Shower pump out

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Caladh

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I am now in the process of modifying my shower pump out from its original exit in to the bilge........

Rather than drill more holes in the hull, as I already have an exit via the existing electric bilge pump and deck fitting, has anyone ever used this way to pump out, by fitting a Y valve and Non Return Valves to their pipework ?
 
I'm interested in this too....was thinking of using a y valve and sending mine out via the sink waste pipework.....i cant see why either wouldn't work but we might be missing something
 
In my experience factory fitted shower pump outs have separate seacocks and presumably if they could share the washbasin or other one to cut costs one manufacturers would have gone down this route ? Presumably it's to do with risk of blockage?
 
Tim O said:
I'm interested in this too....was thinking of using a y valve and sending mine out via the sink waste pipework.....i cant see why either wouldn't work but we might be missing something
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I did exactly this. Used the drain from the basin in the heads. No problems. Did fit a NRV - not sure if necessary, but better safe than sorry.
 
Shower outlet wants to be below water level or it will look a mess and stain the hull. Or fill your tender etc.
Non-return valves are not the most relaible things, a small amount of back pressure from marine growth on the skin fitting might send shower waste out of the other input.
 
Tim O said:
I'm interested in this too....was thinking of using a y valve and sending mine out via the sink waste pipework.....i cant see why either wouldn't work but we might be missing something
Click to expand...

This is exactly the set-up that my Dehler 35 has. It's connected to the washbasin wastepipe. Standard factory fitting & it works. It's also comparatively easy to get at if it ever leaks.
 
Caladh said:
Well it's good to know other people do this !! Thanks.
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cant see why it wouldnt work with bilge outlet either....my only caution being that if it DID cause any problems id rather those were not with the bilge output where its ootentially a safety issue rather than just annoyance with the sink??
 
Caladh said:
Well it's good to know other people do this !! Thanks.
Click to expand...

cant see why it wouldnt work with bilge outlet either....my only caution being that if it DID cause any problems id rather those were not with the bilge output where its ootentially a safety issue rather than just annoyance with the sink??
 
On my boat the shower pump outlet just feeds in to the Heads sink pipework with no valves at all. I fitted a non-return valve on the pump outlet pipe for 2 reasons. As there was a certain head of water in the outlet pipe when you switched the pump off, the water would backflow into the shower floor, which needed wiping up. Any residual water in the pipes would either run out when the yacht was well heeled or could start to smell slightly after a period of time.
 
So long as the pump output isn't greater than the capacity of the outlet, I don't think it matters much what you do. Our boat came fitted with an outlet above the waterline, like many others. I can't say that I have noticed staining on the hull at that point; perhaps we don't allow our bodies to get as dirty as some others. The only disadvantage from an outside exit is that everyone knows when you have had a shower. Motor boats are particularly obvious in this respect, probably because their outlets are often quite high up.
 
My Furia 332 was designed with a space saving but less than efficient 4 into 1 set up combining the shower outlet, engine bilge, saloon bilge and fridge drain with isolating valves for each. At the moment they all go through a Whale Gulper 220 which is not really designed as a bilge pump. What I could do with is a bilge pump that could double as a shower pump but I haven't come across anything that looks suitable yet.
 
I have done some more thinking since my initial reply. I am 250 miles from my yacht and will not see it for a couple of months, so I am working only from memory. I think the outlet from the shower pump has an anti-syphon loop underneath the heads basin. I think the pipe from the pump goes up as far as it can (touching the top of the basin?) and then loops back down and feeds in to the sink drain, just above the seacock. The top of the loop needs to be above the heeled waterline. I am not sure there is a syphon break valve in it, as by the time a syphon could form, then seawater would be flowing back into the sink.

The NRV that I installed is thus not for stopping seawater coming into the shower, it is only for stopping the water in the front half of the anti-syphon loop draining back on to the shower floor.
 
I did something similar. Sharing a skin fitting worked fine when the Y piece was next to the fitting, and above it - everything was flowing down to the fitting. Less successful was connecting 2 pipes lower down, with just a single pipe to the skin fitting (ie the Y fitting was considerably lower and distant from the skin fitting). In this case, despite fitting NRVs, I always ended up with some waste water running back into the shower tray.
 
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