshwater flush. There were no rotten egg smells until the water in the bowl started disappearing.

Do you think I need a new joker valve?
 
PEJ said:
I used to have a seawater flush on my old boat and I soon learnt that the smell was from the inlet pipe so I was pleased that my current boat has a freshwater flush. There were no rotten egg smells until the water in the bowl started disappearing.

Do you think I need a new joker valve?
Click to expand...

Yes! Had the same problem, changing the joker (why is it called that?) valve cured it.

I'm in the process of changing from Jabsco to a Vetus (which looks and operates the same as a Tecma). Already have one in our forward heads and it's been faultless for many years, unlike the Jabsco I'm now replacing. I now have 2 Jabsco toilet bowls along with lids and seats in my garage, one set a few years old but in good nick and the other just a few months old and virtually unused if anyone's interested.
 
longjohnsilver said:
Yes! Had the same problem, changing the joker (why is it called that?) valve cured it.

I'm in the process of changing from Jabsco to a Vetus (which looks and operates the same as a Tecma). .
Click to expand...

I heard somewhere that its proper name is a choker valve but it got nicknamed the joker valve and the nickname stuck.

Can you change away from Jabcso for the flushing equipment but keep the Jabsco bowels?
 
I think you can buy the valve for about £6.
Or a service kit for about £30.
But I wonder if something has been flushed and stuck? Maybe a clean out will do the trick.
 
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