Holding Tank FulL??

Cathyalan · Post by **Cathyalan** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 3:21 pm

New Telstar 28 owner (2005)

How can you tell how much is in the holding tank? I can't see any way of determining what is in the tank.

Alan and Cathy

Jerry · Post by **Jerry** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 6:01 pm

There is none.

I put in the Fireboy - Xintex LLM-1 one-Tank Monitor that is mentioned in the owners manual. I had asked PCI to leave an extra wire from the tank area to the instrument location so I could do this but I do not think it would be that hard to run a wire yourself.

It seems to work well but I still may put a small (4") clear deck plate into the tank just to make sure. This is a little risky due to the possibility of smell but it may be worth it for my piece of mind.

BTW I also changed the deck plate on the water tank to a clear one so I could see what was going on. The solid one that came with the boat was not bedded well (bent) and tough to screw on anyway.

Cathyalan · Post by **Cathyalan** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 2:48 pm

Thank you. Looks like I have some work to do.

Now comes the ignorant question. I have never done a pump out at a marina. I looked at the "piping" involved with the Telstar...it certainly is NOT a direct route from the deck pump out thru-deck to the holding tank. What is involved in pumping this Telstar holding tank out? You can't see anything??
Should I hire a sanitary engineer? I have a friend who is one.

Alan

Jerry · Post by **Jerry** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 5:36 pm

I do not have the boat here but I am pretty sure the pump out fitting is a separate line from all that plumbing you are looking at and direct off the bottom of the tank. I do not do anything special - just pull up and have them pump it out. Usually I flush it a few times while they are pumping out to rinse the tank. In my case I am in fresh water so I just pump lake water.

The Telstar has a system that allows you to flush the tank with either water from the thru hull (what I do in the lake) or if you want to a fresh water rinse from the sink in the head. It also has the ability to pump the head to the holding tank or a thru hull to the sea (mine is plugged as I am in the lake and even in the ocean you have to follow the rules for distance off shore). Makes the piping pretty complicated but if you follow it and draw some diagrams for yourself it becomes pretty clear.

Do you have the manual? The piping is shown there although I do not see the pump out line in the diagram. Of course some owners do make modifications which may make it more difficult to figure out.

Cathyalan · Post by **Cathyalan** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 3:09 pm

Yes, I have a manual...such that it is. So essentially when I pump out it's pretty intuitive as to what I need to do?
I don't mind being ignorant as long as it's curable ;o)
We sail on the Great Lakes so the holding tank is needed, but I can flush with fresh water.\

Alan

Jerry · Post by **Jerry** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 5:32 pm

You should be OK just pumping out. I am pretty sure the pump out is the only connection to the bottom of the tank and it has no valve.
I will be on the boat Thursday so I will try to check then.

trashpad · Post by **trashpad** » Wed Jun 16, 2010 5:06 am

Here is a shot of the end of the tank (I flipped the photo) that shows the connections. The lower one runs to the deck fitting for pumpout. The small top one runs to the vent and the top large one runs to the valves and then to the head.

And here is a photo of the tank. I had to remove my tank to repair a leak in the seal. It ended up being a very easy job. After removing the hoses, I cut four fiberglass tabs that held the tank in. The tank then came right out. I replaced the SS wood screws with proper SS screws and nuts along with some 5200 for the seal. The tank slipped back in and re-fiberglassed the tabs.

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Thu Jun 17, 2010 4:18 am

I added a clear Beckson inspection port to the aft end of the tank. This allows me to visually check the level. It also allows me to clean out the tank at the end of the season when laying the boat up.

In the future, I will be adding a tank monitor system to the boat but overall that is relatively low on the list of things to do.

tricruiser · Post by **tricruiser** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 3:29 am

Hello Guys,

From what I have seen on my boat (new owner)and according the manual the only way to empty the holding tank is to pump it at a pumping station.
OK for lakes but when in open sea it is allowed to empty the tanks. looks like we cannot do it.
Does anyone done a modif to allow it?

trashpad · Post by **trashpad** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 7:51 am

Dan installed a manual pump to do just that. There should be some photos here or you can take a look at his blog site.

KK

International Telstar Owners Association