Toilet discharge blocked with loo paper

Richard10002

Richard10002

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Done a search, but mainly limescale blockages.

Definitely toilet paper blockage somewhere. Poured Mr Muscle 100% limescale cleaner down from the loo end, and it frothed quite a bit of scale out, but will not have got too far. Pushed a plumbers flexible rod at least 6ft along, and havent found the blockage.

Going to have a go from the other end, but not sure what to do when I find it. Is there a product which will dissolve loo paper?

Cheers,

Richard
 
Richard

Yes there is a product, however the only thing I can remember about it is that's its not for sale to the public you have to through a plmbers merchant. Except in Spain where it is available. Local plumbers merchant I would say is best bet

Peter
 
I just had the same problem - solved it from the outboard end with a hacksaw blade and a lot of grunting and swearing. It will almost certainly be blocked where the hose goes into the seacock - you should be able to tell by a slight increase in diameter of the hose when you pressurize it with the pump.

I guess the real solution is to use both sides of the paper......
 
How long since you last cleaned out the pipes? If more than two years there's a moderate chance that the limescale grew fairly thick, then pieces broke off and lodged in the pipe.

My two yearly ritual was to remove all the pipes and beat them to death on the side of the quay (stand back, onlookers!). The stuff that came out was unbelievable. I'll see if I can dig out a photo I once took.
 
Richard,

Soprimar removed a limescale blockage in Senara's toilet pipes using high pressure air. Just for once the blockage was not at the usual place, i.e. at the seacock.

Good luck,
Jon
 
I had this on a Sigma 41 in Turkey. Resolved using a wire coathanger (bent straight with a slight hook on one end) used from the outside. The hook was enough to break up the toilet paper enough for it to pass out.

Remember to swim quickly away from the boat as it comes dislodged though!!! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Jonny
 
I once tried banging the hose against the pontoon and never again. First a weak sideways swing which achieved nothing but breaking up some limescale inside the tube. Some real force needed, I thought. Grabbed one end of the hose with both ends, swung it back over my head then, hard back again over my head to my front. Disaster, the broken limescale inside the hose, liberated by centrefugal force shot up and out of the tube as it passed over my head and then came back down, all over yours truly and the pontoon.
Never again I say.
 
Ah. Been there, did that. Actually, the gunge went over SWMBO' washing hanging out to dry along the guard rail. This is what the pipe ends looked like before treatment (after 3 years . . .)

GRapaz5.jpg


Once I'd sorted the washing out, for further efforts I banged the loop against the dock, holding both ends, then flushed the pipe by plunging it up and down in the water holding just one end. Repeat until clear.

Repeat every other year. It's a long pipe, and would have taken some 6 litres of hydrochloric acid to clear it out in situ, and that would have damaged any stainless it came into contact with.
 
[ QUOTE ]
if you use more water to flush out properly the lime scale doesn't build up in the fisrt place

[/ QUOTE ] Sadly, not true sir, unless you sail in the Baltic, or the heads are used infrequently. Living aboard in the Mediterranean is the worst case, and no amount of flushing will prevent limescale build up there as the heavily saline water wetting the pipe surfaces evaporates in the high temperatures.

Frequency of use? . . . I suppose the taverna owner's home brew might have something to do with it as well.
 
About 20/25 years ago I was among two couples on a yacht and alongside the quay in Kinsale, Co.Cork when we suffered a similar problem. Eventually called out the local Dynarod man who arrived with his equipment. After an unsuccessful hour we discovered his rotating spring was so worn it didnt reach the length of the outlet pipe. Eventually bit the bullet and bravely disconnected the pipe from the seacock! Discovered it blocked with cottonwool used by the ladies to remove makeup before retiring! Stern advice given.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I just had the same problem - solved it from the outboard end with a hacksaw blade and a lot of grunting and swearing. It will almost certainly be blocked where the hose goes into the seacock - you should be able to tell by a slight increase in diameter of the hose when you pressurize it with the pump.


[/ QUOTE ]

This is my next step. Did you have to hacksaw the pipe off the seacock..... mines very tight but I was considering heating it with boiling water to see if it would loosen.

I hope to god that it's at the seacock, cause the pipes on a Moody were fitted and attached to things during build, then hidden behind the heads... cant even find the syphon valve in these heads.... so they dont come out easily, or at all.

Cheers

Richard
 
[ QUOTE ]
Richard,

Soprimar removed a limescale blockage in Senara's toilet pipes using high pressure air. Just for once the blockage was not at the usual place, i.e. at the seacock.

[/ QUOTE ]

We're mooring at Sopromars pontoons for some gas work tomorrow, so I'll ask them what they can do. Will probably get them to angle grind the anchor connector off aswell.

many Thanks

Richard
 
A good friend of mine (might be reading), volunteered to fix the loo of another, older boat owner, after said owners daughter had used his boat for the weekend. This was in the days when we were all mainly on Windermere.

To everyones embarrasment, the problem was dracula's t-bag.
 
[ QUOTE ]
This is my next step. Did you have to hacksaw the pipe off the seacock..... mines very tight but I was considering heating it with boiling water to see if it would loosen.

I hope to god that it's at the seacock, cause the pipes on a Moody were fitted and attached to things during build, then hidden behind the heads... cant even find the syphon valve in these heads.... so they dont come out easily, or at all.


[/ QUOTE ] It's a sad fact that at some time soon you're going to have to clear those pipes and check the antisiphons! So that's either delegation (no, I'm not offering! But the yard will - at a price) or that means dismantling. Hot air gun is usually easier than hot water, though first time round for me ended up with a hacksaw and a replacement pipe (of very slightly larger diameter).

Siphons, every year (installed a small access panel) and tubes ever second year. You may get away with a bit less in UK.

Heads etiquette - installed a small bin, 'dispose of all used paper etc per the Greek system - in the bin'. That prevented blockages (after one or two messy lessons) over a nine year period.
 
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