Seaweed sucked into seacock. Toilet won't flush.

[fredrussell]

At least I think that's what's happened. Lots of nasty mats of weed around on the orwell at mo.
Tried to flush heads and there's a lot of resistance on handle when trying to draw flushing water through.
Heads is an RM69. Any tips to clear it gratefully received.

 

[Horace]

Close/open the seacock & blow down the inlet pipe after disconnecting it from the toilet bowl.I had the same problem the other day.

 

[Seajet]

Close/open the seacock & blow down the inlet pipe after disconnecting it from the toilet bowl.I had the same problem the other day.

+1, and if that doesn't work try disconnecting the upper ABOVE WATERLINE end of the intake pipe
and putting the dinghy footpump on it - works a treat for blowing away the crud !

( Top Tip, reconnect promptly, leaving the inlet pipe to drop in the bilge could spoil your day, or cancel it entirely ) .

 

[prv]

When it happened to me a few weeks ago, all the weed was inside the valve gear at the top of the pump. Makes sense, it's the first constriction after a nice smooth pipe run that wouldn't trap anything. So I closed the intake seacock, opened up the valve casing, pulled out all the weed, and put it back together again. No big deal, and since it's only the intake side it's a pretty clean job.

Pete

 

[thinwater]

Install a strainer on the inlet. Even when it's not enough to clog, stuff will catch in the rim, die, and stink.

 

[Sniper]

Is it a jabsco? I had a similar experience once and found the joker valve had inverted. Easy enough to fix.

Ah, not a jabsco. It may still be a useful idea though.

 

[nigelmercier]

Install a strainer on the inlet...

I've got Jabsco strainers on my inlets, I caught a small fish last year!

Very handy for inserting a chlorine tablet to prevent the rotten egg smell (hydrogen sulphide), which is caused by the bacteria in the inlet.

 

[ex-Gladys]

I had the sae thing a couple of years back, with Blakes seacocks with the strainer on the inlet, and I think that caused the issue. The really thin stringy stuff got tangled in that and we finished up flushing with a bucket of water, and pumping very carefully occasionally it eventually cleared itself. Nothing else including dinghy pump worked....

 

[fredrussell]

Thanks to all. Problem solved. Pesky seaweed had got right up inlet pipe to valve near pump handle. There's masses of weed on Orwell and Stour at the mo - can foresee this happening again quite soon. As you all stated its an easy enough fix, but what a pain.

 

[oldbilbo]

Y'know, just for a moment I read that as....


"Searush sucked into seacock. Toilet won't flush."


I really must get my eyes tested...

 

[Seajet]

Sounds like the old story of the diver collected by a scooping fire-bomber ...