Re-plumbing the Head

Detailed posts on modifications and projects.
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Dan

Re-plumbing the Head

Post by Dan »

I was told that PCI is considering moving the holding tank location on the boat to one that is higher up. Personally, I don’t think this is all that great an idea. First of all, moving the tank would basically really kill off a lot of the usable storage space on the Telstar and leave a big empty, not very useful space down where the current tank is.

Also, one advantage of having the holding tank where it has been located in the existing boats is that it sort of acts as a collision buffer zone and effectively reinforces the forward part of the main hull. While it probably isn’t 100% water tight, it would probably help limit the inflow of water in a collision.

I still think the best setup for the head is the layout I’m using on the Pretty Gee, where the head is plumbed directly to the tank, and then tank’s pumpout line is plumbed to a diverter valve. The diverter valve either leads up to the deck pumpout fitting or down to a diaphragm pump and then to the seacock and through-hull that were previously used for the head to directly discharge through. This allows you to pump out the tank without the need for a pumpout boat or facility.

I’ve been asked why I installed the diverter valve. That’s basically to protect the diaphragm pump from the suction and reverse pressure that might occur if you accidentally left the seacock open and went to a pumpout station. If the vent hose was clogged, the water would try and rush back through the diaphragm pump and could damage it seriously. Besides, there was one used for the head discharge line, which isn’t needed there anymore with this setup, so why not re-use it.
Jerry
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Location: Lake Champlain Vermont side Point Bay Marina
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Re-plumbing the Head

Post by Jerry »

Dan,
I remember reading (on the PCI forum) about how you did this re-pipe but when I went to look for it I got forwarded back to this forum?
Jerry
Dan

Re-plumbing the Head

Post by Dan »

Jerry—

I’ll be migrating the content from the old forum over to this one. To facilitate that, PCI has basically shut down the old forum for the most part, and is now using ours. :) I’ll be posting a detailed article on how the head setup was changed in a bit, which will have photos and is going to be a good deal more comprehensive than what I had written previously.
wingman
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Re-plumbing the Head

Post by wingman »

We just put water in our tank after the winter and cannot get the forward pump or head to pump water directly from the tank. the sink aft works fine and we can see that the water (still has red antifreeze stuff in it) is starting to move toward the bow in the line, but must stop along the starboard side where we cannot access it. There does not appear to be a leak, so the only other cause is that the two pumps, head an sink, are not drawing enough vacuum to pull the water. We did T off the line so that it fed the toilet directly and not have to go through the sink. They worked last winter just before winterization, but we do not use them much during the season. Has anyone else had problems with the pumps?

John
Ron
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Re-plumbing the Head

Post by Ron »

Maybe these two pumps are not self priming? Doesn't make sense that they would do this though. Try pulling the hose off of one of them (at the pump) to get the water to gravitate down towards that end. That could eliminate the large air bubble. There could be an air leak at one of the clamps too.
Ron Marcuse
Telstar 28 #359 "Tri-Power"
Dan

Re-plumbing the Head

Post by Dan »

wingman wrote:We just put water in our tank after the winter and cannot get the forward pump or head to pump water directly from the tank. the sink aft works fine and we can see that the water (still has red antifreeze stuff in it) is starting to move toward the bow in the line, but must stop along the starboard side where we cannot access it. There does not appear to be a leak, so the only other cause is that the two pumps, head an sink, are not drawing enough vacuum to pull the water.
The Whale Flipper pump, which is used in the galley, and the Whale V Mk VI pump used in the head are both self-priming pumps, and an airlock would not be a problem with either, unless there is an obstruction in the line.
We did T off the line so that it fed the toilet directly and not have to go through the sink. They worked last winter just before winterization, but we do not use them much during the season. Has anyone else had problems with the pumps?

John
I would point out that connecting the head directly to the fresh water system is a really stupid and potentially very dangerous idea. The pump used in the head is a dual action piston pump and it is more than likely to allow fecal matter to contaminate the fresh water system. None of the manual marine heads and very few of the electric ones are designed to be used directly connected to the fresh water system. The reason for using the sink is that it will effectively break the connection and prevent any bacterial contamination from going from the head pump to the water tank.
Ron
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Re-plumbing the Head

Post by Ron »

Dan -

The hose leading to the dual action piston pump IN the head and it's "T" could be the source of an air leak as well. It worked last year when the entire line was wet, but now that it's dry it could be sucking air. That pump itself could even be the problem. You're right about making a permanent connection there, without some sort of airlock in the middle to prevent backflow.
Ron Marcuse
Telstar 28 #359 "Tri-Power"
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